Security is always a function of risk mitigation. Specifically, it must cost less to secure the goods than the total value of the goods, and make accessing the goods a cost higher than the total value of the goods. What compounds this problem is that you're talking about doing this in a game that is designed to let "good guys" penetrate the defenses of "bad guys" and take their stuff. There is a severe asymmetric power relationship in terms of the options presented to defender and attacker, and fixing that relationship will make adventuring not particularly fun.

The majority of this answer will be a discussion of what it will take to fundamentally secure a location. I conclude with the minimum viable product for "hauling swag around and showing it to people." which is, effectively, a wise-guy with portable holes protected by a party.

How to secure a location

I'm going to ignore the "not allowed to demolish" requirement because most of the external infrastructure can be substituted in situ for the extant building. Assuming that their access control is lousy enough to have people wandering into forbidden areas, they deserve what they get. While the "whole hog" is likely impossible for them to accomplish, this answer should give a minimum reference for adequate security and the running of a cost-benefit analysis to see if the idea needs plot-armor to survive.

Now, in modern times, because people have risk mitigation strategies like insurance, and an adequate police force, The idea of not having a fortress is absolutely laughable, and should cause the advenuters to, indeed, laugh, pick up their stuff, and move to a less insane place.

At the end of the day, no automated defenses will be sufficient. The role of the lock rating (in modern security) is a perfect illustration of this. Locks are rated by tool and minutes. Specifically, how long, in minutes, will it take a given type of tool to bypass the lock? It then becomes very simple. Time patrols of "guys with guns" (the technical term) such that it is (theoretically) impossible to beat all the security measures before said "guy with gun" finds you.

Controlling the means of entry

The first thing is controlling means of entry. Given that the opposition has access to casters who can cast teleport, (sor/wis 5), That means that access to 6th or 7th level scrolls is not out of the question. Therefore not only are the players trying to defend against scry and die but... the scrying part can be accomplished by walking in.

Unfortunately, with all the teleport protection in the world, walls of force are depressingly necessary because of Passwall, Gaseous Form and Ethereal Jaunt. (Scrolls are incredibly cheap, relative to their spell counterparts. And we have to assume the budget for these crimes is at least 25% of the market value of the objects.

The minimum necessary infrastructure to assert "security" should be outer walls of force, then a prismatic wall, then another wall of force (with nice plastering and architecture glued to the outside, because there is such a thing as taste). The interior must absolutely be covered in an anti-magic field. (Treat this place like a diamond and enhanced uranium supermarket located in south-central Los Angeles that has daily specials on tritrium.) Thus, there are 4 "public" regions of the "store" with two critical private regions. The shop should be "open" 24 hours a day. First, because you never know when adventurers will need things, and second, it should always be operating on the same security footing.

The demilitarized pleasure garden and outdoor sales boutique

Public region 1: Outside the front steps. This should be a completely disposable bazaar where el-cheapo goods are hawked. You don't want to pass just anyone into your inner sanctum, and you need a demilitarized zone. (I recommend paying for a lovely garden with fountains). Put up as many detection wards as you can in public region 1, Be prepared to completely lose this zone to smash & grabs. (Remember passing adventurers need to see this place as a dungeon that's more profitable to pay for than to pillage. If you have less protections than the average dunegon with the stuff, than be prepared for "dungeon arbitrage" to occur as adventurers try to loot you instead of the dungeons.)

Still, it's a good way of unloading the "cheap stuff", generating goodwill, and establishing a defensive perimeter that isn't completely profitless. Also here is an important step of coming to an arrangement with the thieves' guild. This is effectively Morporkian Insurance, but do whatever it takes to have the guild agree to self-regulate when it comes to your shop. This will almost certainly cost money. Make sure it costs less than what you would otherwise lose from a successful burglary. (This whole setup., by the way, is why the whole idea of magical emporiums that aren't dungeons is rather silly.)

Zone 2: The mantrap tunnel and lounge

Zone 2 is your buffer zone. It contains the multiple walls of force and prismatic walls in an AMF and whatever alarms you can devise. Since Walls of Force are "one 10foot square per level" It should be quite possible to shape (and then plaster) these appropriately such that you have a tunnel leading in.

