Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life — the 12 establishments from 300 to 8,000, price, unlocking and opening order

On an island in Tomodachi Life: Dream Island, the question is never "what can I build?" but "with what money?". The twelve establishments cost, all told, 26,300: from the Restaurant at 300, by far the cheapest, to the Ferris Wheel at 8,000, which alone is worth more than the seven 1,000-cost buildings combined.

But the price list isn't the opening list. The game itself unlocks the first buildings as your residents arrive — the Convenience Store as soon as the first Mii is created, the Clothing Store with the third — then leaves the rest of the choices to you. And those choices matter: buying the Reclaim Corner before the Ferris Wheel changes the trajectory of a playthrough.

One last clarification, since the confusion keeps coming up: the wishing fountain is not one of the twelve. It appears on its own once the first Mii levels up, cannot be bought, and even gives you a cash gift once a day.

The twelve establishments cost 26,300 in total, with 8,000 for the Ferris Wheel alone

Here is the full list, in the order of the French catalog, with the unlock condition where it is documented.

A word on currency: English-language catalogs list these amounts in dollars, for lack of localization. French players, meanwhile, count in euros.

You don't choose how the game starts: one Mii for the Convenience Store, seven for the Workshop

The first six establishments aren't left to your discretion. They're triggered by the number of residents created, almost always paired with a request from a Mii — the famous yellow speech bubble above their head. The chain is clear: one Mii for the Convenience Store, three for the Clothing Store, four — including two pairs of friends among them — for the Décor Store, five for the Urban Planning Center, seven for the Creation Workshop and the TV Station.

One inconsistency deserves to be pointed out rather than resolved: the Décor Store is offered starting at 4 Mii, yet it costs 3,000 and ranks tenth in the catalog. The most plausible explanation: a building is offered early, then paid for once you can afford it. This reading isn't confirmed — don't mistake the price order for an unlock order.

The last six conditions don't come from the catalog: 8 Mii for the Restaurant and the Market, two couples for the Ferris Wheel

The Urban Planning Center's catalog says nothing about these six, but two French guides published in April 2026 (jeuxvideo.com and retrogems.fr) document them and agree on five of them. The unlock conditions for the Restaurant, the Treasures shop, the Photo Studio, the Buyback Shop, the Ferris Wheel, and the Market are therefore not established, and we'd rather say so than hand you six made-up conditions.

Another consequence of this English-language source: the shop names it cites don't exist in the French version of the game, which displays descriptive labels — "Clothing Store," "Décor Store," "Urban Planning Center." Don't look for a shop name in your menu.

The payment order: the Restaurant as soon as it appears, the Buyback Shop before the Market, the Ferris Wheel last

Once the mandatory step is cleared — and for buildings offered early but not yet paid for — the choice is up to you. This concerns the order in which you pay for them, not the order in which the game offers them to you. Here's the order the numbers support.

1. The Restaurant, at 300, as soon as it appears. It unlocks around the 8th Mii, so after the buildings that are offered automatically — but as soon as it's available, buy it without a second thought: it costs less than a third of the first tier at 1,000, and it's the only purchase on the island that requires no sacrifice. As a bonus, it benefits Mii couples and those who want to chat, which is the game's social engine.
2. The City Planning Office, at 1,000, before the Decor Shop, at 3,000. Both sell decorations, but not at the same price. The City Planning Office costs three times less and its 74 items start very low: fences from 2.50, trees at 7, spherical streetlamp at 10, public bench at 25. Across the way, the Decor Shop's 105 interior sets range from the All-White Style at 20 up to the Golden Style at 10,000. Opening the decor shop too early means paying 3,000 for a showcase you can't afford to clear out.
3. The Buyback Shop, at 3,000. This is the only establishment that earns money instead of spending it. The catalogue holds 246 treasures, which your Mii accumulate without being able to cash them in before it opens, and its description promises a buyback "at a good price."
4. The Crafting Workshop, at 1,000, then the Treasures shop, at 1,000. This order is not negotiable: Treasures sells exactly what the workshop makes. Don't expect everything from it, though: only food is available immediately, clothing, treasures and island layout unlock at the wishing fountain, and interiors, house exteriors and decorative items require a level 10 fountain. If your fountain is low-level, the workshop will remain a kitchen for a long time.
5. The Market, at 5,000. It offers low-priced items, with different stock in the morning, at midday and in the evening: three daily visits at low prices, meaning that many savings on the day's food and clothing purchases. Expensive to open, but it lightens everyday spending.
6. The Ferris Wheel, at 8,000. It offers a view of the island and pleases everyone, and that's it: no returns, no stock, no savings. Buying it first means denying yourself the other eleven for a very long time.

That leaves the Photo Studio and the TV Station, at 1,000 each. The TV Station becomes essential on its own around the seventh Mii; the Photo Studio, whose unlock condition isn't documented, brings in no revenue and can wait between two useful purchases.

A game frozen since July 23: this guide has no expiration date

No deadline to watch out for, and that's good news for your savings plans. The latest version of the game is 1.0.4, released on July 23, 2026; there is no 1.0.5. The four updates released since the April 16, 2026 launch are exclusively bug-fix updates: none of them added content, so none of them affected the prices above.

The plan fits in one sentence: the Restaurant as soon as it appears at the 8th Mii, the Town Hall before the Décor Shop, the Buyback Shop as soon as a treasure has dropped in a minigame, then the Market, then the Ferris Wheel. You'll need 26,300 to unlock everything, but in this order, the island foots part of the bill for you.