I am not sure what to call this category (health & wellness?), but we have seen an inflow of hot yoga, infusion therapy, salt cave, specific exercise classes (barre, pilates, cycling, personal training, high intensity/low impact), medical aesthetics, lash & brow, etc.
The town has had some of these for years but but we’ve seen a significant uptick in the last couple of years.
Also, banks.
How bout microbreweries? Seems like every town around here has or had one.
The town next door to us in the epicenter of our wine country. So. Many. Wineries!
We have 3 dunkins, (2 a few minutes walk from each other), 2 Starbucks, 12 independent coffee shops, 3 square miles.
I’d love the independent shops. For a town that doesn’t have a lot of chains, we have lots of Dunks and no locals
Starbucks!
Wish we had: the old Tim Horton’s, more bookstores with “banned books”, and independent fabric stores.
10 nail salons within 5 blocks (.25 mile) on the retail strip closest to my apartment building. Plus two places that do threading/waxing.
Surprised by the car washes and mattress stores- not many here. Lots of hair salons, nail places, and barber shops. Too many bubble tea places (they replaced the plethora of frozen yogurt places.) Lots of empty bank branches (so many have closed in the past few years). I do see the trend of new medical places opening up - both urgent care and offices affiliated with bigger medical networks.
Since the pandemic the thing we have too many of are empty stores.
We have way too many tire stores, nail salons and Mexican restaurants near us.
Yeah, us too! I live in a small rural town and have NONE of what all of you are describing, thank goodness. I chose to live here precisely to not have all that around me.
Of course relying on online shopping and having zero local public transport is the flip side.
ETA and by rural, I mean that our town has a population of 3,000 spread over 40 square miles.
The nail salons surprise me too. Maybe in larger cities? I also don’t get my nails done so it’s probably something I don’t tune into.
There is a man who lives up the street from me who has a little white sedan. He washesd it every day. Sponge, bucket, and hose. But he’s the only one I see. I guess everyone else goes to a car wash, or just doesn’t wash at all.
The last 6 restaurants that opened in our area are Mexican restaurants. I’m wondering if that’s the best profit margin now between alchohol and ingredients.
I refuse to suffer the inconvenience of having to turn left into Dunkin Donuts! 
My local Dunkin has solved this problem by being located in the middle of a divided highway. Convenient for everyone!
Mine is considered a “semirural” small town. We do have a dunkin. And we have a Dollar General that caused quite the stir when they were applying for approvals. It’s in a commercial area, but still…Dunkin and Dollar General are the only “chains” bedside two gas stations.
We have a handful of restaurants, and some great local things like two farm stores, two local wineries, and some nice locally owned gift shops. Two great places with multiple vendors. We have a locally owned pharmacy which is great. And two banks. Four hair salons, one nail spa, and two tattoo places. And a locally owned and operated ski area.
For anything else, we have to drive to a neighboring town. We have no public transportation except a commuter bus to the nearest large city.
we moved here because we loved the small town feel, and understood that some things just weren’t going to be so convenient…and that’s fine with us
We don’t have a Dunkin’ but they did announce they are coming soon.
We do have a Tim Hortons, their coffee is great, the donuts not so much
Getting off topic a bit, but I love Tim Hortons donuts. We don’t have them in this state…at.all.
My tiny town has FOUR places that serve breakfast. It’s a tiny town.
Tourists!
Oh wait, you said retail or place . Actually, we don’t mind the tourists as they keep many locally owned places in business, but the traffic they cause at times can be annoying.
We have too many restaurants. Seriously, I have no idea how they all manage to stay in business. Well, some don’t, but as soon as one closes another opens in its spot).
We only have one Dollar General but it is so poorly managed that no one shops there.
I wish there were MORE Dunkin’ and nail places and other quick service places. There is one Dunkin’ that I can actually walk to and it is awful. The employees are not quick.
Too many Starbucks but they don’t bother me as I rarely go to one.
Too many Panera Bread stores as I won’t go because they are sooooo expensive, so even one is too many.
One reason we often have identical stores across the street from each other is the entry and exit to the businesses. If you are on the right side of the street, you can’t easily get to the left side without having to exit going the opposite direction.
When I lived in So Cal, I wondered if it was a law that if there was a Rite-aid on one corner, there had to be a CVS (or even 2!) across the street.
How does it stay in business then? Is it a front? 