Which one will earn more profit? Just make sure the number of trips is the same.

I can say shop with straight route will make more profit because it's speed will increase due to straight line travelling.

In a normal city, it will grow when goods are delivered there, but in the desert, you need to deliver water and food — although we haven’t encountered that yet in the lessons.

OMG it is very hard to grow a city in desert. Yes I saw water resources but I could not find out where to transfer it.