Cleanup on Aisle 3 is an arcade management game about running failing grocery stores. Each day, the player stocks shelves from incoming pallets, rings up customers before their patience runs out, wrangles shopping carts back from the parking lot, and mops up whatever got spilled along the way. Between days, the player drafts upgrade cards to expand the store, hire staff, and automate the chores that are getting out of hand. The campaign spans six branches of the ValuCo supermarket chain, each with its own layout and its own set of problems. Corporate sends the player from store to store with a memo and a promise that this one will be different. Miss the daily sales target too often and the run ends in a firing.