The episode opens in the shade of a Moreton Bay fig tree, its immense canopy and thick prop roots making it resemble a forest grove. A flat piece of wood is propped up on a stump. A male splendid fairywren lands on the wood, then takes off again as thumping footsteps approach. Bluey, Chloe, Honey, and Mackenzie arrive.
Bluey: Let's set up a shop.
Chloe, Honey, and Mackenzie: Yeah!
Mackenzie: Okay, but promise we won't take ages deciding stuff, okay?
Bluey: Well, we'll have to see.
TITLE CARD - Shops
Bluey: [voiceover] This episode of Bluey is called Shops.
Bluey pushes a rock closer to the stump. Chloe sets the flat bit of wood across the stump and rock, making a counter.
Chloe: This can be the shop.
Honey runs in with a pine cone, and sets it on one end of the counter.
Honey: And this can be the till.
Honey runs off. Bluey picks up a leaf and sets it in the middle of the counter. She pantomimes scanning groceries.
Bluey: And this is the bit where it goes "doot, doot!"
The scene to Honey and Mackenzie, next to a pair of prop roots.
Mackenzie: This can be the door to the shop.
Mackenzie picks up a stick with a pair of figs on it, and hangs it on one of the trees, making a shopkeeper's bell.
Mackenzie: And it has a bell when you walk through it.
Mackenzie runs to the other side of the trees, and pantomimes opening a door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello, shopkeeper. I'd like to --
Bluey: Stop, hang on.
The background music abruptly stops.
Bluey: We have to decide who to be.
Mackenzie: Bluey, you promised we wouldn't take long deciding stuff.
Bluey: We can't start if we don't know who we all are. I'll be the shopkeeper.
The background music starts again. It's now an arrangement of Infernal Gallop by Jacques Offenbach, colloquially known as "the can-can song". Each time the music restarts, it starts quiet and simple with plucked strings, and builds in volume and complexity.
Chloe: Aw, I wanted to be the shopkeeper.
Bluey: Chloe, you can be the assistant. They hand stuff to the shopkeeper.
Chloe: Does the assistant get to go "doot"?
Bluey: Um, yes, but only when the shopkeeper is sick and has to stay home.
Chloe: Oh. Okay. Are you feeling sick at all?
Bluey: No, I'm fine.
Honey: I'll be a customer, too.
Bluey: Yes, you and Mackenzie are customers.
Mackenzie: Hooray! Okay, let's go.
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door again, followed by Honey.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello!
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Mackenzie: What is it now?
Bluey: Honey, why don't you be a kitten?
Honey: Good idea.
Honey gets down on hands and knees. The music starts again.
Honey: Meow! Meow! Meow!
Mackenzie: I'll be your owner.
He pets Honey's head and boops her nose.
Mackenzie: Good kitty!
Honey: Meow!
Mackenzie: Okay, let's start!
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello! I'd like to buy a --
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Mackenzie: What?!
Bluey: What kind of store is this?
Chloe: How about a kitten store?
The music resumes.
Bluey: What's a kitten store?
Chloe: A store that sells kittens.
Mackenzie: But I've already got a kitten.
Chloe: Oh, yeah.
Honey: How about a store that sells things for kittens?
All: Yeah!
Mackenzie: Okay. Da-ding!
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Bluey: Assistant, help me find things so we can sell for kittens!
Mackenzie: Wait. What?
The music resumes.
Bluey: We won't be long!
Bluey and Chloe run off.
The next scene is another location in the forest, with lilly-pillies scattered about the forest floor.
Bluey: What do kittens like?
Chloe: Um, they like lilly-pillies.
Bluey: Oh, yeah.
They start picking up lilly-pillies.
Chloe: These can be the kitten treats.
Bluey: They're a bit too round.
Chloe: They're not all round. Some are a bit bumpy.
Bluey: Oh, yeah.
The scene changes back to Honey and Mackenzie, still by the "door". Mackenzie is holding a length of vine. Honey is visibly bored.
Mackenzie: Hurry up!
