How to Change Shop Hours in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Last Updated: March 12, 2022

In your town, most of the retail stores operate during regular business hours, opening around 9 in the morning, and closing at 8 at night. However, if you are a night owl or a morning lark, these hours can be a bit limiting. Waking up early and waiting hours for the rest of the village to open, or staying up late and being unable to interact with your town, can spoil the game experience. Luckily, there is a way for you to alter the circadian rhythm of the town, and have everything open either three hours earlier or close three hours later.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Raising the Approval Rating

1
Check your approval rating. Being able to alter store hours requires that you make an ordinance, but in order to make an ordinance, your approval rating must be 100%. To know what approval rating you currently have, journey to the Town Hall (the purple marker on the map at the bottom screen).
- Enter the Town Hall and sit in the mayor’s chair located behind Isabelle’s desk. Isabelle will approach you once you sit down, and speak to you, giving you a variety of dialogue options.
- Select “Check approval rating” to see how the villagers view you. If it is not yet 100%, there are several things you can do to quickly reach the perfect goal. If it has, you are ready to enact an ordinance.
2
Perform actions worth three points. There are several actions that can raise your approval rating by three; however, you will only receive points the first time you do each action:
- Changing the town music—Speak to Isabelle in the Town Hall. She will give you the option to change the town music, but only if your town is two in-game days old or more.
- Changing the town flag—Speak to Isabelle in the Town Hall.
- Putting something up for sale at Re-Tail—Visiting Re-Tail (the pink arrow icon on the map at the bottom of the screen), and talk to Reese, the pink alpaca.
- Posting something on the bulletin board—Go to the bulletin board next to the train station (northernmost part of town) and hit A on your console, and then enter your message.
- Donating a fish, bug, or fossil to the museum—This can be done after capturing a fish with the fishing rod, catching a bug with the net, or digging up a fossil with the shovel. Enter the museum, which is on the far left side of Main Street, and talk to Blathers.
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3
Perform actions worth one point. These actions can be repeated:
- Removing trash from the water by fishing—At times when you fish, rather than pulling up an animal, you will come up with a piece of junk, which can later be disposed of. Note that this is a random occurrence.
- Introducing yourself to villagers—This can be done by approaching villagers and hitting the A button to converse with them.
- Sending letters—Buy letter paper at the Nookling Junction. Open it in your inventory, enter a message, and send it by giving it to the duck working at the Post Office (found on the left hand side of Main Street).
- Pulling weeds—This can be done by standing over weeds, which appear as brownish green sprouts of grass, and hitting the Y button.
- Watering flowers—This can only be done if you own a watering can, which can be purchased at the Nookling Junction. With the watering can equipped, stand in front of the flowers and hit the A button to water them.
4
Play Animal Crossing: New Leaf daily. You will earn three extra points per day simply by playing.

Image titled Change Shop Hours in Animal Crossing New Leaf Step 4

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Enacting the Ordinance

1
Sit in the mayor’s seat. Once your approval rating has peaked, you will be able to enact four different ordinances, two of which alter the opening and closing times of shops, so go to the Town Hall and sit in the mayor’s seat.
2
Talk to Isabelle. Once you sit in the chair, Isabelle will approach and ask you if you want to enact an ordinance. Tell her yes.
3
Select an ordinance to enact. You can choose either the “Early Bird Town” or “Nightlife Town” ordinance.
- The Early Bird Town ordinance will cause shops to open and close three hours earlier, and villagers to wake up and go to bed three hours earlier.
- The Nightlife Town ordinance will cause shops to open and close three hours later, and villagers to wake up and go to bed three hours later.
4
Pay for the ordinance. After selecting your preferred ordinance, Isabelle will ask you to pay 20,000 bells; pay for it, and the new ordinance will go into effect the following day.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I get the museum gift shop?

Ruby

Top Answerer

The museum gift shop comes from the expansion. To get the expansion, you must donate at least 20 items to the museum and at least one in each category (fossils, bugs, fish and artwork). You must also have spoken to Blathers on 14 separate days (it doesn't have to be consecutive). Eventually you will walk into the museum and see Blathers deep in thought. Go to speak to him and he will suggest the museum expansion. This suggestion will be added to the public work project list. The museum expansion costs 198,000 bells altogether. Once you have paid it off, you will get the museum expansion a day later which comes with a gift shop.