Shop robberies

When you can start

Once the walkthrough is over: its last step is a hold-up. Civilians only, no level needed. You need something in your hand that frightens the clerk: any gun, melee weapon or thrown weapon, even a stun gun. Bare hands, a petrol can, a fire extinguisher, a ball, a snowball or a flare do nothing. You can’t rob while cuffed, in jail, on a mission or in another robbery. Before the walkthrough reaches its hold-up step, a robbery is refused.

Where

The 24/7s and the gas stations with a shop, liquor stores, Ammu-Nations, the pawn shop in Strawberry, the clothing stores (Ponsonbys, Suburban, Binco, Discount Store), Pibwasser’s Country Bar, Bahama Mamas, Tequi-la-la and the Vanilla Unicorn. The jeweller and the banks have pages of their own.

How it works

1. Aim at the clerk. The robbery starts at once, and a bar shows how frightened he is. Alone, it fills in about 3.3 seconds with a knife, 2.2 with a pistol and 1.2 with a shotgun. A second robber aiming in the first 3 seconds adds a lot; a shot near him jumps the bar; wounding him jumps it further and can kill him.
2. He gives in at the top of the bar. He opens the till and hands cash over every second, straight into your pocket. He keeps going while the bar stays above 70%, so you can lower the gun to reload.
3. The panic button. The moment he gives in he’s pressed it: the police are told a robbery is in progress at that shop, without your name. Most alarms are silent; Ammu-Nation’s screams, and whoever tripped it is told the police know where they are. A loud alarm flashes the shop on every officer’s map and rings for up to 2 minutes; people on the street run from it.
4. The till empties in 9 to 26 seconds. Each extra robber on the same clerk makes him 35% faster, and a worn duffel bag faster too. A shot while he’s emptying the till hurries him up for a few seconds. A clerk with an empty till stands with his hands up and says so; the first time you hear it, you get a hint on what to do next.
5. The safe, if the shop has one:
   • E works the combination, which the clerk gives whoever held him up, good for 90 seconds. It takes 5 seconds at the dial and makes no noise. Without it you crack it by ear: two goes a job. Tap the key to hear the click; hold it to sweep the dial fast and silently. When you find the click, the dial and number flash green and your pad rumbles. Three wrong settings lose that go.
   • G drills it: you need a drill, and it can overheat. The noise is reported as a “Safe cracking” scene.
   • H cuts it with a blow torch in 45 seconds, and it’s reported too.
   • Opening a safe is robbing the shop: if no robbery is running, it starts one. If the job ends while you’re still at it, the safe stays shut.
   • Drills and blow torches are on the counter of every 24/7 and gas station; Ammu-Nation always stocks the blow torch (and the gas mask).
6. It ends a second after the last robber walks out, 10 seconds after there’s nothing left, or after 10 minutes. Quitting the game mid-job with any of the loot on you still counts as the robbery: you’re charged, the cooldowns start, and the last robber leaving shuts the shop.

Crews and the split

Up to two robbers a shop: to join, aim at the clerk. In a club every barman has his own till. Till cash is shared on each handover between the robbers on that clerk; the safe and any wallets are split evenly at the end. Every robber gets the XP in full.

Pay

Shop	One till holds
24/7, gas station	$800 to $2,000
Liquor store	$1,000 to $2,500
Bar	$1,200 to $3,000
Clothing store	$1,500 to $3,500
Pawn shop	$1,500 to $4,000
Nightclub, Vanilla Unicorn	$2,000 to $4,500 a bar
Ammu-Nation	$2,000 to $5,000
A shop safe	$900 to $3,200, then empty for 6 hours

Each robbery you get away with is 60 civilian XP and 20 Robbing XP.

Armed clerks

Some clerks keep a gun under the counter and shoot instead of opening the till:

Shop	Chance	Weapon
Ammu-Nation	50%	Pump shotgun
Pawn shop	30%	Pistol
Liquor store	15%	Pistol
Everywhere else	5%	Pistol

Shoot him in the forearm or hand to disarm him and he goes back to the till; anywhere else can kill him. If he dies before he opened the till, the job pays nothing; after, you keep what he handed over.

The customers

The customers nearby are caught up in it. Each cowers, kneels, hides, runs, phones the police, or has a go at you. Panic spreads from the ones who run or cower to the people near them. Point a gun at someone dialling and the phone drops. Hold a gun on someone kneeling, cowering or hiding, up close for a moment, and they hand over their wallet ($20 to $400), and will certainly phone it in afterwards.

A customer on the phone shows as a red dot on the map to robbers and wanted players, with a red marker over their head when you’re near, and “On the phone to the police” with a countdown once you’re close.

What they do depends on the building: at the jeweller most cower, at Ammu-Nation most run, and everywhere else it’s a mix.

A gun in your hand makes the ones who would have a go rarer. Point it at one who does and he usually backs down.

Afterwards

• A hold-up anybody noticed is 1 star, and 1 more if somebody reports it. The panic button means an ordinary shop always notices. A statement from somebody who only saw a mask gives the police a description of the mask, not a name. See Wanted level and heat.
• The shop shuts for 10 minutes, and you can’t rob it again for 10 minutes; every other shop is fair game. /rcd lists your cooldowns. Walk in meanwhile and a wanted customer is turned away (“I can’t help you if the cops are after you!”); anybody else is told how many minutes until it reopens, or, after a scare that never became a robbery, that there was a situation here.
• Hot cash. While an officer is online and you’re still inside that job’s red circle, being arrested takes the till money off you, and dying drops it. Out of the circle, it’s just money.
• Shops remember. One hold-up that paid, or a gun on the staff twice, and they know your face (or the mask you wore) next time. Go back soon after, or a third time, and the clerk goes for the alarm the moment you walk in: a short warning, then a few seconds depending on how steady he is, with a ring over his head and an ALARM bar. Walk out, hold a gun on him until his hands go up, or hurt or gas him, and it stops. A look the staff didn’t see teaches them nothing. The grudge fades with time, and buying something there buys a little back.

Tips

• Mask up before you go in: a camera that sees your bare face names you on the spot.
• Bring a second robber: the till opens faster and empties faster.
• A drill or blow torch counts as illegal in a police search.

Related: Wanted level and heat · Gangs and street crime · Jail and the law · The jeweller · Banks and hacking