To wonder what shops would you add to our village

[DemGirls]

Lighthearted but a conversation coming up frequently in my Village.
I live in a village population around 2250, we have a “main street” which has all the shops/amenities on it, currently 3 of these units are vacant and their is a lot of convo on what it would be nice to have fill them. Here is what we currently have

• A co-op
• A Spar with a post office
• A pharmacy
• A hairdressers
• A barbers
• A coffee shop
• 2 Gastropubs
• A Bakery/Deli
• A tiny little bookshop
• A cycle shop/club
• A Chinese take away
• A fish and chip shop
• A little independent artists studio/shop
• A library (although hardly open these days)

People mainly come to the village as slightly further out we have a golf course and lots of good walks. The cycle club is very popular as is the local tennis and Bowles clubs so this brings people too!

The units available are all relatively small, one was the barbers (moved into the where the butchers was), one was a bakery (no need for 2 it turns out) and one was a post office (moved into the spar).

AIBU to want to know what you’d put in the units if you lived here and got to pick?

I think you are doing amazingly well to have kept all those. I live in a village with a similar sized population and we have only got a convience store, a butcher, per store and tiny barbers, plus a couple of pubs.

Id love a cafe, a fish & chip place, an indian takeaway, and one of the afore mentioned "hardware stores that sells everything"

Someone already mentioned it but definitely a beauticians/ day spa to get waxing, facials, and such. Maybe another hair salon. Imagine if you had a really crap experience, but it was the only place close.

We did have a second hair salon but there just wasn’t enough business. We have a large town near by and within 30 min of a city, people just travel if they don’t like the local offering.

Charity shop

I'm amazed that a village that size can support s many shops. PILs live in a village that was a bit smaller in number of residents, but had a thriving primary school which brought people in from all around (plus big village hall and a good sports pitch which meant loads of clubs there)

The number of shops has dwindled, and now is only Spar/post office, chippie, hairdresser and one pub. There is a dog groomer, but she works from home.

I'd suggest adding to yours a posh off-licence (which could include vape shop), some sort of locally made crafts, honey, jam, other produce community co-operative shop, and a general stores/ironmongery/sells everything sort of place

Ironmongers/household/DIY.

Have messaged you 😁

A village swap shop!

You seem to have everything covered, just lacking a Vape Shop and a Tattoo Salon.

And should the Village Elders allow - a Massage Parlour.

Cash Converter
Vape Shop
One of those hair salons where the same customers are in there every day, but they're never getting their hair done, and you suspect it's really a secret social club to which you're not invited.

We have a dog groomer and a vet practice?

We have one of those random stuff type places where it's like being back 50 years, they sell things you can't imagine ever needing until you do.

Beauty salon? Or a tech shop to fix phones/gadgets

Charity shop
Hardware/DIY shop

A kids shop: toys, games, books, school supplies and stationery, sports equipment.

Indian takeaway
Pizza place
Kebab/falafel shop

We have a community run charity shop. Any profits made are donated to fund projects in the village such as playground equipment, nice extra stuff for the school, new curtains for the village hall etc

It's very well used and supported by the village and the donations it is able to make are quite substantial.

A eco friendly refill shop
A play cafe (either board games or montessori type play for yound children- not smelly softplay, freshly made pizzas, smoothies, baguettes etc)
Quirky gifts - wooden toys, fun home accessories

I'm actually surprised you already have that many amenities with such a small population, our village has a small primary school and a tiny shop which is inaccessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs due to the age of the building. That's it.

Butchers or beauty salon

I live in a bigger village - we have a charity shop, hardware shop that also sells plants and a beautician/nail salon
As I regularly use all of these that’s what I would add