The shopkeeper had been talking about empires, but with respect to Haley's question about why she can't find the country she's looking for. Something along the lines of "I don't have the map you want (because of [reasons]), but you might try this new store that just opened..." I seriously doubt she's talking about going to a newly formed nation just to find a map. And I doubt a cartography shop, no matter how extensive their archives of maps, is likely to be plot-critical.

Though if anyone could pull it off, it'd be the Giant.