The first floor is brightly lit, with windows looking out onto the surrounding area (an industrial park) as well as the foyer, with fearful cashiers charging a pittance for items.

This is the floor of the new, but also of the mundane.

Items here are sealed in their packages, laid out in cardboard displays, latched onto shelf hooks. They proclaim their brands with bold colors and graphics. Many are toys, plastic and clam-shelled.

Most have just one or two things that set them apart from what one might find in a normal store. Misspellings abound, with vowels especially being swapped about willy-nilly. A few packages are in languages that are totally unknown; linguists have been known to purchase toys here, give the figures to their children, and then spend years puzzling over the packaging.

Barring a few outliers, though, the products generally work. The toys are toys, the cookware cookware. Many of the appliances also function, though the occasional plug must be rewired as it fits no plugs on this world. Perhaps this is also why the products tend to be useless entertainment, books and toys and games, with a smattering of novelties and unitaskers for kitchens.

To find something really useful, one must descend down to the second floor, and to danger.

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