I've never liked that thieves can steal gold from shopkeepers, especially the super rich ones, with little or no risk. Particularly in light of the recent changes where thieves can steal money from pc's, I'd say let a thief run the risk of stealing from a pc if he wants to get money the easy way.

If thieves didn't steal from shopkeepers, they'd have the gold to do business with all characters, making the economy better I think. And before someone pops up with redistribution of wealth by thieves stealing from the shopkeepers, there would still be that redistribution because thieves would now have to run the risk like everyone else and try to get the money from other pcs.

Now, shopkeepers that can be killed, like the ones in Akan, should remain unchanged and thieves should be able to steal from them. But shopkeepers like those in galadon or most other cities where they are not going to be killed, should be changed to make it impossible for thieves to steal from them. Let a thief be a thief from a pc, and take the chance of missing and dying. They already get pretty rich by stealing items from pcs, they don't need easy gold from shopkeepers, too. The game is about risk and pc vs. pc play. I'd do this to enhance that.