Shopping Quests & Towns

Because my high school group cycled GMs session to session, we usually had several people comfortable with costing items and with running NPCs; so multiple characters could be run simultaneously through minor pre-game activities, like shopping; and it was our custom that when a PC went into a shop, they could ask the shopkeep if they had anything interesting, and whoever was running the NPC would try to come up with something new.

I got two books from a discount bin - As Seen On TV by Lou Harry & Sam Stall (2002), and 283 Useful Ideas from Japan by Leonard Koren (1988) - and if I don't use them for random town stuff I'll never use them for anything.

Not ideal, but I think it's the seed of something good. 

Location: holiday invented for marketing.
Shop: a guide to tapping into government pork barrel funds (gets lost easily), seller says a certain public figure would benefit from it.
also: exhaustive library on themed subjects (requires exhausting maintenance).

Location: police mannequins placed as (effective) reminders to drive carefully.
Cafe: bikes deliver glass dishes in special springs and shock absorbers to avoid spillage, and collect dishes hours later from your doorstep.
Serves: mineral/vitamin drinks, with ginseng root, viper tincture, royal jelly, rodent/snake organs.

Location: modular and semi-permeable sidewalk.
Services: taxi whose karaoke (or tv) gives drunk passengers something to do besides hassle the driver.