What businesses every small town/ village needs.

Log in to reply
D

Demagix

Free Member
Mar 12, 2011
37
9
  • #1
    Ok guys, I know that there are many of you out there that live in small towns or villages. So, my question to you is, apart from a post office, the odd one or two pennie sweet shops, dozens of pubs and garages, what do you think a small town. village would benefit from that has not yet been introduced?

    I know it's a long shot answering this question, so I'll make it easier. What business do you think that YOUR small town/ village needs, and why?

    Looking forward to your replies.
     
    Philip Hoyle

    Philip Hoyle

    Free Member
    • Apr 3, 2007
    2,247
    1,092
    Lancashire
  • #5
    A village or small town needs a lot more than specific types of shop to be vibrant. Our village has a post office, newsagents, library, hairdressers, pie shop, spar shop, fish & chip chop, butchers, 2 pubs, 2 restaurants, a dance school, a garden centre, 3 churches, 2 used car pitches, a primary school and an ironmongers (and 2 accountancy practices!). But the most important thing is loads of on-street free parking and a couple of small car parks (free).

    People have reasons for coming into the village rather than excuses for going to the local Tesco just a mile up the road. All the various businesses compliment eachother. Tradesmen come from miles around for their pie or fish & chips for lunch and buy their paper at the same time. Mothers stop off at the butchers after picking up little Jimmy from school etc.

    I know the village shops would be very badly affected if the pie shop closed or if the post office closed. It would be a disaster if the school closed or if the council morons put down double yellow lines on the main street.

    I'd say the most important shops were the fish & chip shop and the pie shop as they seem to generate a lot of custom at lunchtime and tea time, getting people to drive to the village from the outlying areas and even surrounding villages, and when they're here, they buy other things, post a letter, buy a lottery ticket from Spar, a newspaper or their ciggies, etc.
     
    Last edited:
    Upvote 0
    deniser

    deniser

    Free Member
    Jun 3, 2008
    8,081
    1,697
    London
  • #7
    We lived in a village which had everything including chemist, convenience shop, newsagent, tea room, pub, restaurant, toy shop, 3 gift shops, antique shop, Indian takeaway, baker, greengrocer, butcher, electrical goods shop, ironmongers, 3 hairdressers, beauty shop, picture framing, model shop, furniture shop etc.

    The newsagent, restaurant, toy shop, all the gift shops, the ironmonger, a hairdresser, the beauty shop, the model shop and the furniture shop have all closed down in the last 4 years and been replaced with either estate agents or medical services eg. dentist, osteopath, vet, chiropodist etc.
     
    Upvote 0
    Philip Hoyle

    Philip Hoyle

    Free Member
    • Apr 3, 2007
    2,247
    1,092
    Lancashire
  • #11
    othellotech said:
    Wouldn't the most important thing be a community of locals who actually want to shop locally ...
    Click to expand...

    No, I don't think so because the average village will never have enough residents to keep the shops going as most working people will do their main shopping at Tesco. You need to be able to attract people from outlying areas and other nearby villages and passing trade from the nearest major roads, for the things that people don't want to or can't get from Tesco. If the village isn't car friendly, people won't go to it and will go to the next village instead where they can park. I'm sure lots of people would like to shop more locally, but small shops can't compete with Tesco, so the village needs shops/services that Tesco doesn't do well if at all - i.e. bakers, butchers, fish & chips, hairdressers. It seems to me that there is a trend of having one village becoming the hub for a few villages around it - not every village can support several shops, some none at all, so the villagers use the next village down the road instead which helps it keep its shops. We can't turn the tide - people aren't going to give up on Tesco and buy all their groceries from the corner shop, so the village needs on concentrate on things you can't buy from Tesco or customers who won't go to Tesco - such as passing lorry drivers wanting a pie for lunch!
     
    Last edited:
    Upvote 0
    R

    Rhyl Lightworks

  • #12
    With supermarkets dominating food shopping, and people mistakenly thinking other big stores, like B&Q, DFS, etc. give good prices and service, and an ever increasing car driving population, it is difficult to see any future in ordinary village shops of any kind, that merely rely on the population of the village for their survival.

    Thus I think that any business located in a village must have a sufficient reputation to draw people in from outside the village. Such businesses could include a tea shop, restaurant, specialist shop which you don't find even in the big towns and maybe other people can think of more.