This tunnel (covered in the anti-magic fields. plural.) should be the only way into the "shop", and must be securable at both ends. It must be a mantrap, and at least one of the authentication factors must be a token (marked with wizard's mark, changed daily) handed to the entrant from outside, and the other should be a one-time use challenge phrase established with the creation of the token, manipulated by a secret known only to the token giver and never divulged. (of course keeping that secret secret is a challenge left to the players.)

Still, this allows for positive vetting to occur before people enter the tunnel and the doors (if made well) should be proof against most mundane manipulation without magic.

If possible, dress up the security vetting as a public service. Maybe serve coffee or something.

Don't forget, all this security should be a profit source. Don't be afraid to lease vaults and secure meeting rooms for an exorbitant monthly fee. This location should be proof against most scrying, and, when combined with positive identity vetting, is a service that many people should be willing to pay for, especially on guarenteed neutral ground.

Zone 3, Bar, bistro, and "look, but don't touch" gallery.

Public region 3 is the shop's main floor and should be the gallery of magic items (isolated from the purchasers by walls of force.). A purchaser may, of course, request to be taken down to the firing range (region 4) to examine the item. Again, make this place a profit center by providing a security-enhanced bar and bistro to make money off of the floor space by letting people use it as neutral ground.

The firing range

The firing range, unfortunately, cannot be covered by an anti-magic field, but should be part of the walls of force barrier-complex, separated by both a mantrap and a specific, isolated, system for passing items to prospective clients. Making sure that dupes aren't substituted is, as always, left as an exercise to the players, but having arcane marks on all items is a good first step, as an arcane mark (both visible and invisible) is theoretically impossible to forge (See: harry potter and the natural 20). Personally, the best way to do this is to provide the item (in exchange for a deposit plus one hundred gold). Then to offer the customer a coffee, a meal, and a lovely chat (don't forget to upsell consulting services) while identify is cast on the item before it's returned. I recommend making an item of identify, as this is something you'll be casting all the bloody time.

Your (extraplanar) Vault.

The fourth location is your "vault." Start by making an extraplanar space with genesis (power crystals are amazingly affordable when one considers the cost of losing all these valuables.). Items that you don't want to lose to disjunction, items being stored securely (did you know that goldsmiths often functioned as banks because of the quality of their vaults?) and personal quarters should be there. Most games require knowledge of the "key" (nominally a specific frequency or somesuch) to access specific extra-planar dimensions. If your game doesn't, go loot the plane of earth's infinite gem supply until it does.

Passive security provides enough time for the "guys with guns" to arrive. Without active defenses, all the passive defenses in the world are pointless.

At the end of the day, hire enough "guards" (however one operationalizes that term) such that you have an adequate response force for each zone. Your budget for each zone should be the replacement cost (less your profit margin) of the items in the zone.

How to secure goods "on a budget."

Unfortunately, 11th level (either of yourself or opponents) is where dedicated powerhouses who want to do a single thing "well" really start to shine.

Assuming that you cannot protect a location, protect people instead. Start by getting a number of portable holes and securing them on the person most resistant to pickpocketing (maximize their spot check). Make them resistant to potions of glibness as well (left for another question.) They are your vault, as you'll store everything but bags of holding in these portable holes. You won't have a "home base" that can be attacked when you're not there.

This won't protect you from scry and die, but it'll at least make your death personal.

In terms of showing off the items, make books. Each book should be a catalogue and gallery, and have a well secured "vault and firing range" where you can hand a specific item to someone without giving them access to the portable hole.

You are not making a "toy store" so don't pretend you are one.

How to secure against "high level magic thieves" as a Level 8 party

Step 1. Pour yourself a lovely drink. I'm going to detail my assumptions.

Assuming that we're doing location based security, the first thing to do is to establish loss-thresholds. The party should have a net value (assuming wealth by level is appropriate) of around 27,000*5=135k (assuming a 5 person party.)

As this is a plot-based location, in many ways, I will assume that it has a net value of 20% of their worth, separate from their net worth. (Value therefore of 27k) I will assume that it has items of value to take them to level 9, of approximately 45k sale value. I will assume that you've completely obliterated the "traditional economics" of D&D (long may they burn) and are allowing the players to sell goods at their "full" price.

I will assume the thieves' guild is rational, can do cost-benefit analyses, and doesn't have access to the wish economy. I will also assume that they scale with the PC's level, functionally being able to dedicate 2 attempts of a well stated 5-man team to attack the store, if it is profitable.

