Upgrading the stations around your store is one of the most important parts of progressing in The Walking Trade. Upgraded workstations unlock useful features, improve crafting, provide additional storage, reveal information about upcoming raids, and open new areas of the map.
Most upgrades require you to find specific materials through scavenging, crafting, merchants, or world-map activities. Once you’ve gathered the required items, physically place them near the appropriate workstation in Build Mode.
The Walking Trade Upgrade Guide – Workstations, Item Locations
The main upgradeable stations around your store are:
- Bed
- Basket Stand
- Crafting Bench
- Shredder
- Generator
- Intel Station
- Radio Tower
There are also world-map progression upgrades:
- Collapsed Bridge
- Diner Clan
Upgrade Tips
Before starting the upgrade grind, keep these tips in mind:
- Scavenge around your property every day for cardboard boxes, materials, and Combat XP.
- If you can’t find a particular item while scavenging, check the exotic merchant that visits the car park.
- Whenever you unlock a new shop, check it for new items and crafting recipes.
- If you find an item required for crafting or upgrading, right-click it and mark it as Ignore by Staff or Not Available for Purchase. This prevents cleaners from placing important materials on store shelves where customers can buy them.
- Some materials require other workstations to be upgraded first, so don’t worry if you can’t immediately obtain everything for a particular upgrade.
Bed
The Bed can be upgraded twice. Each upgrade makes your character wake up one hour earlier.
First Upgrade:
- 1 Sleeping Bag
Second Upgrade:
- 12 Hardwood Plank
- 2 Nails
- 1 Durable Mattress
Where to find the materials:
Sleeping Bag: Found in the Exit Tunnel and Hunting Store, or purchased from the exotic merchant at the car park.
Nails: Scavenge them from Outer City Depots or purchase them from Thom’s Toolshed.
Durable Mattress: Found at Poorly Hospital.
Hardwood Plank: Obtain Hardwood Logs from the Junkyard and process them through the Shredder. Each Hardwood Log produces 4 Hardwood Planks.
Because of this, you’ll need the upgraded Shredder before you can efficiently produce the Hardwood Planks required for the second Bed upgrade.
Basket Stand
The Basket Stand is particularly useful during the early game because your property generates two cardboard boxes every day.
The first upgrade creates a storage hub capable of holding 24 cardboard boxes.
The second upgrade allows the stand to store 24 Trolley Corpses, which can carry considerably more items for you and your customers.
First Upgrade:
- 2 Tape
- 6 Copper Pipe
Second Upgrade:
- 12 Steel Pipe
Where to find the materials:
Tape: Scavenge from Outer City Depots or purchase from Thom’s Toolshed.
Copper Pipe: Thom’s Toolshed sells 2 Copper Pipes per day.
Steel Pipe: Scavenge from the Junkyard.
After completing the Diner Clan item collection, Trolley Corpses can also be purchased from the Diner Exchange.
Crafting Bench
The Crafting Bench can be upgraded twice.
These upgrades unlock higher-quality recipes and make crafting much easier by allowing the bench to detect materials stored in your warehouse. This means you no longer need to manually place every required item on the table.
First Upgrade:
- 1 Pipe Wrench
- 1 Small Crate
- 1 Medium Crate
Second Upgrade:
- 1 Nail Gun
- 1 Sawblade
- 4 Hardwood Logs
- 4 Hardwood Planks
Where to find the materials:
Pipe Wrench: Obtained after defeating the Brute Army raid on the world map.
Small and Medium Crates: These must be crafted. You essentially need to craft three Small Crates for the required materials.
Nail Gun: Obtained after defeating the Broody Birthers raid on the world map.
Sawblades: Can be scavenged from the Junkyard or purchased from the exotic merchant.
Hardwood Logs: Scavenge them from the Junkyard.
Hardwood Planks: Put Hardwood Logs into the Shredder. Each log produces 4 planks.
Shredder
The Shredder breaks down items into basic components that can be used for crafting.
It can also process bodies, producing Large Bones and Good Meat.
Upgrade Requirement:
- 96 Sawblades
Where to find Sawblades:
Sawblades are ammunition that can be scavenged from the Junkyard or purchased from the exotic merchant.
Because the Shredder is needed to produce Hardwood Planks, upgrading it is particularly important if you’re working toward the second Bed upgrade or the second Crafting Bench upgrade.
Generator
Upgrading the Generator unlocks the nightly Meat Spin game, which can provide rare items.
