Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim Crime Pays the Rent

You never really know who's on the other side of the counter. A customer might be a security officer fishing for evidence, a revolutionary looking for leverage, or a fallen elite testing how useful you are. Approve the sale, refuse it, report it, or look away: someone is always taking notes. Reputation buys access and protection, but it also paints a target on your back. One concrete moment: a woman asks to buy water, you relabel the cheap toxic batch as the good stuff, and she pulls out test strips. Getting caught costs you standing with people you were starting to care about.

This is not picking a theme for your shop, it is picking which trouble you are willing to monetize. Every item carries its own risks too. Suppliers overstate value and customers push their luck, so your margin depends on how well you read what is in front of you.

Beyond buying low and selling high, you can make your own goods, and the crafting runs deep. The chemistry and production lines reward anyone who likes to min-max their way to profit.

The world does its work through items rather than long explanations. Tampons are a luxury good. The cheap water everyone in the Lower Levels drinks is known to be toxic. Spring water is so expensive most people there would never taste it even dying of thirst. Addictive opiates are cheap and easy to get; toilet paper is not. Between shifts you can dig through the scrapyard for unexpected finds, and a daily newspaper reports events that move prices. Factions fight each other for control, a rogue AI chip is turning its hosts into something that looks like everyone else until it does not, and mob shakedowns come around often enough that you will be tempted by their insurance.