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Considering building a large shop (feedback/questions)
#1
A user and I were discussing about shops the other day, and the most popular ones, and it got me thinking that I wanted to make a large shop for my next build (a shop where one could purchase everything you can think of - not just the most common blocks or items. That means a big gardening section with every type of flower, all the grass and leaf types, vines, etc. - a thorough selection, you get the idea, and this idea would expand to each and every item type). Building wouldn't be such a problem, I have the time, resources, and spot, and I'd build simply so as to keep lag to a minimum, which would be necessary for such a large store. But I have a few concerns about certain items and stocking the store.

Problem 1 is that I've noticed other users, even with popular stores, have trouble stocking a few certain items, such as quartz blocks and glowstone. I can't fly, and I only have 2 homes, which means that I essentially cannot effectively use the res world, as I can't set homes there (need them for in progress builds) and I can't move around effectively to find the biomes I need. It would take me a long time to reach an unraided part of the Nether. I never realized until recently just how game-changing it is, economy and resource-gathering wise, to be able to fly. I can't do it, so I don't think there's any way I could stock blocks like this.

Problem 2 would be the fact that I am unwilling to buy certain items, based on trends I've noticed. One example is diamonds - I have never once bought a diamond from any player's store, and I can't see why anyone would do so. Just making one pickaxe would add up to 150 dollars because of the server shop's set price, and I've made the cost assessment - buying diamonds from any player store would be a massive waste of money because of the ease of going and finding even just one yourself. For those of you who have shops, do your diamonds even sell? I can't really understand how they would. There are other such items, too, namely anything in the server shop that can be sold - especially redstone blocks, iron blocks, gold blocks, etc.

One proposed solution I have to both of these problems is that I build the store, stocking the items like flowers, rails, dyes, etc. (the items I could gather or craft myself) in my own sell chests and let somebody else place signs on and sell in the nether quartz, glowstone, etc. chests. Another option is, I could build the store and then sell it to somebody.
 
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#2
There are things you need to consider:

1. Excessive amounts of shop signs in one place degrades fps quite quickly, you want people to go to your shop and not have 10 fps.
2. The shop will be very difficult to keep in stock; it will take Ages to restock some things. Also, there are obvious items that people will basically never buy such as furnaces or what not, which does not make up for the effort of selling it.
3. There will be quite a lot of competition. There are specialty shops that are guaranteed to beat your price since they obviously have the farms or the resources to specialize in selling those items. It's basically assembly line logic, specialists are more efficient than jack of all trades so to speak. If someone invests 100% of their time onvillager farming and you can only invest 25% of you time because you got other things to stock (wood, flowers, etc), they will most likely have a better trading center and lower prices.

In summary I encourage you to specialize. I did too, and earned a fortune selling the cheapest enchanted books on the server (before the reset ....).

Now, of course there has been a couple of successful everything-shops in the past such as Uri's and 7-11 because it offers convenience, but that comes with time and a lot of effort. However it'll be hard to rise to that point if specialized shops become famous. I don't think anyone bought any enchanted book frequently from anyone else after I had set up my book shop before the reset.

Also, if you try to buy them out as a counter-measure, then they're the real winners as they sell out quick since you are buying from them, and you only earn a little bit of difference.
 
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