Clean the SupermarketWiki

How to Use Upgrades in Clean the Supermarket — Full Purchase Strategy

Updated:

The complete 12-upgrade purchase strategy: priority order, currency math, synergies, and the loadouts for different run types — speed-completion, 100% completion, casual milestones, perimeter-only grinds.

Published 2026-06-29· Intermediate· intermediate

Why upgrade strategy matters

The 12 progression upgrades in Clean the Supermarket aren't equally valuable, and they aren't equally valuable at all times. Carry Capacity Tier 1 is the highest-ROI purchase in the entire game — but only as your first upgrade. Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ is a meaningful late-game throughput refinement — but it's near-worthless without the carry+speed baseline active first.

This guide walks through the full 12-upgrade purchase strategy: the canonical priority order, the synergies that multiply value, the loadouts for different run types, and the documented mistakes that stall otherwise-competent runs.

The canonical priority order

Tidyverse's documented /build/upgrade-order/ reference assigns each upgrade a priority slot (1-12). The optimal purchase order follows that slot order almost exactly:

| Slot | Upgrade | Tier | Why this slot | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Carry Capacity Tier 1 | S | Doubles per-trip capacity. Highest ROI baseline. | | 2 | Movement Speed Tier 1 | S | Cuts travel ~30%. Multiplies with Carry. | | 3 | Carry Capacity Tier 2 | S | Pushes capacity to 3-4. Batch-mode unlock. | | 4 | Movement Speed Tier 2 | S | Cross-passage shortcut. Mid-store enabler. | | 5 | Carry Capacity Tier 3 | A | 5-6 items per trip. Sweep-mode inflection. | | 6 | Jump Height Tier 1 | A | A7 top-shelf unlock. Completion-mandatory. | | 7 | Movement Speed Tier 3 | B | Back-wall corridor sprint. Speed cap. | | 8 | Auto-Shelve Tier 1 | A | Click-fatigue elimination. Mis-sort mitigation. | | 9 | Carry Capacity Tier 4+ | B | 6-8+ items per trip. Stretched-row solver. | | 10 | Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ | B | Placement-speed refinement. | | 11 | Pickup Range | C | Per-pickup time savings. QoL. | | 12 | Ability Slots | C | Simultaneous active abilities. Endgame stack. |

The order is deliberate: foundational baseline first (slots 1-4), then mid-game multipliers (5-8), then late-game throughput (7, 9, 10), then endgame QoL (11-12). Deviations from this order produce stalled runs.

See the full Upgrade Priority Tier List for the S/A/B/C deep-dive with payback windows.

The S-tier baseline (slots 1-4)

The first four upgrades are non-negotiable for any completion-focused run. They compound multiplicatively:

  • Carry Tier 1 doubles capacity (1→2 items). Effect: 100% currency-per-trip increase.
  • Speed Tier 1 cuts travel ~30%. Effect: 30% wall-clock saved per trip.
  • Carry Tier 2 pushes capacity to 3-4. Effect: another 50-100% capacity gain on top of Tier 1.
  • Speed Tier 2 cuts travel another 20-30%. Effect: cumulative ~50% faster than the unupgraded baseline.

Combined, the S-tier baseline delivers ~3-4× the currency-per-second rate of the unupgraded game. Every subsequent upgrade compounds against this baseline. Skipping any S-tier upgrade degrades every subsequent purchase.

Payback window: Carry Tier 1 pays back in 15-20 items shelved (under 5 minutes of play). Speed Tier 1 pays back in 25-30 items. Carry Tier 2 pays back in 30 items. Speed Tier 2 pays back in 40 items. The full S-tier baseline pays back inside the first 10-15 minutes of any run.

