Local shops that can't be replaced?

[dutchman]

(I very nearly put this in "Games")

I was browsing a remote Coventry suburb on Google Earth looking for a parade of shops which I used when I was much younger and staggered to find a shop selling electrical appliances! I can see how the rent would be attractive but the chances of anyone in need of an apppliance searching for that particular street are pretty low I would think?

That got me to thinking just what kind of service does every suburb need that someone wouldn't normally journey into town or to a supermarket to find?

Off hand I thought of the following:
Newsagent
Off-licence
Post Office
Fish & chip shop
Launderette
Dry cleaners
Bookmakers

There's probably some obvious ones I haven't thought of yet?

[rebbonk]

When I was a nipper we had a small parade of shops containing:-

Newsagent
Wool/fabrics
Toy/bike/anything he could think that might sell
Hardware
General groceries
Green grocer
Chemist
Hairdresser (male)
Hairdresser (female)
Launderette

Very rarely did we need to venture into town, other than for the "big ticket" items

[dutchman]

As loathe as I am to admit it, most of the independent local shops I knew in my youth would not be viable today.

Am puzzled as to the demise of the traditional café though? A place where teenagers could go, listen to music, play arcade games and not have to get drunk. The only one left in this area, which at one time had one of the biggest concentrations of cafés in the city, is now sponsored by a local church.