Bluey and Chloe return with handfuls of lilly-pillies. Mackenzie ties the vine around Honey's torso, making a lead. Bluey and Chloe arrange their lilly-pillies on the counter.
Bluey: Mackenzie, you're always in such a hurry. We can't play shop if we don't have anything to sell.
Mackenzie: Okay! Can we please start?
Bluey: Yes, yes, yes.
Chloe: Bluey, are you feeling sick yet?
Bluey: No, I'm fine. Okay Mackenzie, go!
The music has reached the crescendo leading into the climax of the song.
Mackenzie: Finally!
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello!
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Mackenzie: Ugggh!
Bluey: We don't have anything for money.
Mackenzie: It doesn't matter!
Bluey: You can't buy anything if you don't have money.
Mackenzie: Oh, yeah, that's true.
The music starts.
Bluey: How about the round ones are money, and the bumpy ones are kitten treats?
Chloe: Okey dokey.
Bluey runs over to Mackenzie and gives him a handful of round lilly-pillies.
Bluey: Take these, Mackenzie. These are the dollar bucks.
Mackenzie: Okay, let's get going.
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello!
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Mackenzie: Uggggh!
Bluey: You also need a kitten birthday cake, but I'm going to say, "Sorry, we've run out." And then you have to be sad.
Mackenzie: Birthday cake?
Chloe: Bluey, I want it to be that we do have a kitten birthday cake.
Chloe sets a flat rock on the counter.
Bluey: Okay, we do have a kitten birthday cake, but you have to be sad 'cause it's not the one you want.
Mackenzie: I don't know what you're talking about. Let's just start!
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hello!
Honey: Hello!
Mackenzie: I'd like to buy a --
Bluey: Stop!
The music stops at the first note of the climax. Mackenzie falls to his knees in frustration.
Mackenzie: Ugggggh!
Bluey: I don't think kittens should be able to talk.
Honey: Really?
The music starts.
Bluey: Yes. Kittens definitely can't talk. You just have to go like this when you want something --
Bluey pantomimes grasping with a paw.
Bluey: Meow! Meow!
Honey does the same, but with large shiny eyes.
Honey: Meow! Meow!
Chloe does the same, also with big shiny eyes.
Chloe: Rrow! Rrow!
Chloe, Bluey, and Honey: Meow! Meow! Meow!
Mackenzie, incredulous, looks directly into the camera.
Chloe, Bluey, and Honey: Meoooow!
Mackenzie: Okay, let's go.
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door.
Mackenzie: Da-ding!
Bluey: Wait!
The music stops.
Mackenzie: What is it now?
Bluey: I think I want to be the kitten.
Chloe, Mackenzie, and Honey: (groans)
Chloe: (gasps) That means I can be the shopkeeper!
Chloe excitedly starts to pantomime scanning items.
Chloe: Doot! Doot! Doot!
Chloe continues dooting as the other characters talk.
Honey: But I like being the kitten.
Bluey: Please, Honey, you can be the shopkeeper.
Chloe grabs the pine cone and leaf protectively.
Chloe: What? No way!
Bluey: Well, how about the assistant?
Honey: I'll only swap if I'll be the kitten owner.
Mackenzie: But I'm the kitten owner.
Bluey: You can be the assistant, Mackenzie.
Mackenzie: But I don't want to be the assistant.
Bluey: Ohh!
Mackenzie: I'll only swap if I can be the shopkeeper. Then I can doot things! Dooting is fun.
Mackenzie pantomimes scanning an item.
Mackenzie: Doot! Doot!
Honey joins in the pantomime.
Mackenzie and Honey: Doot! Doot!
Bluey quizzically looks directly at the camera.
Chloe resumes dooting.
Chloe, Mackenzie, and Honey: Doot! Doot! Doot! Doot!
Bluey: Chloe, can Mackenzie be the shopkeeper and you be the assistant?
Chloe: But the assistant doesn't doot!
Bluey: But she hands stuff to be dooted.
Chloe: (shaking her head) Unh-uh.
Bluey: Well, we can't start until someone is the assistant.
Mackenzie: (stomps his foot and groans). Uhhhh! I'll do whatever we need to do to start playing shops.