The A-tier mid-game (slots 5, 6, 8)

After S-tier, the A-tier upgrades layer on per-purchase leverage:

Carry Capacity Tier 3 (slot 5)

Pushes per-trip capacity to 5-6 items. The mental model shifts from "how many trips do I need" to "which aisle do I commit to next." Most aisle floor piles become single-trip clears. Pairs specifically with A5 (Drinks), A6 (Snacks), and A10 (Pantry) where item silhouettes batch well at high volume.

Jump Height Tier 1 (slot 6)

The first "unlock"-style upgrade rather than a throughput multiplier. Unlocks A7 (Health & Beauty) top-shelf placements that are physically unreachable without it. Without Tier 1 active, A7 maxes at ~60-70% completion regardless of how many items you sort. Mandatory for 100% completion runs; skippable for 25%/50% milestone-only runs.

Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (slot 8)

Item snaps into the correct slot when you're standing at the correct row. Eliminates the per-placement click action — the highest-fatigue action across the run. Highest value in A4 (Frozen) and A6 (Snacks) where mis-sort risk from visually similar packaging is highest.

The slot 8 placement reflects its prerequisite: Auto-Shelve only fires its full value once Carry Tier 2 + Speed Tier 2 are owned. Buying it earlier wastes its multiplicative potential.

The B-tier late-game (slots 7, 9, 10)

The B-tier upgrades refine throughput in late-game runs:

Movement Speed Tier 3 (slot 7)

Caps the speed progression tree. Biggest impact on A3 (Dairy) and A9 (Meat) — the back-wall corridor traversals. With Tier 3 active, the cold corridor and back-wall meat traversals become chain-able by a single solo sorter.

Carry Capacity Tier 4+ (slot 9)

Pushes single-trip clears past 40-slot stretched-row barriers. Without Tier 4+, late-game stretching caps throughput at the Tier 3 ceiling. With Tier 4+ active, even the most aggressive stretching becomes a single-trip clear.

Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ (slot 10)

Tunes placement speed on stretched rows. Where Tier 1 eliminates the per-slot click action, Tier 2+ reduces the time-per-placement once the click is automatic. Biggest gain in late-game stretched rows (40+ slots).

The C-tier endgame (slots 11-12)

The final two purchases are quality-of-life rather than throughput multipliers:

Pickup Range (slot 11)

Extends the radius at which you interact with floor-pile items. Saves 0.3-0.8 seconds per pickup. Biggest value in A9 (Meat) and A4 (Frozen) where refrigerated case layouts offset items from the standard walking path.

Ability Slots (slot 12)

Enables multiple simultaneous active abilities. Without it, only one ability runs at a time. With Ability Slots active, Auto-Shelve + Pickup Range fire simultaneously — creating a compound late-game state that no other configuration matches.

Synergies that compound

Several upgrade pairs compound multiplicatively beyond their individual effects:

Carry Tier 1 + Speed Tier 1. The foundational pair. More items per trip × less travel time per trip = compound throughput. This pair delivers ~3-4× the currency-per-second rate of the unupgraded baseline.

Carry Tier 2 + Speed Tier 2. The second compound. Mid-store aisles (A5-A8) become tractable. Prerequisite for Auto-Shelve Tier 1.

Carry Tier 3 + Auto-Shelve Tier 1. The sweep-mode pair. Single-trip aisle clears + automatic placement = sustained flow state through entire mid-game.

Carry Tier 4+ + Auto-Shelve Tier 2+. The late-game power pair. 40+ slot stretched rows become single-trip clears with auto-placement. The canonical "100% completion endgame" loadout.

Speed Tier 3 + Pickup Range. The traversal pair. Faster back-wall corridor + extended pickup radius = no walking-back-for-missed-items scenarios.

Auto-Shelve Tier 1+2+ + Pickup Range + Ability Slots. The ability-stack pair. Multiple simultaneous active abilities = compound late-game power state.

