Players of Stardew Valley might be surprised to learn that Pelican Town isn’t the only place they can explore during their farming experience. In fact, players can actually go to the mysterious Calico Desert to gather more supplies and procure rarer items to bring back to their beloved farm. And within Calico Desert are also colorful figures to make friends with, such as Sandy, who runs the Oasis store.
However, while Sandy always stays within Calico Desert, she’s not simply the typical “shopkeeper” NPC in Stardew Valley. In fact, players can develop a friendship with Sandy and have her as one of their closest confidants. And while Sandy seemingly has a pretend persona, there are ways for players to get Sandy to open up to them more.
Who Is Sandy?
When players enter the Calico Desert for the first time, they may have stumbled upon the store known only as the Oasis. Managed by the beautiful yet mysterious Sandy, Sporting fashionably red hair and a blue gown, fans would be surprised to realize that this good-natured shopkeep could actually become one of their closest friends in Stardew Valley.
Players can meet Sandy by the time they repair the bus via the vault bundle or through the purchase of a Bus for 40,000g through the Joja Community Development Form. As she would eventually reveal, “Sandy” is simply her nickname, as it is “good for business.” This mysterious character already makes Sandy worth the friendship, especially once players get insights on the deeper aspects of her personality.
Sandy’s Relationships
Players curious about Sandy’s personality might want to look into the people she regularly interacts with across their Stardew Valley playthrough. By the time players have spent enough interactions and gets to connect the dots, here are some of the people Sandy is closely associated with:
- Emily: When players meet Sandy for the first time, she will mention that Emily, one of the Stardew Valley romance options, wrote to her about “the new farmer,” being the player.
- Mr. Qi: The mysterious Mr. Qi is the current proprietor of the Casino, located just behind the Oasis. According to Sandy, she tolerates Mr. Qi’s business but they aren’t necessarily close.
- Desert Trader: Sandy also has connections with the Desert Trader, another popular trader in the Calico Desert. Players can get this connection will also state that a friend of hers has a “shop in the desert,” referring to the Desert Trader.
Sandy’s Schedule
Players who want to develop friendships with Villagers in Stardew Valley will likely want to “catch” them within in the vicinity in order to provide them with gifts and engage with interactions. In turn, players would want to analyze where characters at any given time. Luckily with Sandy, her nature as a shopkeeper means she’s almost always at the Oasis. However, players need to check out these particular intricacies within her schedule:
- The Oasis: Sandy is located at the Oasis between 9AM to 11:50PM.
- Fall 15: During Fall 15, which is Sandy’s birthday, the Oasis is open only until 1PM. Thai is because Sandy will choose this time to leave and spend the time with Emily while walking around the desert.
Gift Guide
As with other Villagers in Stardew Valley including the Wizard, players may be able to develop their Friendship with Sandy primarily through the provision of Gifts. Similarly, Sandy does have a particular Gift pattern that players should follow in order to reap the most benefits during the course of their relationship. Here are some elements to consider:
- Weekly: Sandy can accept two (2) Gifts per week, the quality of which could determine how much her Friendship improves with players.
- Fall 15: On her Birthday, providing Sandy with a Gift will have an 8x multiplier on the Friendship Points.
What Does Sandy Love? (+80 Friendship Points)
Dialogue: “Ooo! I absolutely love getting flowers from the valley. I’m so happy!”
One of the most interesting aspects of Sandy’s personality is her attraction to flowers. In fact, giving her a Loved Gift can merit an interaction that talks about flowers, even if said Gift isn’t close to being a plant. Of course, these flowers are on top of Universal Loves in Stardew Valley guaranteed to earn a Love remark from a Villager.
That being said, players who want to get closer to Sandy compared to other Startdew Valley NPCs would likely want to look into specific flowers, a lot of which are related to seasons. Here are the Gifts that could merit a Love Reaction from Sandy:
- Crocus (Foraging - Winter)
- Daffodil (Foraging - Spring)
- Sweet Pea (Foraging - Summer)
- Mango Sticky Rice (Cooking)
- Golden Pumpkin (Universal Love)
- Magic Rock Candy (Universal Love)
- Pearl (Universal Love)
- Prismatic Shard (Universal Love)
- Rabbit’s Foot (Universal Love)
What Does Sandy Like? (+45 Friendship Points)
Dialogue: “This looks wonderful. Thanks so much!”
Similar to other Villagers that players meet in Stardew Valley, Sandy does have a particular take on things that she Likes. Unlike others that have a specific “trend” regarding her Liked Gifts, Sandy has a very specific list of objects that could merit her Like Reaction.