I will assume (mmm, so very many assumptions) that thieves take a discount when fencing goods (And that there are no suitable goods for thieves to steal that are of immediate value) of 75%. I will also assume that thieves are not willing to spend more than 25% of the gross, because they don't understand economies of scale and because plot.

Therefore:

Defense budget for the store: 27,000 gp, access to an "in-party" wizard that can make custom magic items for cash.

Maximum attack budget for the thieves: 8437.5 gp (utoh...)

The party of high-magic thieves (mainly because I've been watching leverage) consists of a Mastermind, hitter, "hacker" (wizard), thief, and grifter. Mastermind is , called "Nate." Illumian Archivist 1/Wizard 1/Theurge 3/Dweomerkeeper 2 Grifter "Sophie" Changeling Beguiler/7 Shadow Adept/1, Hitter, "Eliot" (Given that this is a retrieval specialist) Wizard/1 Binder/1 Anima Mage/6. Thief "Parker" factotum/8, Hacker Gnome Illusionist 5 /shadowcrafter 2/shadowcraft mage 1 (she'll be better in 2 levels).

Roughly speaking, they have 3 avenues of attack: The Con, the Lift, and the Hit.

Confidence games in 3.5 are ... boring. Sophie decides to go for a maximum risk bluff, basically that she's someone who can treble their money in a month because she'll be using this to fund a group of adventurers to assassinate red dragons. We'll be... charitable and provide a +20 bonus on the sense motive check. She'll cast glibness on herself for a +30 untyped bonus, they'll hire a psion to cast conceal thoughts for +10 circumstance. We'll say +5 from various and sundry bonuses and magic items. (probably low), so +45+12+4 = +61 versus sense motive of ... +20.

The PC invests the shop, pausing only to let sophie bluff the rest of the group.

I honestly have no idea how to buff sense motive by +51 with less than 20k of resources. (Probably a good question for the site.) Let's ... assume that... sophie is having a bad hair day and just won't run a con because the entire subsystem is boring.

We'll ignore the hit, as that's combat and... well within the rules of normal combat.

This leaves the lift.

Pay someone to cast ethereal jaunt (doesn't trigger alarm), gives huge bonuses to hiding. Use ghost touch gauntlets to lift physical items into a pouch of holding (if necessary, coated in ghost touch oil). Leave when you have all the best loot. Shrink item as necessary.

Thus, the building has to be proof against trivial entry. It must have seamless metal walls (at the very least) to block passwall. (A few castings of wall of iron settles that nicely.) Zone of Respite (Spell compendium) protects against all of these things, Sor/wis 5, ... for minutes. Zone of Revelation is also a useful counter against invisibility. I would ask my players to agree on a house rule allowing these to be made permanent (with the understanding that enemies will use these techniques). I'd still keep everything in a secret chest and keep the chest token on the PCs, but it's a worthwhile protection method.

Combine the two, with a good authentication scheme to allow access inside and a catalogue of offerings (pricey magic items by appointment only, the item price needs to be posted to a third party as escrow),

While it's not amazing, it'll be proof against most boring instant-win attacks at level 8 (that don't use skills) and a reason to structure adventures around the thieves' guild. (We'll set aside the use of dispel magic to just ignore all of these protections. And we'll set aside the use of a hand drill to get through the walls.)

The restriction on the 7th-level Sor/Wiz spell greater teleport [conj] (Player's Handbook 293) is that

you must have at least a reliable description of the place to which you are teleporting (such as a detailed description from someone else or a particularly precise map). If you attempt to teleport with insufficient information (or with misleading information), you disappear and simply reappear in your original location.

Ask the DM if there exists reliable descriptions that can be acquired that allow the spell greater teleport to reach the destination you want. Are there folks you can interview? Books to read? Tavern tales to absorb? Paintings to study? Sculpture gardens to enjoy? If a way of getting that reliable description exists, do what you must and find the destination that way.

If reliable descriptions don't exist, try scouting the area using an acquaintance.

If there's a creature with which you're familiar in or near the area to which you want to teleport, target that creature with the spell sending [evoc] (PH 275-6) (which is an evocation spell with no saving throw and that doesn't allow spell resistance), explaining to the target who you are, that you'll be casting the spell scrying [div] (PH 274-5) on him in just a minute, and that the creature is to fail the saving throw. The creature can do that.

