If you had an imaginary shop, what would you sell?

[Foundress]

I saw a sign in a vacant shop premises as I drove past today. The shop was to let for £100 per week. It’s obviously very difficult times at the moment to be setting up any business. It did get me thinking though what would I sell if I had a little shop (purely in my imagination).I remember the old fashioned haberdashers shops and would love one of those. So what would you sell in your shop ?

Barefoot shoes

Ah that sounds somewhat like the department stores of my childhood. I would love those to return. Well over fifty years ago now. I used to get the bus into Newcastle and go to Fenwicks in Northumberland Street with my Nana. Fenwicks is still there but not the same! We also used to go to Binns and Joplings stores (long gone) in Sunderland as well. I still remember the cafe and I always had a meringue with cream and a glacé cherry with a little leaf of green Angelica. Thanks all PP’s for such lovely ideas.

Jeans! All price points and brands. you can go in and try on as many pairs and styles as you want. You can also trade in old pairs for credit, if they are totally trashed they get upcycled into accessories and if in good condition they go into the vintage/2nd hand area.

I will also keep your measurements on file an send out a pair like Net a Porter

My imaginary shop is a branch of Woolworths. So pick n mix, Fruits of Nature toiletries, Ladybird children's clothes and cassettes and VHS.

Cheese

I'd like a shop like Cook that serves good quality ready meals, maybe a little cafe at the back.

I want to set up a co-operative where you can bring haberdashery and craft supplies and they can be recycled and swopped and bring & buy (with out the buy bit) maybe swopping resources

& if it worked Id expand it to diy and gardening stuff too

A pet shop but just for dogs and it would be mandatory to bring your dog with you.

Beautiful, classic children’s clothes, toys and homewares.

When I was a teenager, I was utterly convinced that I would own a shop by the sea and sell hand made soap, herbal stuff, curios, jewellery etc.

I'd love a shop full of vintage curios and bric-a-brac, all beautifully laid out like an old-fashioned parlour with an aspidistra in the corner and a pair of Staffordshire dogs on the mantelpiece above a cracking log fire. Add in a few comfy armchairs, some books and with tea/coffee/cake available, bliss. Add a cat or two draped casually about the place and I'd be in heaven.

Stationery. Interesting and different stuff but 100% stationery

I’d like shop that sold tiny miniature ponies! (obviously only to amazing top-notch knowledgable homes!! )

High end vintage stuff. Fountain pens, watches, jewellery etc.

Books written in the 20th century

And I fancy a pub with an old fashioned pub garden and food would be fabulous quality sandwiches using amazing bread with farmhouse cheeses and ham cut from the bone, and other roast meats, great sausages and top notch ploughman’s lunch plates. So the stuff you used to get in old pubs for lunch but freshly made with the best ingredients.

Petite clothes - proper petite, not just shortened legs.

Quality, simple clothes. No puff sleeves, cutouts, barrel legs or any of that nonsense. And I will stock trench coats with hoods!

And wide fit stylish shoes. Why it's assumed you only wear Hotter style shoes when you have wide feet I don't know 🤷‍♀️

Cakes and simple lunches: baked potatoes, Sandwiches etc

I'd do coffees too

Nothing too complex

A daily soup

My homemade sourdough. I mean, I've made 4 loaves so far, they're not perfect but I try!

Also - my crochet blankets. I like to start projects but not fonish them so I'd only have 1 to sell every few months.

That'll keep me going surely!?

An art gallery so I could sell my 3 lovely artist friend's work

Antiques and interiors here! With a cafe with incredible cakes.

A mixture of fair trade items and locally-made ones. Mainly homewares, but I might also include clothing, stationery and a few food items such as chocolate.

I like the idea of some of the fair-trade items coming from countries which are less known in UK retail. Woven textiles from Bhutan, Ethiopian crosses, ikat and suzani cushions from Central Asia... I would try to keep the delivery mileage under control though, or it wouldn't be very sustainable.

Books. Cards. Coffee. Probably only the coffee would make any money.

I would sell beautiful vintage style clothes, embroidered velvet blouses, intricate lace dresses, and I would sit and add beads and sequins to anything and everything to make the clothes even more beautiful.

Most of these types of shops already exist.

In my imaginary shop, I would sell imaginary things! Such as fancy bottles of motivation, colourful jars of energy, beautiful bags of the best quality sleep and pretty packets full of happiness!

Books, records, coffee and possibly T-shirts

Old fashioned sweet shop/Tobacconist (for the smells from the different jars)
Done out in dark wood and glass cabinets and shelves and a long wooden counter.
A glass fronted cabinet at child height so the y can point and pick their choice of mix.