With that in mind, players may want to look into these objects in order to increase Sandy’s Friendship points as a Stardew Valley NPC. Thankfully, much of these Liked Gifts are easily acquired, provided players know exactly where to look for them:
- All Fruits
- Goat Milk (Goats)
- Large Goat Milk (Goats)
- Quartz (Foraging - The Mines)
- Wool (Sheep, Rabbits)
- All Artisan Goods (Universal Like, except Oil and Void Mayonnaise)
- All Cooking (Universal Like, except for Fried Egg, Bread, Strange Bun, and Seafoam Pudding)
- All Flowers (Universal Like, except for Poppy)
- All Foraged Minerals (Universal Like, except for Quartz)
- All Fruit Tree Fruits (Universal Like, except for Mango and Banana)
- All Gems (Universal Like, except Prismatic Shards)
- All Vegetables (Universal Life, except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat, and Unmilled Rice)
- Life Elixir (Universal Like)
- Maple Syrup (Universal Like)
What Is Sandy Neutral About? (+20 Friendship Points)
Dialogue: “This is for me? Thank you!”
As with other Villagers, Sandy’s most expansive list of Gift Interactions lie with her list of Neutral Gifts. Moreover, while Sandy loves flowers, she is rather picky when it comes to certain vegetables and other produce or Stardew Valley crops, making it rather tricky to acquire certain Gifts for her.
Players who want to play it safe and couldn’t necessarily acquire Sandy’s Liked or Loved Gifts may be able to rely on these Neutral Gifts to get a rather safe reaction from her. Here are items players should consider:
- Chanterelle (Foraging - Fall)
- Common Mushroom (Foraging - Fall)
- Dandelion (Foraging - Spring)
- Ginger (Foraging - Ginger Island)
- Hazelnut (Foraging - Fall)
- Large Milk (Cows)
- Leek (Foraging - Spring)
- Magma Cap (Foraging - Volcano Dungeon)
- Milk (Cows)
- Morel (Foraging - Spring)
- Purple Mushroom (Foraging - The Mines)
- Snow Yam (Foraging - Winter)
- Wild Horseradish (Foraging - Spring)
- WInter Root (Winter)
- Bread (Universal Neutral)
- Clam (Universal Neutral)
- Coral (Universal Neutral)
- Duck Feather (Universal Neutral)
- Fried Egg (Universal Neutral)
- Hops (Universal Neutral)
- Nautilus Shell (Universal Neutral)
- Rainbow Shell (Universal Neutral)
- Roe (Universal Neutral)
- Squid Ink (Universal Neutral)
- Sweet Gem Berry (Universal Neutral)
- Tea Leaves (Universal Neutral)
- Truffle (Universal Neutral)
- Wheat (Universal Neutral)
- Wool (Universal Neutral)
What Does Sandy Dislike? (-20 Friendship Points)
Dialogue: “Oh… Um. Thanks.”
As with other Villagers in Stardew Valley, Sandy does have a particular list of items she doesn’t particularly appreciate, including some items from Stardew Valley monsters. However, unlike other Villagers that have specific Dislikes, Sandy instead simply doesn’t like all Universal Dislikes.
This makes Sandy rather an easy Villager to make friends with, since players don’t need to look into extremely specific items that they shouldn’t give Sandy to earn her DIslike Dialogue. For a quick reference, here are Sandy’s list of Disliked Gifts:
- All Building Materials (Universal Dislike)
- All Artifacts (Universal Dislike)
- All Bombs (Universal Dislike)
- All Crafted Paths, Floors, Fences (Universal Dislike)
- All Fertilizer (Universal Dislike)
- All Fish (Universal Dislike, except for Clam, Carps, and Snails)
- All Geodes, Geode Materials (Universal Dislike)
- All Seeds (Universal Dislike)
- All Sprinklers (Universal Dislike)
- All Tackle (Universal Dislike)
- Cave Carrot (Universal Dislike)
- Driftwood (Universal Dislike)
- Field Snack (Universal Dislike)
- Jack-O-Lantern (Universal Dislike)
- Oak Resin (Universal Dislike)
- Oil (Universal Dislike)
- Pine Tar (Universal Dislike)
- Qi Fruit (Universal Dislike)
- Rice (Universal Dislike)
- Solar Essence (Universal Dislike)
- Spring Onion (Universal Dislike)
- Tea Set (Universal Dislike)
- Unmilled Rice (Universal Dislike)
- Vinegar (Universal Dislike)
- Void Egg (Universal Dislike)
- Void Essence (Universal Dislike)
- Wheat Flour (Universal Dislike)
What Does Sandy Hate? (-40 Friendship Points)
Dialogue: “*sniff* …what is it?”
Of course, as with other Villagers in Stardew Valley, Sandy does have a list of Gifts that are definite “no-nos” in her book. Being Hated Gifts, these merit a reduction of -40 Friendship Points, potentially souring a player’s friendship with Sandy or ruining their progress for the past few days.
