There is always the idea of not making a new shop. You know, sticking items in the plentiful epmty buildings in Port Town and Starboard Town? Put all the swords and shields in the blacksmith, and now you have rows of shelfs to put some bottles, bolts, arrows, or whatever on.
If everyone had a pet following them, that would be my first thing to kill when we got in a fight. Even if I died, they would have lost 2k or something.