To unlock every shop at the Outpost you have to progress on the main quest line which I think is not very elegant considering the main quests are supposed to be unlinked to any other progress in the game. I really liked the idea of the teddy bear quest to unlock the Ursa Miner Shop or the penguin bosses to unlock the penguin stores. Why not build upon this idea and unlock all the Outpost stores via small quests at the Outpost, unrelated to the main quests?
Honestly, I'm more surprised they didn't think to do this. One of the taglines for the game is that you can choose your own path, but no matter what you're funneled into the main storyline to at least some degree. You can't properly make a colony, buy or sell critters and produce, or get Teleporters until you clear the Erchius mission. Then you have to gradually unlock more of the remaining shops as you do more of the main storyline missions, and I don't think that everything save for Treasured Trophies unlocks until you've gotten past either the Avian mission or the Apex mission. Maybe it could go like this: Frogg Furnishing: Just gather up some different kinds of wood and metal for raw materials to help him open sooner. Sign Shop: Perhaps a shipment might have gotten stuck somewhere and you need to help get it moving again. 2-Stop Teleshop: Held up by bandits, possibly? Fake Licence Shop: A few pixels to speed things up, nudge nudge, wink wink? Tech Station: Unlock all the basic techs and unlock at least one upgrade?