As with Sandy’s Dislikes, she doesn’t have a particular set of Hated Gifts, and instead relies on what are considered Universal Hates throughout the game. Aside from that, Sandy only doesn’t want one item in particular. Here are the list of Sandy’s Hated Items:
- Holly (Foraging - Winter)
- All Bait (Universal Hate)
- All Fossils (Universal Hate)
- All Monster Loot (Universal Hate, except Solar Essence, Void Essence)
- All Trash (Universal Hate, except Driftwood)
- Artifact Trove (Universal Hate)
- Bug Steak (Universal Hate)
- Carp (Universal Hate)
- Copper Ore (Universal Hate)
- Crab Pot (Universal Hate)
- Dragon Tooth (Universal Hate)
- Drum Block (Universal Hate)
- Energy Tonic (Universal Hate)
- Error Item (Universal Hate)
- Explosive Ammo (Universal Hate)
- Fairy Dust (Universal Hate)
- Flue Bock (Universal Hate)
- Grass Starter (Universal Hate)
- Green Algae (Universal Hate)
- Golden Coconut (Universal Hate)
- Hay (Universal Hate)
- Iron Ore (Universal Hate)
- Journal Scrap (Universal Hate)
- Monster Musk (Universal Hate)
- Muscle Remedy (Universal Hate)
- Oil of Garlic (Universal Hate)
- Poppy (Universal Hate)
- Qi Seasoning (Universal Hate)
- Radioactive Bar (Universal Hate)
- Radioactive Ore (Universal Hate)
- Rain Totem (Universal Hate)
- Red Mushroom (Universal Hate)
- Sap (Universal Hate)
- Sea Urchin (Universal Hate)
- Seafoam Pudding (Universal Hate)
- Seaweed (Universal Hate)
- Secret Note (Universal Hate)
- Slime Egg (Universal Hate)
- Snail (Universal Hate)
- Strange Bun (Universal Hate)
- Sugar (Universal Hate)
- Torch (Universal Hate)
- Treasure Chest (Universal Hate)
- Void Mayonnaise (Universal Hate)
- Warp Totem (Universal Hate)
- White Algae (Universal Hate)
Other Activities
Players who want to elevate their Friendship with Sandy may want to skip Gifts entirely and instead try to improve their standing with her through the Movie Theater. This isn't immediately available on the get-go, though, and instead only becomes unlockable once Morris offers players all upgrades or completes the Community Center. Players pursuing the Joja Mart route can instead buy this for 500,000g.
If players have access to the Movie Theater, they can actually take any Villager out on a movie date, not just Sandy, to boost their Friendship Points with the Stardew Valley Villager faster. Either way, Tickets cost 1,000g per participant including the player, and the Ticket has to be given to the Villager in question as a Gift. Not only that, players need to take the Villager out to the movies on the day the Ticket has been given, lest they waste them.
What Theater Setup Does Sandy Love?
- Film (Love): It Howls In The Rain
- Film (Love): Journey Of The Prairie King: The Motion Picture
- Film (Love): Mysterium
- Film (Love): Natural Wonders: Exploring Our Vibrant World
- Film (Love): The Brave Little Sapling
- Film (Love): The Miracle At Coldstar Ranch
- Film (Love): The Zuzu City Express
- Film (Love): Wumbus
- Food (Love): Cotton Candy
- Food (Love): Stardrop Sorbet
What Theater Date Does Sandy Like?
- Food (Like): Everything Else
What Theater Setup Does Sandy Dislike?
- Food (Dislike): Black Licorice
- Food (Dislike): Joja Cola
- Food (Dislike): JojaCorn
- Food (Dislike): Sour Slimes
Quests
Similar to other Villagers, Sandy does give players Quests from time to time in order to raise their Friendship with her. These come randomly, however, meaning players may be able to spot some Quests from Sandy or those that involve her in some way given enough waiting and exploration. Here are those Quests:
- "Help Wanted": Sandy may request a random item from time to time. When finished, players get 3x the item's base value as well as a whopping 150 Friendship points.
- The Pirate's Wife: Although not necessarily a Quest for Sandy, it does involve her in some capacity. In this Quest, Sandy has to be given the Stardew Valley Rose, one of the items that have to be given to various Villagers, courtesy of Birdie from Ginger Island.
Heart Events
Despite her nature as a shopkeep NPC, Sandy has her fair share of Heart Events that players can experience throughout their Friendship. However, unlike other NPCs, Sandy’s nature as a shopkeep does mean there are only limited opportunities throughout Stardew Valley seasons that unlock Heart Events as players progress through their relationship with her. Those interested in developing their Friendship levels with Sandy further may want to look into these particular Heart Events:
Anytime
Similar to other NPCs in Stardew Valley, Sandy will be giving some rewards to players at any point during their Friendship, provided they have more than 0 Friendship Points. As with other Villagers, these Events happen randomly, regardless of Stardew Valley season, and increase in probability depending on the Friendship Points players have.
Sandy can give a total of three unique items prior to breaching seven (7) Friendship Hearts. These will be found in the Mail, alongside a note from Sandy that greets players from the Calico Desert. She will then invite players to thank her in person, as she is bored.
- Cactus Fruit
- Coconut
- Tom Kha Soup
At 7 Hearts
When players breach seven (7) Friendship Hearts with Sandy, they will unlock another Heart Event. Instead of being a cutscene, Sandy simply gives a recipe to players in the Mail. Alongside the Gift is a note that tells players that Sandy has written to them out of sheer boredom, alongside a Recipe to a “delicious soup.” It ends with an invitation to visit Sandy soon.
- Tom Kha Soup (Recipe)
Stardew Valley was released in 2016 and is currently available for the PC, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and PS Vita.