Hold Ups



Holding up shops is a good way to get easy cash early on but carries a fairly high risk of death. If you are holding lot's of money stick ups aren't advised as the cost of dying can outweigh the profits you make.

Preparation and Planning
"Calm down!" I hear you say. "It's not a heist" I notice you adding with a smirk. No indeed: sticking a gun in the face of some underpaid store clerk and making off with the days takings is not hard, but getting away from the police afterwards can be. Stores can be robbed over and over again so knowing a good escape route for one or two of them can go a long way to making decent money here. Scout the area on foot to find some good places to hide or cut past the police before you make your move. All shops appear on the map but you can only do (proper) robberies in liquor stores, 24/7s and (some) petrol stations.

Disguise
You need to cover your face. If you try to go into a store you robbed without a mask once before you will get an instant wanted level and can't buy snacks from there anymore. Also during your escape when the police loose line of sight on you taking off the mask removes a wanted star. Full face bike helmets work the same as masks, put them on from the inventory by holding down select. (Note, don't try to use the automatic bike helmet as the PC can take it off at random without warning.)

The Heist
Or, you know, whatever you want to call it. Have your getaway car waiting on the curb. If you have the luxury of a team-mate to drive things can go a lot smoother but it's not a deal breaker. Motorbikes make for good getaway vehicles if you can handle them, they take the back streets well. Put your mask on and gun away before you walk in. What weapon you use doesn't matter as long as you auto aim at the clerk. Grenades, guns or baseball bats all get the desired effect. Shouting down your mic or making any other noise into it makes him move faster. He will throw the money on the floor in a bag, make sure to walk over it. Keep him in auto aim and back out of the door. DO NOT turn your back on him as they sometimes shoot you. Keeping the gun trained on them prevents this until you're out of the door. They may give chase once you get in the car however. The next bit you can work out yourselves, loose the old bill and bang boom, a cheeky bit of pocket money.

Random Events
Sometimes a citizen will decide to try to be a hero and shoot you in the back. The citizen can spawn inside or outside of the shop so keep your eye on the radar, if you see a solid red blip: back into a corner and get ready to take them out. They will likely charge in with no sense of tactics so it should be easy if you spot them first.

Sometimes you may have to (or just want to) pop the shopkeeper and take him straight out of the equation. If you do this before he gives you money run behind the counter and press the action button (left d-pad on PS 3) to open the till yourself. This almost always gives you three stars.

Other shops like clothes shops can be robbed by shooting the till. You have to fire your gun off outside to be able to take it inside these shops, and you can't stick up the clerks. Shoot the register a few times and it will pop open and drop a little money.