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Animal Crossing Nook's Cranny: How to upgrade Nook's Cranny, Hot Item and Drop box in New Horizons explained

A local shop for local people. (And animals.)

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Guide by Lottie Lynn Guides Editor
Updated on

Nook's Cranny is the main shop on your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and it's run by the tanuki twins, Timmy and Tommy.

With your help, they'll open their shop and, eventually, be able to upgrade Nook's Cranny, allowing them to sell a variety of new items.

Nook's Cranny also has a daily Hot Item and a Drop-off Box, which you can use when the shop is closed.

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How to open Nook's Cranny in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

When you first arrive on your island in New Horizons, Timmy will run a small shop in Residential Services. Here you'll be able to sell items to earn Bells and buy a variety of items, including flower seeds.

Once you've paid off your tent using Nook Miles, you'll be asked by the tanuki crew to help build Nook's Cranny.

To build Nook's Cranny, you need to gather:

After you've collected all of these materials, head back to Residential Services and give them to Timmy. In return, he'll allow you to pick the location for the new shop.

Now you just have to wait a day for the shop to be built!

Cover image for YouTube videoAnimal Crossing: New Horizons: 17 Advanced Tips and Tricks for Your Island
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How to upgrade Nook's Cranny in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

While having a proper shop on your island in New Horizons is great, you might, after a while, find yourself rather limited by what stock Tommy and Timmy have on offer. Luckily, Nook's Cranny will, eventually, have a renovation.

To upgrade Nook's Cranny you must:

  • Have at least 200,000 Bells worth in transactions, includes both buying and selling
  • Nook's Cranny must be open for at least 30 days

As you can see upgrading Nook's Cranny is mostly a waiting game, as you will easily meet the 200,000 Bells transaction goal.

We're unsure whether selling turnips contributes to the 200,000 Bell goal, but, considering this is still a transaction, it's safe to assume that they do.

You'll know when Nook's Cranny is getting ready to renovate, because, the day before, Isabelle will mention it during her morning announcements and, if you visit Nook's Cranny, Timmy and Tommy will bring it up.

Isabelle and the twins will tell you when the shop is being renovated.

The day after this Nook's Cranny will be closed for it's renovation. During this time, you'll be unable to access both the store and the Drop-off box.

You can't access Nook's Cranny at all when its renovating.

Thankfully, the renovation will only last a day and you'll soon be able to enjoy the expanded inventory the new store begins.

Nook's Cranny opening hours and what it sells in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

After you've helped them open their shop, Nook's Cranny will be available every day of the week from 8am to 10pm.

The majority of stock Nook's Cranny offers changes everyday and from player to player, which means that visiting a friend's island will allow you to buy items that are not currently for sale on your island.

When it first opens Nook's Cranny will have two small display items, which you can buy multiple times, and two large display items that you can only buy once per day.

There will also be cabinet which contain the following items:

  • Four wallpapers
  • Four floorings
  • Six flower seeds
  • One wrapping paper
  • One umbrella
  • Medicine
  • Customization kits
  • Party Poppers
  • Saplings
  • Cedar Saplings
  • Your island's native fruit
  • Tools: Flimsy Fishing Rod, Flimsy Net, Flimsy Watering Can, Flimsy Shovel, Flimsy Axe, Slingshot
  • Three DIY recipe sets: DIY for beginners, Test your DIY skills, Wildest Dreams DIY
  • DIY recipes for: Flimsy Axe, Flimsy Shovel, Flimsy Watering Can, Slingshot, Ladder, Vaulting Pole
    • Both Ladder and Vaulting Pole must be unlocked first for their recipes to appear in Nook's Cranny

The wallpaper, flooring, wrapping paper and flower seeds available will change every day.

The cabinet contains a variety of items.

If Nook's Cranny receives enough business, then Tommy and Timmy will be able to renovate the shop. Once that's been completed the amount of stock they can hold will increase.

Alongside everything else that was originally available in Nook's Cranny, you'll now be have the choice of:

  • One seasonal furniture item
  • One luxury item
  • Two umbrellas
  • Nine flower seeds
  • Eight wallpapers
  • Eight floorings
  • Standard level of tools
  • The timer

Aside from the seasonal furniture item, which changes with the seasons, timer and standard tools, all of these items will rotate on a daily basis.

There might not always be a seasonal item on offer, so make sure you keep your eyes open for these rare items - including the elusive kitchen island.

Finally, Timmy and Tommy will also buy turnips from you everyday except for Sunday. They offer two prices every day, with the price change occurring at midday.

Drop-off Box in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

If you've got something that you desperately need to sell when Nook's Cranny is closed in New Horizons, then you can always put it in the Drop-off Box.

The Drop-off Box is located to the left of the door for Nook's Cranny and, as you add items to the box, you'll be able to see your total earnings from items placed inside.

There are, however, three disadvantages to the Drop-off Box.

The first is that everything you place in the Drop-off Box will sell for 20%, then its usual selling price. This means that you will lose Bells if you decide to place items in the Drop-off Box.

The second disadvantage is that you will have to wait till the next day to receive your Bells.

If you do place anything within the Drop-off Box, you'll receive a phone call from the twins the next day, during which they'll tell you exactly how much you've earned. You'll find these Bells in your bank account on the Nook Stop, which is in Residential Services.

Third and finally, turnips can't be placed in the Drop-off Box, because, by the rules of the Stalk Market, turnips must always be sold face-to-face with Tommy and Timmy.

The Animal Crossing 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise is here! We can help you with the new additions - including where to find Brewster, Gyroids, new villagers, ordinances, new fences, storage shed, new hairstyles, Froggy Chair, group stretching and Kapp'n boat tours. Cooking is now unlockable, so you need to know how to make both flour and sugar, as well as how to grow carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Meanwhile, if you're new to Animal Crossing, our New Horizons tips can help with the basics. From the off, there's fish and bugs to catch, flowers and fruit to grow with. One long term goal is building your Happy Home Academy score. Finally, you need tools such as the new ladder and vaulting pole to fully explore.

Hot Item in Animal Crossing: New Horizons explained

Every day in New Horizons, Timmy and Tommy will have a new Hot Item, which they will buy for double the item's regular price.

The Hot Item will always be something you can craft using a DIY recipe, so there's a chance it will be something that you don't know how to make yet.

The sign outside Nook's Cranny will tell you what the current Hot Item is.

Once Nook's Cranny is upgraded, there will be two different Hot Items by day, giving you the opportunity to increase your profits further.

If you do know how to make the Hot Item, then this is the perfect opportunity to earn an awful lot of Bells.

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