Bluey: Will you be the assistant?
Mackenzie: (rolls his eyes) Fine!
Bluey: Great. Oh, but then we don't have a customer.
The music stops. Mackenzie pulls on his ears in frustration.
Mackenzie: Grrr! I knew it! We're never gonna start a shop. I'm leaving!
Mackenzie stomps out of the scene. The background music changes to a sad acoustic guitar piece.
Bluey: Mackenzie!
The girls all look disappointed.
Chloe: (sadly) Doot.
The scene changes to the spot with the lilly-pillies. Mackenzie is sulking behind a tree. He throws a lilly-pilly. The angle changes; the shop is now visible in the background behind him. The girls are all sitting. They look bored.
Bluey: Mackenzie! Can you come back and play shops?
Mackenzie: What's the use? We'll never, ever get to start. You just want to keep making up more and more things.
Bluey: That's true. But you just want to start before we know who anyone is.
Mackenzie: Yeah I do, don't I?
Mackenzie rejoins the girls.
Mackenzie: Okay, Bluey, I promise not to start until you're ready.
Bluey: And I promise I'll be ready when you start.
They all throw their hands up in celebration.
All: Hooray!
Honey: Let's play!
Bluey: Hang on, you still don't have an assistant.
Rusty runs through the "door."
Rusty: Can I play?
Chloe, Mackenzie, Bluey, and Honey: Yes!
Rusty: Thanks. Who can I be?
Chloe, Mackenzie, Bluey, and Honey: The assistant!
They laugh. Rusty gives a double thumbs-up.
Rusty: Great.
Infernal Gallop begins to play again. Bluey rubs her hands together.
Bluey: Right!
The camera changes to a first-person shot from Bluey's perspective. She points at Chloe.
Bluey: Chloe is the shopkeeper,
She points at Mackenzie.
Bluey: Mackenzie is the customer,
She points at Honey.
Bluey: Honey is the cat,
She points at Rusty.
Bluey: and Rusty is the assistant!
The first-person shot ends.
All: Yay!
Mackenzie: And Bluey is my other cat!
All: Yes!
Bluey: Wait, we've only got one lead.
Rusty picks up a vine.
Rusty: We sell leads!
All: Hooray!
Rusty holds up the "lead."
Rusty: Okay!
Chloe holds her hands in dooting position.
Chloe: Okay!
Honey makes a grasping paw gesture, with big shiny eyes.
Honey: Meow!
Bluey: Meoooow!
Mackenzie: Okay!
Mackenzie has his arm cocked to pantomime opening the door. The music begins to crescendo towards the climax.
Mackenzie: I'm gonna do this! I'm about to open the door. I'm --I'm coming in! Is anyone gonna stop me? No? No?
Mackenzie has gone on so long that the music has run out of build-up. The orchestra stretches the last measure before the climax as long as they can, then falls silent.
Bluey: Just start!
Mackenzie pantomimes opening the door. The music resumes directly at the climax. Everyone's tail wags in time with the music.
Mackenzie: Da-ding! Hi! I'm here to buy a lead for my other kitten.
Chloe: Certainly, customer. My assistant will get that for you.
Rusty hands Chloe the vine.
Chloe: Doot! Here you go.
Chloe hands Mackenzie the vine, which he ties around Bluey. Rusty hands Chloe some lumpy lilly-pillies, which she passes to Mackenzie.
Chloe: And here's some kitten treats for your pets.
Mackenzie: Thanks.
Mackenzie pockets the lumpy lilly-pillies, and hands Chloe some round lilly-pillies.
Mackenzie: Here's some dollar bucks.
Honey: Meow!
Bluey: Rrrow!
Mackenzie, Bluey, and Honey turn to leave the shop. Chloe and Rusty wave.
Mackenzie: Bye!
Chloe: Bye!
Mackenzie: (offscreen) Da-ding!
All: Yes!
Bluey: Let's play Bus Drivers!
All: Yeah!
They all run out of the scene. Rusty knocks over the counter as he exits.
[End credits]
The credits music is an unusual arrangement of Infernal Gallop. It is quiet and primarily features woodwinds and plucked strings.