Fibre Marketing

Bowling alley
Though not the cheapest of business ideas on this list, it’s one that can be extremely profitable as well as appeal to the widest range of patrons in a small town. A successful bowling alley can become the center of a town’s social life. Besides the obvious bowling revenue stream, food and drink (especially alcoholic beverages), can also help you pull in the big bucks. Small town bowling alleys can also be rented out for additional income. Like all businesses, large and small, having a quality business plan for your bowling alley is incredibly important.

Bookstore
Bookshops might now be different and resemble little of what most of us remember from our childhoods, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, the need for bookstore owners to create new and innovative ways to succeed has opened up a plethora of additional business opportunities. And isn’t that what small towns are all about, creating opportunity and coming up with creative ways to provide the most options for their communities?
Of course, if you decide to open a bookstore as your small town business you’ll want to make sure that the main focus is books. But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate other aspects of your community or additional products into your store. It’s rare nowadays to go into a bookstore just for books. They’re now a prime destination for gifts, crafts, e-readers, coffee and events. Selling a variety of merchandise and holding events will diversify your revenue stream and bring additional customers into your store, those that traditionally might not be the paper book type.
It also might surprise you that though there are far fewer bookstores around these days, sales at bookstores that have weathered the storm are up five percent. Though it is partially due to less competition, it is also that the opportunity to reinvent bookstores for the 21st century has proved lucrative.

Flower shop
It might surprise you, but opening a flower shop is a fairly inexpensive business idea and great for small towns. That is, less expensive than say a restaurant or a car wash. Starting a flower shop has relatively few costs compared to other retail businesses. One of the only costs you will be faced with is the purchase of a cooler to keep your product (aka pretty flowers) fresh and cool.
Though your local community will be thrilled to have fresh flowers in their town, you will still have the struggle of competing against online delivery services. Remember, if you are the first florist the town has ever seen (or at least for a while), they are probably used to ordering online. Habits can be hard to break. The best way to compete with the online sea of flora is with reasonable prices, attention to detail, great customer service and a sprig of creativity.

Home improvement
Are you the one all your friends call when their sink is clogged or their roof is leaking? Are you looking to start your own business but not thrilled about having a brick-and-mortar location? A home improvement business might be just the small town business idea you’re looking for. When small towns lack a basic handyman, residents must book appointments days, if not weeks in advance to have a larger service visit their home. That’s not so convenient if your toilet has been clogged for three days. As long as you are qualified, have the experience and know your way around a tool shed, starting a handyman business is fairly straightforward and requires little overhead.

Hair salon or barbershop
It’s one service, that regardless of your age, most people need a few (if not a few dozen) times a year. If you’re currently calculating the average number of women in your town and multiplying it by three, thinking that is the amount of business you will drum up yearly, you need to think bigger. Opening your own hair salon or beauty salon has a variety of additional services that go far beyond haircuts. Think coloring, nails and makeup, just to name a few. And remember, men tend to get their hair cut at least once a month. Quality cuts, depending on your geographic area and the experience of the stylist can go for around $100. Just make sure you have a solid business plan before opening up your small town shop.

Sports bar
Though we already suggested a wine bar/coffee shop combo above, the clientele you’ll attract for that small town business idea versus this one is significantly different. Think first dates and book clubs versus Super Bowl Sunday and Monday Night Football. Speaking of which, special events for sports games can drum up major business and with the right bar POS, you’ll be able to handle busy nights and game days with ease.
Opening a successful sports bar in a sports-centric town can be a great investment and the business model is pretty simple too. But if you miscalculate the interests of your town, it can also be disastrous. So make sure you know the personality of the community going into this venture.

Gym and exercise studio
If you think that starting a gym in a tiny town is a bad idea, think again. Though fitness businesses are great small town business opportunities, they are especially lucrative for locations where the weather is colder more months out of the year than not. It’s also worth mentioning that the boutique fitness trend is red-hot at the moment and shows no signs of dying down. The appeal of massive gyms with rows and rows of weights and cardio equipment is losing popularity. Meaning, there is no better time than now to capitalize on the boutique fitness trend.