Hi. New at the game and was wondering if, for example, you are allowed to use the "Administration" Location and pay the $8 to get a skill...then do it again if you have the cash? Also the "South Church" could I buy myself a blessing and a fellow investigator a blessing on the same turn if I had the required Gate Trophies? 

One last one, is there a limit to the number of items purchased on one turn in the "Ye Olde Magick Shoppe, so long as you pay for each purchase? 

Thanks in advance.

Only once per turn. To trade out two gates at the Science Building for 4 clues, you'd have to do it over the course of two turns.

Same idea with the shops: with the General Store and the Curiosity Shoppe, you draw three cards (four with the right investigator) and you must buy one if you're able; but no more than one. The rest get discarded.

With Administration or the Magic store, you pay up front, then draw two cards (three with the appropriate investigator) and keep one. You can't have both.

Every once in a while, an environment Mythos card will come up and allow investigators to draw items when in a specific area (not the shops) and buy as many as they like—even none.

Tibs said:

I don't think compulsory buy was ever an official rule. Wasn't that just a suggestion for players who thought it was too easy to hunt for elder signs?

That compulsory buy rule is very ad hoc and silly IMO. I've never walked into a shop to look around and been forced against my will to buy something I didn't want; I think the shop owner would be breaching my human rights or something. 

Anyway, it's not like it's easy to draw Elder signs out of the 200+ card deck, nor is it easy to obtain enough money to buy the things you do need, much less things you don't. There is a simple reason why you can't squat in Curiosity and do nothing but fish for sings - you're gonna lose the game before one even comes up.

Criswell said:

I thought it was silly at first too. But if you have enough investigators, then you have a lot of money and one person who could just stake out and wait for them to show up. That's not very fun for that investigator, and it's not really in the spirit of the game, whether or not you think it's realistic.

The investigator entered the store and chose to browse, and in his somewhat panicked state, decided that since he can't find exactly what he wanted, he'd need to just suck it up and get the next best thing. Time is running out, and can't be wasted being picky!

 Thanks for the info all!

Criswell said:

The thing is: In AH you're safe from potentially nasty encounters while you're shopping. That's why there needs to be something to balance it.