Need to reactivate development store without paying for subscription

Retired Boards Appdev Store Design
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Topic summary

Main issue: A developer using two Shopify development stores reports one became deactivated. Any attempt to reactivate, rename, or delete the store requires choosing a paid plan (minimum $39/month), which conflicts with the expectation that development stores are free and not treated as live stores.

Context: The stores were used to learn theme and app development for a client. The help bot is not connecting, preventing self-service support through the usual channel.

Latest update/guidance: A respondent states that only Shopify Support can revert the store back to a development store. No in-thread resolution; the actionable next step is to contact Support for manual reactivation despite the bot issue (e.g., via alternate support channels).

Summarized with AI on December 24. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I have a developer account with two development stores in it. I was using these to get familiar with Shopify theme and app development for a client.

Somehow, one of the stores has become deactivated.

I can’t reactivate this store without choosing a plan and paying at least $39/month. This is not how development stores are supposed to work! I can’t even delete it, or rename it, or anything, without paying as if it’s a live store. It is not supposed to be a live store, and we are not supposed to be paying for development stores.

The help bot is refusing connections, so I can’t ask there.

What am I supposed to do here? Thanks.

2

Your best shot is to contact support. Only they can revert the store back into a dev store.