This upgrade works differently from most others because you need to use a Taser Stick melee weapon to activate the Faulty Generator.
Upgrade Requirements:
- 4 Gas Cans
- 1 Taser Stick
Where to find the materials:
Gas Cans: Scavenge them from Rotors and Motors.
Taser Stick: Scavenge it from the Quarantine Zone.
Once upgraded, the Generator gives you access to another way of obtaining valuable items during your daily cycle.
Intel Station
The Intel Station provides information about upcoming raids.
Depending on its upgrade level, it can reveal information such as:
- The number of zombies expected
- The type of zombies involved
- Where enemies will enter your property
The Intel Station has three upgrades.
First Upgrade:
- 1 Low-Frequency Radio
Second Upgrade:
- 1 Heavy Duty Radio
- 12 Scrappy Wiring
- 2 Dustlink 3000
Third Upgrade:
- 3 Neuralink Node
- 1 Working Television
- 1 Relay Device
Where to find the materials:
Low-Frequency Radio: Obtained by defeating the Zombie Horde on the world map.
Heavy Duty Radio: Scavenged from Rotors and Motors.
Dustlink 3000: Scavenged from the Abandoned Arcade.
Relay Device: Scavenged from the Abandoned Arcade.
Scrappy Wiring: Scavenged from the Abandoned Arcade. You can also obtain Wiring by putting other electronics into the Shredder.
Neuralink Node: Scavenged from the Quarantine Zone.
Working Television: Scavenged from the Shipwreck.
The Intel Station is especially useful if you’re preparing your property for tougher raids because it lets you plan your defenses before the attack begins.
Radio Tower
Upgrading the Radio Tower allows you to activate the Siren, which forces the following day to become a Raid day.
The main difficulty with this upgrade is transporting the required speakers.
The Wall-Mounted Speakers are building items, so they cannot be carried inside a box or trolley. You’ll need to physically drag all four to the Radio Tower.
Also, don’t leave materials beside the Radio Tower overnight, because they can despawn.
Upgrade Requirements:
- 4 Wall-Mounted Speakers
- 4 Neuralink Nodes
- 1 Taser Stick
Where to find the materials:
Wall-Mounted Speakers: Scavenge them from the Abandoned Arcade.
Neuralink Nodes: Scavenge them from the Quarantine Zone.
Taser Stick: Scavenge it from the Quarantine Zone.
Collapsed Bridge
The Collapsed Bridge is a world-map progression upgrade.
Completing it opens up additional areas of the map, giving you access to more locations and resources.
Upgrade Requirements:
- 12 Planks
- 8 Copper Pipes
- 2 Nails
- 2 Rope
Where to find the materials:
Planks: Scavenge from Outer City Depots or purchase from Thom’s Toolshed.
Nails: Scavenge from Outer City Depots or purchase from Thom’s Toolshed.
Copper Pipes: Purchase from Thom’s Toolshed.
Rope: Scavenge from the Exit Tunnel.
Unlocking the bridge is worthwhile because expanding the map gives you access to additional scavenging locations and progression opportunities.
Diner Clan
The Diner Clan is another major world-map progression objective.
Complete its required item collection to unlock the Diner Exchange, which provides useful late-game items.
Upgrade Requirements:
- 6 Molotov Cocktails
- 4 AK-47s
- 4 Remote Bombs
- 2 Remote Incendiaries
Where to get the materials:
Molotov Cocktails: Craftable.
Remote Bombs: Craftable.
Remote Incendiaries: Craftable.
AK-47s: Can be scavenged from the Quarantine Zone or purchased from unlocked merchants and the exotic merchant.
Once you’ve gathered and delivered everything required by the Diner Clan, the Diner Exchange becomes available and provides access to valuable late-game supplies.
Recommended Upgrade Order
You don’t necessarily need to upgrade everything immediately. A practical progression route is:
1. Shredder → 2. Bed → 3. Crafting Bench → 4. Basket Stand → 5. Generator → 6. Intel Station → 7. Radio Tower
At the same time, work toward the Collapsed Bridge to expand your map access.
Once you’re strong enough to gather the necessary weapons and explosives, start working on the Diner Clan objective for access to the Diner Exchange.
The most important thing is to keep scavenging every day and protect important crafting materials from being sold by your staff. As you unlock more locations and merchants, you’ll gradually have access to everything needed for the higher-level upgrades.