Shopkeeper droids, which are also referred to as sales droids, vendor droids, or shopkeeping drones, represented a specific class of droid engineered to operate as merchants. Their programming emphasized subservience and a strong motivation to satisfy customer needs. The GL vendor droid served as one particular model within the shopkeeper droid category. The Jawas repurposed R1-series astromech droids, transforming them into R1-type shopkeeping drones. These droids possessed the capability to project holograms in different sizes. Their locomotion was characterized by both "rolling" and "tottering" movements. On Coruscant, a sales droid presented visuals of freighters to Affie Hollow and Scover Byne.
The initial appearance of shopkeeper droids occurred in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which marked the beginning of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Their formal identification as shopkeeper droids was established in the StarWars.com episode summary for "Duchess of Mandalore," which is the fourteenth episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars' second season and is considered canon. Dee Bradley Baker provided the voice for a male shopkeeper droid in the third season episode "Evil Plans," whereas Anna Graves voiced a female shopkeeper droid in the fifth season episode "Eminence".