What kind of stores would people like to see in town(s)?

Pickle store, drop by the Farmers Market tomorrow, Wednesday. The Pickle man will have his stand. It costs him a lot to have the space, insurance, health card and transportation each week. The the cost of the pickles.

Stop in make him feel at home and suggest that he consider renting a building.

I hate to live in the past, however, 9 Village Plaza, now Sparkhouse, was once a full Butcher shop. When I rented the building meat hooks were still in the basement and in the old walk-in that I converted into a classroom.

Roland said:

Tom_Reingold said:
The question was what stores would people like to see, not which would people patronize.

You cannot untangle the two cuz if people won't patronize a store it will fail. There needs to an economic reason for the store to exist, not just a feel-good desire of potential patrons.

That is precisely my point. George pointed out that stores have failed from lack of patronage, yet people still wish for their existence, sometimes without knowing that they exist or existed. The wish for some stores is not matched with a real willingness to patronize.

Counter-intuitively, I think the more space you allocate for a walking zone without motor vehicles, the better it will be for small businesses and shoppers. But it's hard to sell that idea in the suburbs, even when supplying evidence. People want to park their cars really close to their destinations.

What happened to that bread bakery that was supposedly opening in the old Little Ones space in downtown Maplewood? I'd love a bread bakery, especially if the bread is under $5 a loaf. Wonder if now that the Able Baker is expanding, she's considering adding bread to her product line. https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/id/112274-Little-One-Co

In the thread above, someone makes a point about bakeries needing to supply local restaurants in order to be profitable. Business extensions like this address the reality that foot traffic is often insufficient.