    Barrie
     
    Upvote 0
    ecenica

    ecenica

    Free Member
    May 26, 2010
    656
    104
    Leeds, United Kingdom
  • #13
    How about a web hosting datacentre? :)

    Ok maybe not... Agree the very minimum a village / small town needs is a well-stocked general store. Ideally like a Sainsburys Local / Tesco Express, without actually being a Sainsburys or Tesco.

    After that I guess things like a pub, cafe, florist, coffee shop and restaurant are the next steps of gentrification.

    ^Rich.
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    I Love Spreadsheets

  • #15
    For the past couple of years I have been monitoring the various high streets up and down the valleys to see if I could spot any niche markets that I could go in to.

    Now Myrther is a large village/small town that has high unemployment and has a massive Tesco's smack in the middle of it - It is literally 2 minutes from the high street. Over the couple of years of monitoring it I have seen things like grocers and bakers vanish but lots of luxury type shops appear (Fancy soaps, candles, nail polishers etc) and they all seem to be doing very well.

    Not sure that helps your original question but I thought the observation may help
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #16
    Our Village has a library, garage, gym, community centre, church, post office, hairdressers, chip shop, bakers, butchers, grocers, co-op, tesco express, florist, busy B's (general DIY) chinese, pizza shop, curry takeaway. There was a newsagents that did very well because he was so friendly and did different things to get people in there, but due to ill health closed it down. Its been closed for about a year now and my son wants to re-open and rent it from him.

    I don't know if a newsagents alone would do well or not? He doesn't want to earn millions, just enough to pay the bills. What do you think?

    I suggested to him rent it, but re-open it as a pet shop. The nearest pet shop is in the nearest town and an industrial estate. I think if he did it right he could attract business from 4-5 nearby villages too, and could also do home delivery and maybe even a door to door catalogue like betterware style for accessories etc.

    Any thoughts? People in every village have pets.
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #18
    He wouldn't sell animals, it would be food, and accessories etc but not animals. He said his ideal job would be to work for himself in the village running his own shop. He is not scared of hard work. He is only young but he is a real old school village lad. Plays for the village football team, even though he could play at a higher level, goes to the welfare on nights out, buys as much as he can from the village, fundraises for the local sports teams and local play group. He knows alot of people in the village and they know him so thats why he wants to run a village shop, just doesn't know what exactly. :)
     
    Upvote 0
    A

    AngelaE

    Free Member
    Jun 10, 2011
    136
    28
    London
  • #20
    IWYS said:
    He knows alot of people in the village and they know him so thats why he wants to run a village shop, just doesn't know what exactly. :)
    Click to expand...

    If he knows a lot of people in the village, I would suggest that he asks them what service they would like to see in the village. I think he has a good advantage as he is appears to be well known and may well attract customers fairly quickly..
     
    Upvote 0
    A

    AngelaE

    Free Member
    Jun 10, 2011
    136
    28
    London
  • #21
    IWYS said:
    He knows alot of people in the village and they know him so thats why he wants to run a village shop, just doesn't know what exactly. :)
    Click to expand...

    If he knows a lot of people in the village, I would suggest that he asks them what service they would like to see in the village. I think he has a good advantage as he is appears to be well known and may well attract customers fairly quickly.
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #22
    What about them shops that people have goods delivered to as they might me out. Some delivery companies say it will be delivered between 8-1, so you have to book time off work. Get it delivered to the shop and then just pick it up after work.

    You could even have a couple of computers in the shop for people who want to do some online shopping that might not have internet access, or some people do not have debit/credit cards due to financial circumstances etc, so they could come in and buy something for cash to you and you order it online with the business credit card?

    This could possibly work? For larger items you could even deliver to their door at a time to suit them? If you could do that for 3-4 villages it would be alright?
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #25
    I dont agree with that theory. In many cases yes, but if this theory was correct then there would be no new businesses, and new ideas would be pointless, when the wheel was invented, what if people told him that exact theory... :)
     
    Upvote 0
    M

    martin001

    Free Member
    May 28, 2008
    680
    122
    Prague
  • #26
    So, in most cases you would agree, but not some.

    We are not comparing this to inventing the wheel, moreover suggesting coming up with wheels in various shades no?

    Inventing the wheel would be like coming up with the idea of having a shop in a village fullstop.

    Does the poster have a specific idea for a niche shop in a village?

    I think what you have to look at is numbers here.

    A village by default has very few people living in it (when comparing to a city for instance), out of that few number, an even fewer number will by default use the service / shop, so if you are selling cups of tea in a tiny cafe in a village, it's not going to be a huge money spinner is it?

