I agree with everything you said Reynoldston. The 'brick and mortar' part of a business is what really hurts small businesses. But, the bix boxies are hurting them just as much because they're open longer hours than the small shops..
There's a small engine shop about 2 miles from me and when I'm working an 8-5 job, there's no way I can even get in there to order or pickup a part I need as they close the doors at 5:00pm. I have to go online and fine it and pay shipping or go to the big boxie down the street and see if they have something I need.
The one trip I was able to make it into the small engine shop, I needed to pick up some fuel line and the grouchy old bastard would have lost my business right there if I didn't have 3 weed eaters and a chainsaw on my bench that needed the hose. Now, when I'm at a hardware store and find fuel line or filters, I grab what I can. My local discount auto parts store has spark plugs for small engines (Champions) for $1.99 or $2.99.
I'm mainly working out of the shop in my yard (14'x60') and the small engines are taking over and I've been pondering getting a business license mainly so I can get parts a LOT cheaper from suppliers but, with a license comes the need for insurance, bond, LLC and all that..
I'm all for it, it's just getting the wife to buy off on it. She still wants me making those engineering checks of which I've been doing for over 30 years now with no end in sight. Ugghh..
Back to the local small engine shop.. I think the only way they're going to bring customers back is to start overlapping shifts so they can be open until 7:00 or so and let their customers KNOW that fact. Going mobile would be a great idea as well so the client doesn't have to borrow a truck of mess up the trunk of their cars to haul in a lawn mower with a broken pull cord. An easy fix for a mobile van..
If you are taking payments from Joe Public for doing repairs to their mowers and do not have Public Liability insurance and Workers Compensation insurance you are crazy.
I would not even think of doing it down here and Aussies are far less litigious than Americans ( although we are fast catching up ).
As for trading hours, you will most likely find that the local authorities dictate the hours that the store is allowed to open, the earliest opening & lattest closing.
That is one big reason why internet traders are making a killing.
Most small business down here will move heaven & earth to accommodate their customers, get in early or stay back late so they can serve you within reason.
With franchise stores things are a bit different and as for big box stores, well lots of little brown envelopes full of folding makes sure that they can have uncompetative opening advantages over the local shop.
There is a good reason why when I used to go the Westfield Holdings HO ( the biggest shopping center owners in the world ) they have 4 security guards armed better than 1/2 the soilders in Iraque, every package is x-rayed , explosive scanned, I have to go through a metal detector and my van passes over a set of cameras that check the underside against factory information & if I have any modification ( even a non stock muffler ) I have to park outside the building on the other side of the street and then there are the random sniffer dog searches.
And yes some times you can have a bad day & keeping on smiling when you have just spent 20 minutes to earn a $ 2.50 retail mark up while there is $ 300 of repairs out back running late.
Then you get the clowns who tell me what they will pay for a part because that is the price they found on ebay / amazon / craigslist etc,etc,etc
I used to argue but now I simply tell them to order the parts and I will fit them for my standard fitting fee of $ 20 each part if they can not do it themselves, turn around and walk away without complaint or further comment.
They usually ring back in a week or two , grass 2' tall with parts that did not fit or broke the first time they tried to use them or they could not fit .
Customers are good but PIA's I can do without . It also earns you some respect when they realize it is not as simple as it looks. Or some one takes 2 hours & skins both of their knuckles trying to replace swing back blades while the blade plate is attached to the mower they then spen another 1/2 hour looking for the drain plug and end up tiping the mower upside down to change the oil because they saw some one on Y Tube do it like that.