Loadouts by run type

Different runs target different completion milestones, and the optimal upgrade loadout shifts accordingly:

Speed completion (sub-30 minute 100%)

Buy S-tier completely (slots 1-4). Then A-tier completely (slots 5, 6, 8). Then B-tier completely (slots 7, 9, 10). Skip C-tier — Pickup Range and Ability Slots don't pay back in a sub-30 window. The S+A+B path is 10 upgrades total; speed-runs purchase all 10 before the 50% completion milestone.

Full 100% completion (no time pressure)

Buy everything in canonical priority order: 1 → 12. All 12 upgrades. C-tier purchases pay off over the long tail as you grind through 75-99% completion percentage. The documented "veteran completion" loadout.

Casual / 25% milestone only

Buy S-tier only (slots 1-4). Stop. The 25% completion milestone is achievable with just the carry+speed baseline; A-tier and beyond are over-investment for short runs.

Solo perimeter-only (A1, A2, A3 focus)

Buy S-tier completely (slots 1-4). Add Carry Tier 3 (slot 5) and skip Jump Height Tier 1 (A7 is center-store, not perimeter). Skip Auto-Shelve entirely (perimeter mis-sort risk is low). Add Speed Tier 3 (slot 7) for the back-wall A3 → A9 traversal. This is the 6-upgrade "perimeter speed" loadout for currency grinding.

Co-op 4-player full completion

All 4 players buy S-tier in canonical order. After S-tier, rotate Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (slot 8) earlier than canonical priority because shared stretching-shelf progress accelerates the mid-store difficulty curve. Two players grab Jump Height Tier 1 for A7 coverage; the other two defer it. Co-op accelerates the priority order by 1-2 slot positions for slots 5-8.

Currency budgeting

Each tier has its own currency-cost profile:

  • S-tier purchases pay back inside 2-3 minutes of activation.
  • A-tier purchases pay back inside 5-7 minutes.
  • B-tier purchases pay back inside 8-12 minutes.
  • C-tier purchases pay back across the entire late-game tail (15-25 minutes).

A full 100% completion run shelves the 1000+ in-game items across multiple cycles (the supermarket cycles through chaos states, so the same item respawns multiple times before final completion). The cumulative items-shelved count across a full run is in the 1,500-3,000 range. This is more than enough currency for all 12 upgrades with significant surplus. There is no "currency starvation" scenario in any documented playstyle.

Upgrade math deep-dive

The compound effects of the canonical priority order are mathematically explicit. Here's the throughput math layer by layer:

Layer 0 — Unupgraded baseline

Carry capacity: 1 item per trip. Movement speed: 100% baseline. Currency-per-second rate: ~0.3 currency/second (varies by aisle and item respawn rate).

Layer 1 — Carry Tier 1 active

Carry capacity: 2 items per trip (100% increase). Movement speed: 100% baseline. Throughput: ~0.6 currency/second (2x baseline). Payback window: 15-20 items shelved (~5 minutes).

Layer 2 — Carry Tier 1 + Speed Tier 1 active

Carry: 2 items. Speed: ~130% baseline (30% faster). Combined throughput: ~0.85 currency/second. Compound multiplier: 2.0 × 1.3 = 2.6x baseline (but actual measured throughput is closer to 2.8x because batch identification compounds with speed). Payback window for Speed Tier 1: 25-30 items.

Layer 3 — Full S-tier baseline (Carry 1+2, Speed 1+2)

Carry: 3-4 items per trip. Speed: ~150-170% baseline. Combined throughput: ~1.3-1.6 currency/second. Compound multiplier: 3.5-4× baseline. By the end of S-tier accumulation (typically ~20-25 minutes into the run), your currency-per-second has roughly quadrupled from the unupgraded baseline.

Layer 4 — Adding Carry Tier 3 (A-tier slot 5)

Carry: 5-6 items per trip. Speed: 150-170%. Combined throughput: ~1.8-2.1 currency/second. The sweep-mode transition begins. Most aisle floor piles become single-trip clears. Compound multiplier: ~6× baseline.