    I'm trying to be realistic rather than negative you know :)
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #27
    You make very valid points. What i am trying to say is that there is something there if you think outside the box, i just cant put my finger on it. It you could open a shop that would appeal to the mass market i think you could succeed in a village.

    My point being...if you open a bar for example in a village it appeals to everyone in the village who would go in a bar, so most people would use it due to locality and ease of walking home without taxi's or drink driving etc. If you open a bar in a city, there are more people but there is more competition for their business, so you (in my opinion) have to work harder to succeed. Overall i think opening a bar in a city would be more successful than in a village, but i still think there are certain things that would work well in a village.
     
    Upvote 0
    KateCB

    KateCB

    Free Member
    May 11, 2006
    2,273
    539
    Barnsley, South Yorkshire
  • #28
    We have three pubs, three butchers, four hairdressers, two beauty salons, two bakers, five cafe/tea houses, three churches, a village all, one nursery school, one Junior school, a village hall/libarary, a dress shop, three Indian restaurants, one Thai restaurant, one Cantonese restaurant, several chinese/indian/fish and chip take out shops

    Two co-ops, one at each end of the village who openly admit that they charge 30% more for goods than the town centre co-op because we are 'sub-urban/village'. We also have a sign and banner shop, a ironmongery store (small scale DIY store really) and one 'corner shop' who sells an amazing range of things you just don't see anymore (fire black, bootlaces, yes, BOOT laces, not shoe, really long, thick ones!)

    What do we NEED? A greengrocer! :D

    Can I buy fresh veg in our village? No. I have to either be ripped off by the co-op of travel into the city centre to a supermarket, or to the market on market days (SO busy I avoid market days!) and I did think about doing it at one point , however, I personally don't want to have to get up to go to wholesale markets at 4am, to be back to open at 8.30am and I guess this is the problem, along with the sad fact the many greengrocers are not good profit makers.:mad:

    I worked for a greengrocer when I was a kid, and loved it, however I remember that to make ends meet a little better he started selling 'fresh' fish - well, they were fresh on day one, and day two....once dipped in a bucket of water they looked fresh......put me right off fish!:eek:
     
    Upvote 0
    I

    IWYS

    Free Member
    May 11, 2011
    508
    25
  • #34
    I think he is looking at the idea of just opening it as a newsagents now. Going to make it fresh and try and add different lines. He only has to support himself, so i think that would be ok. There is demand for paper delivery that noone else is doing. Its situated next to a bakery that is busy most mornings, and is near a junior school, so could include sweets etc.
     
    Upvote 0
    R

    Rhyl Lightworks

  • #35
    I personally like a newspaper delivered every morning, but, like milk, and other things before that, it is a dying business. Newspaper circulation is dropping anyway, and most people buy their papers. if they read one, from a supermarket or shop these days. There would have to be a lot of additional lines to make the shop viable.

    Barrie
     
    Upvote 0
    M

    matt seymour

    Free Member
    Jan 5, 2011
    1,073
    369
    Portsmouth
  • #36
    Our village has a Co-op that incorporates the Post Office, another general store, a butcher/deli, a florist, a hardware shop, a newsagent, a couple of estate agents, a hairdressers and a chemist and that is about it. Can't quite remember if there is a greengrocers as well. There is also a terrible fish and chip shop on the other side of the village, along with one pub and a church.

    I think most villages will have the essential services like a Co-op or general store covered. You've either got to provide something that people will travel a few miles for or offer delivery. I imagine that is all that keeps the florist in our little village going because they surely can't be making enough money just from the villagers.

    I would basically try and follow that model. Not necessarily a florist, but a shop that villagers will use, and one that also allows you to deliver and offer your services on the internet etc, so you are not restricted and dependent on the villagers alone.
     
    Last edited:
    Upvote 0
    G

    gingerdad

    Free Member
    Jun 28, 2006
    322
    37
    Cumbria
  • #37
    our village has a shop/post office, 2 pubs, farm shop, school, village hall, village community center and a church.

    what we could do with is a shop thats open when we are in, the local one complains no one uses it but closes at 5.30 and 12.00 on saturdays. so have to go to the next town in the evening.

    i'd love to know some peoples defination of a village cause some of thee descriptions sound like big towns

    we are lucky the next town along (about 3,000 people) about 3 miles away has it all 4 butchers, green grocer, baker, takeaways co-op/spar, banks etc
     
    Upvote 0
    Log in to reply

    Latest Articles

    Top Bottom
    Community
    Articles
    Menu