diff --git a/app/services/nc_mall.rb b/app/services/nc_mall.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8edf7448
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/services/nc_mall.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+require "async/http/internet/instance"
+
+module NCMall
+	# Share a pool of persistent connections, rather than reconnecting on
+	# each request. (This library does that automatically!)
+	INTERNET = Async::HTTP::Internet.instance
+
+	# Load the NC home page, and return its useful data.
+	HOME_PAGE_URL = "https://ncmall.neopets.com/mall/ajax/home_page.phtml"
+	def self.load_home_page
+		response = Sync do
+			INTERNET.get(HOME_PAGE_URL, [
+				["User-Agent", Rails.configuration.user_agent_for_neopets],
+			])
+		end
+
+		if response.status != 200
+			raise ResponseNotOK.new(response.status),
+				"expected status 200 but got #{response.status} (#{HOME_PAGE_URL})"
+		end
+
+		parse_nc_page response.body.read
+	end
+
+	private
+
+	# Given a string of NC page data, parse the useful data out of it!
+	def self.parse_nc_page(nc_page_str)
+		begin
+			nc_page = JSON.parse(nc_page_str)
+		rescue JSON::ParserError
+			Rails.logger.debug "Unexpected NC page response:\n#{nc_page_str}"
+			raise UnexpectedResponseFormat,
+				"failed to parse NC page response as JSON"
+		end
+
+		unless nc_page.has_key? "object_data"
+			raise UnexpectedResponseFormat, "missing field object_data in NC page"
+		end
+
+		items = nc_page["object_data"].values.map do |item_info|
+			{
+				id: item_info["id"],
+				name: item_info["name"],
+				description: item_info["description"],
+				price: item_info["price"],
+				discount: parse_item_discount(item_info),
+				is_available: item_info["isAvailable"] == 1,
+			}
+		end
+
+		{items:}
+	end
+
+	# Given item info, return a hash of discount-specific info, if any.
+	def self.parse_item_discount(item_info)
+		discount_price = item_info["discountPrice"]
+		return nil unless discount_price.present? && discount_price > 0
+
+		{
+			price: discount_price,
+			start: item_info["discountBegin"],
+			end: item_info["discountEnd"],
+		}
+	end
+
+	class ResponseNotOK < StandardError
+		attr_reader :status
+		def initialize(status)
+			super
+			@status = status
+		end
+	end
+	class UnexpectedResponseFormat < StandardError;end
+end
diff --git a/config/initializers/inflections.rb b/config/initializers/inflections.rb
index 753d5173..d68fdd2f 100644
--- a/config/initializers/inflections.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/inflections.rb
@@ -21,4 +21,8 @@ ActiveSupport::Inflector.inflections(:en) do |inflect|
 
   # Teach Zeitwerk that `NeoPass` is what to expect in `app/services/neopass.rb`.
   inflect.acronym "NeoPass"
+
+  # Teach Zeitwerk that "NCMall" is what to expect in `app/services/nc_mall.rb`.
+  # (We do this by teaching it the word "NC".)
+  inflect.acronym "NC"
 end