I have lived in France for 15 years - the number of times I have sworn loudly when I have turned up somewhere and found it closed! Random holidays (yes, I could look at the calendar), not open until 09h30, closed early evening, never on a Sunday (but of course I know that), closed for two weeks holiday (I had to drive to 3 pharmacies in the middle of August - one hadn't opened yet - it was 9h30 already - and one was on holiday for two weeks), stock taking - what national chain closes it's branches for stock taking, petrol stations regularly run out of petrol, and the amount of moaning about how hard it is to get things, just things, clothes shops (outside of big cities - we do LOVE going to big cities to shop), and no... business costs are not lower and red tape is a huge barrier, I do not know how businesses in France get up and running or how they survive, but somehow they do - getting a meal outside of regular meal times is next to impossible, going to a shop during meal times - the same - apart from supermarkets, and there are plenty of supermarkets. Our local garage has recently changed their hours to 4 days a week, because they have enough work in four days (and a month off in August) to keep them going, but there are very few garages locally, it is very hard to book your car in for work and we have been waiting 2 months for parts to fix the air conditioning in our car - not amusing in this heat. As for tradespeople - finding an electrician, plumber, tiler.. very difficult. and I am always amazed at how cheap things are in England... life is expensive here.
I often find it funny how sacred lunch times are here - a friend and I went to a spa in the mountains, it was practically empty - she pointed out to me that no self respecting French person would be in a spa, over lunch time. And the motorways are a joy to drive on between 12 and 2 and of course, on Sundays, trucks are not permitted... and while I am on the topic of motorways, I know the English love a good moan about the motorway traffic on bank holidays, but the French take this to a new level.. most of the year, most days of the week, you can drive for hours and hours in really light traffic (Paris excluded - the phrase is all roads lead to Rome, in France, all roads and train lines lead to Paris) - but on certain days of the year - July and August holidays, everyone sets out on a Saturday... and in some areas, the routes to the ski resorts are the same... INSANE - in fact I saw a children's book recently, about going on holiday in the mountains - and one of the pages was about the queues at the toll booths.
But no.. I have no idea how these little shops, selling niche things and never seem to have any customers, survive in France. The concept of a charity shop barely exists - though friperie (secondhand for profit) shops are becoming more popular. I live in a village of 1,000 people - we have nothing. not even a bakery, but a fairly interesting Wednesday afternoon market in the car park of the sports centre. Next village along has 2,000 people, they had a shop a bit like an English corner shop - that has closed. They have a thriving pharmacy, a bakery, and three restaurants - one only opens at lunch time, Monday to Thursday. Recently, the town council provided space for a bike shop, a book shop (never has any customers) and a co working space, in an attempt to breathe life into the village.