UIP Warehouse

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Welcome to the UIP Warehouse - the largest shop on RetroMC!

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UIP Warehouse
Building Information
Owner	aq2a
Category	Warehouse
Public	Yes
Opened	February 17th, 2024
Closed	TBD
Location
Dimension	Overworld
Settlement	UIP Factory

The UIP Warehouse is the largest shop on RetroMC. It contains nearly all obtainable items, and is located within the UIP Factory. Designed and built by  aq2a, it has the storage capacity for over 11,200,000 items, and contains 6,528 chests. It can be reached with /warp warehouse as of February 17th, 2024.

History

The Warehouse began as the second structure to be built as a part of the UIP Factory. Construction began in late 2023 and finished in early 2024. The building was constructed by  aq2a, with the help of  CruxyMC and  Jcheese7.

Grand Opening

The Warehouse entered an open beta for price testing on January 25th, 2024. It officially opened on February 17th, with the addition of a public warp. This additions significantly increased player traffic to the shop, and shortly there after, advertisements were placed around spawn town to encourage players to use the warp.

Starting with a very low stock, the shop lost a significant amount of money during it's first few weeks of operation, as selling prices were significantly higher than competitors. To many players, The Warehouse meant easy money, and for shopkeepers, it was a way to instantly sell their stock to a buyer who would buy anything they wanted to sell, often at a better price.

This significant player attention would help cement The Warehouse as a staple on the server.

A UIP Warehouse advertisement.

Culture shift

The high selling prices along with new money making methods being discovered by the larger player base lead to a rapid growth for The Warehouse in spring of 2024. This lead to a culture shift in the market. Previously, players would place items up for sale in their own shops scattered around the mall. But now, there was a shop that would buy as much as you were willing to sell often at a higher price than what could be considered standard in /warp mall . This lead to more players buying and selling to The Warehouse instead of using the player market.

Iron shortages

In the summer of 2024, an old player,  NotcX would purchase nearly all of The Warehouse's Iron storages for his construction of a second World Trade Center. This would quickly lead to many complaints as The Warehouse was "Out of Iron again!". Despite  aq2a's best effort, the iron shortage would not be quenched. No matter how much iron was sold,  NotcX would purchase all of it. This repeating cycle would continue for a prolonged period of time. This eventually lead to the first price increase in The Warehouse's history, in an attempt to discourage the purchase and encourage the sale of iron.

Advertising Controversy

During June of 2024, a long time player on the server joined and was extremely displeased with The Warehouse's advertisements around Spawn Town. He proceeded to destroy all of the signs, and make sarcastic comments in the discord server. This was not challenged by  aq2a as Spawn Town law does restrict advertising to a degree. This small controversy allegedly lead to a larger confrontation involving staff members, but the details are still confidential.

Operations

Founded January 13th 2024, the UIP Warehouse, also known as The Warehouse is the official UIP shop located inside the UIP Factory. It contains nearly every obtainable item in beta 1.7.3. In The Warehouse, these items can be bought and sold. Item pricing is calculated using a financial model built by  aq2a which attempts to undercut Admin shop prices by 20%, for buying, and raises the selling price of items to 20% above Admin Shop value. This financial model allows The Warehouse to stay 'self-sufficient' by encouraging players to sell items to The Warehouse and maintain a constant stock, instead of selling them to the Admin Shop, essentially "deleting" the resources. This, in tandem with the UIP Factory's farming facilities, allows players to have a 'job' to earn consistent money.

Shops

View from the warp.

One of The Warehouse's aisles.

The Warehouse contains nearly all obtainable blocks with a few exceptions, mostly in regards to items that are transitional, or have a single purpose such as Bricks (item). All of these items can be bought an sold in small and large amounts. More common materials are sold in amounts of 8, 32, 64, 128, and 256, while more rare items are sold in quantities of 1, 8, and 64. Not all available chests are open to the public as of yet (to prevent massive money losses), but shops are expanded at request.

Functionality

The Warehouse is a customer-stocked shop. All stock comes from the player base, the store is not stocked by the owner. Originally thought to be a net loss of money for the UIP, The Warehouse has proved itself to be a profitable venture. During it's first few months of operation it earned approximately $16,000 on its own, without any intervention. Many materials are priced in such a way to allow for people to make money crafting. This means that customers may buy raw materials, (such as wood and sugarcane) craft a more advanced resource, (such as a bookshelf), and sell it back to The Warehouse and earn a profit. This helps keep rarer blocks stocked, while also freeing space for the storage of more common blocks.

Limitations

While The Warehouse attempts to let players sell to it consistently, it is simply impossible to do so for every item. Some expensive items have limits set on them. This is to ensure The Warehouse stays self-sufficient. The store is constantly maintained by it's owner  aq2a, and all prices are subject to change according to market fluctuations. If The Warehouse goes broke, materials are sold to player market shops to get enough money to continue business.

Trivia

- The Warehouse lost $60,000 on it's first day of operation.

- The Warehouse used to have a system that involved consistent cash injections from UIP funds to keep it working. This system has since been discarded when it was discovered the business model was sustainable long-term.

- The Warehouse has gone broke twice since opening its doors to the public.

- Cobblestone was the first completely filled material in the store.

-  aq2a is sometimes referred to as a "McDonald's Worker" given his habit to log on once a day to check stock and the shop's balance