Cast the spell scrying on the creature and study the area around the creature. If you can, do this a few more times to increase your familiarity. (Although the caster can't be Off Target with the spell greater teleport he still rolls on the chart for the 5th-level Sor/Wiz spell teleport [conj] (PH 292-3) when using the spell greater teleport because the possibility for a Similar Area or Mishap remain). Use this accumulated information as the destination for the spell greater teleport. Alternately, get all the information needed to use the spell greater teleport by targeting the acquaintance the 8th-level Sor/Wiz spell discern location [div] (PH 222).

If you can neither find a reliable description nor contact a friend, you're left with either getting a detailed description the hard way or getting a particularly precise map.

Getting a Detailed Description

First, find a creature who's been where you want to go. Then extract the detailed description from the creature's mind.

"What?!"

The DM's made it clear that no amount of book learnin' or other research will do. The only remaining (even semi-)reliable descriptions are the memories of creatures who have been to the destination to which you want to teleport. Have the caster who is going to cast greater teleport use one or more of the following spells on that creature.

• The 2nd-level Sor/Wiz spell vision of fear [div] (Dragon #333 73), for 24 hours, grants the caster firsthand knowledge (suitable for scrying attempts and teleport destinations) of the caster's choice of either the target's most recent fear or the target's greatest fear. Note: That's awfully specific, though, but waiting by the docks or the trading post and interviewing recent arrivals from the region might find a suitable target.
• The 3rd-level corrupt spell absorb mind [div] (Book of Vile Darkness 84), for 1 min./level, grants the caster, after eating a portion of the dead creature's brain, "the creature's memories and knowledge to some degree, so that she has a 25% chance of recalling any important fact known to the creature." Note: I house rule this to 1 attempt per minute. The spell often requires me to ad lib the ridiculous.
• The 6th-level Sor/Wiz spell probe throughts [div] (Spell Compendium 162), for as long as the caster concentrates up to 1 round/level, grants the caster the the ability to "learn the answer to one question per round, to the best of the subject's knowledge.... and the answers to those questions are imparted directly to [the caster's] mind."
• The 7th-level Clr spell brain spider [div] (SpC 38), for 1 min./level, grants the caster, among other choices, the ability to eavesdrop on another creature's thoughts and learn that creature's "thoughts and memories... in detail."
• The 9th-level Sor spell mindrape [ench] (BV 99) grants the caster the ability to "enter... the mind of a creature, learning everything that creature knows."

One of those should get a description that's sufficient for the spell's caster to also use the spell greater teleport, but it's possible the DM may rule it's also necessary to retain this information perfectly to teleport accurately. If that's the case, use the following spell.

• The 3rd-level Sor/Wiz spell magic memory [div] (Wyrms of the North column "Deszeldaryndun")¹ grants the caster the ability to "absorb the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and/or textures of [the caster's] immediate environment and magically record them in... memory." Then the caster "can later share [the] experience with another willing living creature simply by maintaining direct physical contact and letting the memory replay." Note: Confirm first that the DM allows this method of memory retention to work with another creature's memory. (I allow it to do so in my campaigns.)

Obviously, the spell magic memory is also useful if the caster who acquired the information must relay that information to the caster of the spell greater teleport.²

Getting a Particularly Precise Map

The skill Gather Information has this covered. It says

If you want to find out about a specific rumor ("Which way to the ruined temple of Erythnul?") or a specific item ("What can you tell me about that pretty sword the captain of the guard walks around with?"), or obtain a map, or do something else along those lines, the DC for the check is 15 to 25, or even higher. (PH 74).

Emphasis mine.

I'm guessing it'll be that even higher. In fact, I'm guessing the DM will just say No. If that's the case, while there are other magical maps in D&D 3.X,³ what's needed is this one:

• The held item Keoghtom's spidery map (Dragon #359 72) (26,400 gp; 0 lbs.) grants the bearer the ability "concentrate upon the map, searching [his] mind for a location, creature, or object. The map then acts as a find the path spell, showing in great detail the shortest, most direct physical route to the specified destination. [The owner] can only use the map once per day, and all other paths or locations on the map appear as an ever-changing blurred mass of webs."

