There are a bunch of shops you can unlock, and there are an infinite number of things you can do in this game :3 The brick path designs are just designs people have made and displayed on the ground, which you can do from the very beginning! There are guides all over the place, just try googling acnl guides
As for tips, here's a short essay xD
1. To make money, go to the island past 5pm and catch the rare beetles that appear on palm trees.
2. Plant a ton of perfect fruit trees (perfect fruit looks different than your regular native fruit so you'll know when you see one), and sell your perfect fruit in a town with a different native fruit (it'll sell for more).
3. You can collect tbt (this forum's currency labeled "Bells" under your post count) from posting on this forum and trade with other tbt members for igb (in game bells). 1 tbt is worth 200,000 igb.
4. If you plant two of the same flower next to each other, you can get a rare flower, referred to by most as a hybrid. The hardest hybrids to get are blue roses and purple pansies (you might consider just buying them from someone her instead of breeding your own).
5. During the summer, your major can tan in town. You can tan year round on the island during the day, and on sunny island tours. Umbrellas and hats (not including hairpins, crowns, bows, etc.) will prevent you from tanning.
6. You get certain public works project recommendations from villagers with certain personalities, for example, cranky villagers will suggest Zen pwps. Some pwps can be recommended by any villager. If you want bridge pwps to be recommended, make sure you have less than 3 bridges; if you have 3, no bridge pwps will be recommended.
6. Make sure to check the sign outside retail every day. Something will always be selling for extra. The more people you streetpass in a day, the more things will sell for extra that day.
7. Be wary of people on Club Tortimer island. Some will beg you constantly for money, others will try to trap you on the island. I wouldn't recommend catching anything on Club Tortimer island.
8. Check in with the villagers in your town you like, or they might move out without telling you. If you don't like a villager and want them to move, don't talk to them at all, even with then ping you (make a surprised face and follow you, trying to talk to you). Ignoring them guarantees they'll move.
9. If you want to earn medals on the island, do the Elite Scavenger Tour. It's by far the fastest way to earn medals (you get 16 medals in about 2 minutes).
10. Phineas the sea lion will show up in your town to give you badges when you've accomplished something like saving so many bells, picking so many weeds, planting so many plants in town, etc. He won't show up when it's raining, during the bug-off or really late at night. You can check if Phineas is in your town by talking to villagers or by talking to the dog in whichever police station you end up building (a villager has to recommend it first, though). During the bug-off, your police dog will still tell you Phineas is visiting town, but he won't show up until after it's over.
If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me, as I play this game
way too much