Layer 5 — Adding Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (A-tier slot 8)

Carry: 5-6 items. Speed: 150-170%. Click-fatigue eliminated. Combined throughput: ~2.2-2.5 currency/second. The mis-sort rate drops from ~5-8% (manual placement) to under 1% (automated placement at correct row), which compounds with the throughput by eliminating cleanup cycles.

Layer 6 — Adding Jump Height Tier 1 (A-tier slot 6)

Same throughput as Layer 5 in non-A7 aisles. In A7 specifically: top-shelf placements now possible, unlocking the previously-uncompletable portions. The throughput effect is delta on A7 only — but A7 was previously capped at 60-70% completion, so the percentage-completion contribution is significant.

Layer 7 — Full A-tier active

Carry: 5-6. Speed: 150-170%. Auto-Shelve Tier 1. Jump Height Tier 1. Combined throughput: ~2.3-2.6 currency/second. Compound multiplier: ~7-8× baseline. This is the canonical "sweep-mode" state.

Layer 8 — Adding B-tier upgrades (Speed Tier 3, Carry Tier 4+, Auto-Shelve Tier 2+)

Carry: 6-8 items per trip. Speed: ~200% baseline. Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ placement speed. Combined throughput: ~2.8-3.2 currency/second. Compound multiplier: ~9-10× baseline. Stretched-row rows (40+ slots) become single-trip clears.

Layer 9 — Full 12-upgrade loadout

Add Pickup Range and Ability Slots. The cumulative effect is per-pickup time savings (0.3-0.8 sec/pickup) and simultaneous active abilities (Auto-Shelve + Pickup Range fire together). Combined throughput: ~3.0-3.5 currency/second. Compound multiplier: ~10-12× baseline. This is the canonical "endgame power state" used in sub-30-minute speed runs.

The cumulative ROI

Across a full 100% completion run, the cumulative currency earnings are 1,500-3,000 currency (multiple respawn cycles compound the item count). The total cost of all 12 upgrades is approximately 800-1,200 currency. The cumulative upgrade-purchase tax is roughly 40-50% of the gross earnings. The remaining 50-60% surplus is what funds the late-game refinement layers.

There is no documented currency-starvation scenario in any documented playstyle. Even with the most expensive upgrades active, the surplus is significant.

Five upgrade-strategy mistakes

Mistake 1 — Buying Auto-Shelve before Carry Tier 2. Auto-Shelve's value scales with per-trip volume. Buying it while carrying 1-2 items per trip wastes ~70% of the upgrade's potential. The fix: wait until Carry Tier 2 minimum, ideally Carry Tier 3, before purchasing Auto-Shelve.

Mistake 2 — Buying Jump Height Tier 1 without A7 focus. Jump Height's primary value is A7 top-shelf placements. If your run doesn't target A7, the upgrade has marginal value elsewhere. The fix: only buy Jump Height Tier 1 if you're committed to clearing A7 to 100% in this run.

Mistake 3 — Skipping Speed Tier 1 for Carry Tier 2. Some players try to front-load both carry tiers, deferring Speed Tier 1 to slot 4. Documented as viable only in solo perimeter-only runs. For runs that include mid-store aisles, skipping Speed Tier 1 delays mid-game momentum by 15-20% wall-clock.

Mistake 4 — Hoarding currency for B-tier without finishing S+A. Some players save currency for late-game upgrades by skipping intermediate purchases. B-tier upgrades only fire their full value once the S+A baseline is active. Buying Carry Tier 4+ before Tier 3 produces less value than the simpler Tier 3 purchase.

Mistake 5 — Buying Ability Slots without other ability-tier upgrades. Some players buy Ability Slots early as a hedge. Ability Slots has zero value without other ability-tier upgrades to stack. Auto-Shelve Tier 1+2+ and Pickup Range are the canonical stackable upgrades. The fix: buy Ability Slots only after owning at least two ability-stackable upgrades.

Related guides