The spidery map uses an effect like the 6th-level Clr spell find the path [div] (PH 230)--which has no distance limitation--, and it provides a destination--the crucial yet poorly defined thing necessary for employing the spell teleport et al. ("The spell instantly transports you to a designated destination..."). Pick the creature you know or the artifact you're aware of and activate the map (borrow a map from a friendly contact if its cost exceeds your funds--you only need the map once).⁴ That should be sufficient to use the spell greater teleport to get you where you want to go.

Alternative Means of Investigation and Travel

The 6th-level Sor/Wiz spell scry location [div] (Complete Scoundrel 102) is nearly impossible lest one possesses some connection to the location to be scried. The 6th-level Sor/Wiz spell shadow walk [illus] (PH 277) only allows travel at 50 MPH (that's, like, a week-long road trip on the Plane of Shadow--have fun!), but a level 12 caster can employ the spell phantom steed [conj] (PH 260) to go faster than that, and the 7th-level nomad power dream travel [psychoportation] (Expanded Psionics Handbook 96-7) goes faster than that--but navigation's an issue with a poorly drawn continental map (e.g. "We're going to California!" doesn't actually narrow it down that much). The DM will probably demand a familiar destination for the spell plane shift [conj] (PH 262) et al. because if folks could use the spell plane shift twice rather than risk greater teleport once, I expect most folks would; ask the DM.⁵

"Why Is This So Difficult?"

The ability to teleport to places with which one's already familiar is incredibly powerful. That the spell greater teleport eliminates both the distance limit ("I can see the moon, right?") and the possibility of being Off Target really is sufficient to call the spell greater teleport. Adding the ability to teleport to places unseen--if reliable descriptions or particularly precise maps are easily acquired--hurts the verisimilitude of many campaigns.

It's also possible the DM wants the PCs to reach the destination the old fashioned way--booking passage on a ship and sailing away or hiring a guide and riding hard--rather than allowing the blind teleport. It could be it's the journey that counts, not the confrontation at the end.

You should probably ask the DM if he wants you teleporting there. Maybe the plot is the PCs getting to the destination.

---

1. The column appears not to be archived. Here's the spell.

   Magic Memory

   Divination [Mind-Affecting]
   Level: Sor/Wiz 3
   Components: S, M
   Casting Time: 1 action
   Range: Personal
   Target: You and one other living creature
   Duration: Special
   Saving Throw: Will negates
   Spell Resistance: No

   You absorb the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and/or textures of your immediate environment and magically record them in your memory for as long as you concentrate (up to 1 round/level). Anything that causes you to break your concentration ends the record. You can later share your experience with another willing living creature simply by maintaining direct physical contact and letting the memory replay. For as long as contact is maintained, that creature's senses perceive the earlier recorded environment. Once the memory is replayed, the spell ends, and the memory becomes a normal memory for both you and the target.

   Arcane Focus: A mind flayer tentacle. Note: Fortunately, no gp cost. I didn't want hard-up-for-cash mind flayers selling their tentacles to the wizards' college.

2. The only other ways to get perfect memory in D&D 3.X that I'm immediately aware of are the prestige classes Jordain vizier (Shining South 33) and shadow scout (Oriental Adventures 44)--neither of whom are casters--and maybe the cerebrex (Dragon Compendium Volume 1 72)--whose eidetic memory is a numerical bonus instead of actual memory--, although there very well could be other prestige classes or an infusion, mystery, power, soulmeld, utterance, vestige, or something else that does so. The skill Autohypnosis (XPH 36-7) only allows memorization of "text..., numbers, diagrams, or sigils;" ask the DM if a map's a diagram.

3. There's the map of unseen lands (MIC 164) (5,200 gp; 0 lbs.) and the greater and lesser underdark maps (DrU 77 and 76) (major and minor artifact; 0 and 1 lbs.)), for example.
4. The spell magic memory works for memorizing the map, too. Unfortunately, the 0th-level Sor/Wiz spell amanuensis [trans] (SpC 9) "copies only nonmagical text, not illustrations or magical writings."
5. Or not. You're in the DM's hands because of 5d% miles off one always is when using the spell plane shift (unless you've greater plane shift [conj] (SpC 159) and a previously visited location). There're not-nice folks on every plane; don't expect to arrive among pleasant folk unless the DM wants you to.