Highland Bookstore is indeed good but in summer you can't get into the Wildcat Cafe for tourists -and even then, as a very long-term vegetarian, I'm not that keen on their food or their coffee. But tastes vary; each to their own.
And a nice bookshop and a small vegan cafe do not necessarily equal a good place to live. It all depends on what you want, of course.
I like Ft William. Very much. I have known it for decades and what rather saddens me is how much it has changed. There used to be a small but good department store with an excellent delicatessan, and also a traditional and very helpful butcher. Both closed, along with several other nice/useful places, including some bank branches. There's now no town-centre greengrocer. Or delicatessan. Or ordinary clothes shop (men, women, children). Or shoe shop. Yes, there is a small traditional bakers (sugary cakes, sausage rolls and white flour - but with lovely friendly staff) and a very fancy, expensive, artisan bakery. There's a small Boots (with restricted opening hours) and an even smaller Lloyds Chemist. There's a very small hardware shop. There's a useful shop selling all sorts of bits and pieces - from clothes dye and a few cheap toys to bits of cookware and a small selection of paint. There are three small charity shops. There are a great many shops selling outdoor kit, from the really posh to the cheap and flimsy. The Post Office is a dark corner at the back of WH Smith.
There is a lovely small museum, run in part by volunteers. There is a small but very helpful Library, which houses a few groups such as toddlers' storytime and a knitting/craft circle. There are cafes and pubs and restaurants. Several of these, and also the souvenir /tourist tat shops, are closed in winter.
There's a swimming pool and an indoor leisure centre. and an outdoor Shinty field .There's a FE College and an outpost of the University of the Highlands and Islands. There are groups linked to local communities, local churches, local sports. NB all mountain etc sports require a car for acceess. There ARE buses/coaches out to the country, but they are very few and far between. There's a small cinema tickets.highlandcinema.co.uk/now-playing tickets.highlandcinema.co.uk/now-playing]]]] but no concert hall or theatre.
There are two supermarkets in the town centre (Morrisons and Lidl). Both do their best but they have limited space and are at the end of a very long delivery chain. Stock is limited and fresh fruit and veg sometimes seems rather tired and can be uncormfortably close to 'best before' dates. There's also a tiny Tesco metro and a Polish shop selling mostly pre-packed Polish supermarket goods. A car's drive away from the centre is Aldi and a M&S foodhall. There are also two or three industrial estates on the outskirts, with useful shops such as plumbers' merchants. One houses Lochaber Larder, which sells local meat etc. Some suburbs have their own little local shopping centres.
I can't speak about primary schools - there are some in the suburbs and a Roman Catholic one in the centre. Remember, the Scottish education system is different. There is one big secondary school, for all local teens, including those from surrounding villages. There's an extensive service of school buses - though they were (for example) all cancelled yesterday because of the bad weather. It rains a lot and is windy and it also gets snowy and icy at times. It is, after all, a waterside site in a deep valley to the north of and in the shadow of Britain's highest mountain. It does get very dark in winter.
It its more industrial than some people realise; it is a port, has an aluminium smelter and a big sawmill/timber processing plant. Also fish-processing plants (farmed salmon). Huge lorries laden with tree-trunks are a common sight on local roads. As are dripping lorries full of fish. The main A82 runs right through the town. The traffic through the centre can be very slow indeed in summer, because of gazillions of campervans and coaches. And there can be crowds of tourists in the streets. There are trains, but they get cancelled in bad weather (understandably so). There are coaches - heaving in summer - to Inverness, Glasgow, Oban. The main road to Inverness is also very busy in summer, and can be affected by snow and ice in winter. Trasnport generally can be an issue - there was an almighty fuss for most of 2023 when the Corran Ferry was out of action for about a year. Mobile phone and radio reception can be very variable. Braodband has improved over the years.
There is one health centre, on the outskirts, which houses (I think) all the local GP practices. There is a small hospital with an excellent A&E dept but most consultant appointments and many operations/treatments are in Inverness. This can mean either a very long drive there and back, or a night staying away,
The culture - well, I don't live there but I have always found local people kind and friendly. Sometimes reserved, but sometimes quite forthright. Go and stay there for several days, winter as well as summer; read the crucial local weekly newspaper "The Lochaber Times" online to get a feel of the place and look at BBC Highland news website. More useful info might be found in the webpages of the local Community Councils (= parish councils, but with influence) and in the local free magazine, Lochaber Life (also online). There are various Facebook sites, and also this: https://visitfortwilliam.co.uk/pages/general-information-about-life-in-fort-william-and-lochaber-a9c31f96 The right-hand sidebar - click 'show more' - has a list of various local community-based organisations.