Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has 15 building types, counting the single and shared Mii houses. You don’t buy them with island levels: most open as your population grows (three, four, five, seven and eight residents are the key milestones), while the rest depend on friendships, romance, minigame treasures and your first Palette House creation.
The island you start with is almost empty: a handful of homes and a lot of open grass. Everything else arrives gradually, and the game rarely tells you what the next unlock is or why a new shop suddenly appeared overnight. This guide lists every facility, explains what each one is for and shows the condition that brings it to your island, so you can plan your next few play sessions instead of guessing.
Unlike many life sims, Living the Dream does not tie its buildings to an island level or a currency gate. The triggers are social. The number of residents you have created is the biggest factor, followed by how many of them are friends, whether any couples have formed and what you have done in the Palette House.
Meeting a requirement does not always build the shop instantly. In several cases a resident first shows a yellow thought bubble asking for something the island doesn’t have yet, such as new clothes, a bench or a homemade meal. Answering that request is what sets construction in motion. If you have hit a population milestone and nothing has appeared, check your Miis for a yellow bubble before assuming something is wrong.
Yellow bubbles are worth answering early in general. They are also how residents ask for food, gifts and outfits, so a Mii with a yellow bubble is usually a Mii you can make happier on the spot.
Use the search box to filter the table by building name, function or requirement.
| Building | What it does | How to unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Mii House (single) | Home for one resident | Appears each time you create a new Mii |
| Fresh Kingdom Food Mart | Sells food with daily specials | Create your first Mii and solve their first problem |
| Wishing Fountain | Turns Warm Fuzzies into Wishes; pays out a daily donation | Level up a Mii for the first time |
| Where & Wear Clothing | Outfits and clothing pieces, new Daily Specials | Three residents, then a Mii asks for new clothes |
| T&C Reno Home Supply | Complete interior sets for homes | Four residents and at least two friendships |
| Quik Build Amenities | Outdoor decor: benches, lights, plants, fences | Five residents, then a Mii asks for a bench |
| Palette House Workshop | Design your own food, clothes, treasures and more | Seven residents, then a Mii asks for a homemade meal |
| MNN News Station | Daily news clip about your island | Seven residents |
| Tomoria Restaurant | Hangout spot where Miis eat together | Eight residents |
| Marketplace | Rotating discounted items and night-time mystery bags | Around eight residents |
| Foto-Tomo Photography | Photo studio for posing your Miis | Many friendships and happy residents (reported as 10 friendships or about 25 happiness level-ups) |
| My Treasures | Sells the treasures you design | Create your first treasure in the Palette House |
| Rite Price Pawn Shop | Buys unwanted treasures for cash | Collect several treasures from minigames |
| MiiWheel Ferris Wheel | Date spot and the Poke the Ferris Wheel minigame | Romance on the island, typically two couples |
| Mii House (shared) | Up to eight Miis living together | Offered when one Mii moves in with another |
Want to keep track as you play? Tick buildings off here; your progress is saved in this browser.
The first shop you get and the one you will visit most. Feeding residents is one of the main ways to raise their happiness and level them up, and the store refreshes its Daily Specials every day. Its range starts with foods familiar to your region and widens over time until the full menu is available, so a dish you can’t find in week one may simply not be stocked yet.
Technically the heart of progression rather than a shop. You deposit Warm Fuzzies here to level up the fountain and earn Wishes, then spend those Wishes on goods, Little Quirks, decorations, homes and travel tickets. Make a habit of stopping by once a day as well, because the fountain also collects a money donation from your residents that you can pick up daily.
Sells both separate pieces and full outfits. The Daily Specials tab rotates every day, which makes it worth a quick look even when nobody is asking for clothes. Anything you buy can be given to residents who request a new look.
Instead of individual furniture, T&C Reno sells complete interior sets that restyle a Mii’s whole home at once. Its specials rotate on a weekly rather than daily cycle, so check in at least once a week if you’re hunting for a particular theme.
The outdoor counterpart to T&C Reno: benches, streetlights, vending machines, flowers, hedges, fences and similar pieces you can place around the island. It is the shop to visit once the basics are covered and you want the island to feel lived-in.
The creative studio where you draw your own designs. Food is available from the start; clothing, treasures and landscaping become available through the Wishing Fountain, and the more elaborate categories such as interiors and decorative objects arrive only after the fountain has been levelled up considerably. Designs made here can be given to residents as gifts.
A small shop that stocks the treasures you have designed, so you can buy copies of your own creations. It opens after you make your first treasure in the Palette House, which in turn requires unlocking the treasure category with a Wish.
Treasures pile up quickly once your Miis start inviting you to minigames, and Rite Price is where you turn the ones you don’t need into cash. It appears after you have received several treasures from residents, so simply accepting minigame invitations is enough to unlock it.
Treasures are also collectibles: there are 247 of them, and the final 12 entries are trophies. If you’re aiming for a complete collection, keep at least one of each treasure and only sell the duplicates.
Broadcasts a short daily news clip about events on your island and lets you replay and save earlier broadcasts. It doesn’t sell anything, but it is a handy way to catch moments you missed between sessions.
A restaurant where residents meet up, share a meal and spend time with each other. It opens at the same eight-resident milestone as the Marketplace, so the two often appear within a short time of each other.
A rotating market rather than a fixed shop. During the day it offers discounted items, while at night it switches to a mystery bag containing random goods. Because the stock changes over the course of the day, visiting at different times can turn up different deals.
A photo studio where you pose your Miis, with more poses unlocking as you progress. It depends on how sociable and happy your island is: some players unlocked it once ten friendships had formed, others after around 25 happiness level-ups, so the safest approach is to grow both. Either way, it tends to be one of the later unlocks on a small island.
Usually the last building to arrive. It is tied to romance, and players generally see it once two couples have formed on the island; even then, the offer can take a little while to appear. Once it is built, Miis may invite you to play Poke the Ferris Wheel, a minigame in which you use three pokes to bring your resident’s gondola down to the loading zone.
The Concert Hall from the 3DS Tomodachi Life does not return in Living the Dream, so there is no hidden requirement to hunt for.
There are 15 building types, two of which are the single and shared versions of the Mii house.
No. Buildings are unlocked by your number of residents, their friendships and romances, minigame treasures and Palette House creations, not by island level.
Several shops wait for a resident’s yellow thought bubble request first. Look for a Mii asking for clothes, a bench or a homemade meal and solve that problem.
The MiiWheel Ferris Wheel is usually the last one, as it depends on couples forming on your island.
No, the Concert Hall from the original 3DS game is not part of Living the Dream.