»How to run a neighbourhood business

From the perspective of the consumer, I offer these thoughts on the distinctions necessary for a small or neighbourhood store to succeed.

In this bold world of marketing, where small urban stores face competition from encroaching "big-box" retailers, franchise convenience stores, and online shops, neighbourhood stores can still add tremendous value and identity to a neighbourhood.
I have found some of my local stores disinterested in offering anything unusual either with service or with selection, and offer some suggestions.

Stick to the posted business hours.

If your sign reads "Sunday 12-5" and the door is still shut at 2:30, I'm less inclined to try again: how do I know you will be open again later that day? In case of an emergency forcing you to stay away from the store, have a neighbouring store-owner's number, and have them tape a "Sorry, closed for the day" sign on the door. If I see that, I will probably try again another day. This is also known as the "Health Wize" problem

Know your customers

If someone has come into the store three times and picks up the same items each time, remember that. Offer to have the items waiting for them the next time they come, if they are on a schedule. Make some indication that you know who they are and what they are buying. If they wanted to be surreptitious or anonymous, they would have might as well have bought the items online, or at CVS.
If you run a café or a lunch counter, acknowledgement that you have seen the customer regularly come in and order the same drink -- "lemonade, no ice" -- for the past three months goes a long way towards building a relationship. If I wanted bullshit service I could go to Harbucks or Burger King.
This is formally described in the literature as the "Bean There" problem.

Know your goods

Know what you are selling, and hire (and train!) clerks, assistants, and managers who know what goes on in the store. If I come in to Ye Olde Lower Haight Fromble Shoppe, I should well expect to find frombles of some description. If nary a one is to be found, I might reasonably expect the clerk to say, "Oh my, after last week's Fromble Festival we are out entirely, but both British and Scottish Frombles should be back in stock next week." Not: "Dunno if we have any. No, dunno when we will get them in."
This is sometimes referred to as the "Naked Eye" problem.

I hardly expect small retailers to offer lines of credit, or to immediately special-order items for first-time shoppers, but these attitudes are the hallmarks of small stores. Used judiciously, they make the difference between the bodega and large, anonymous retailer offering similar and identical goods. I do expect local shops to know their stock, to know their clientele, and to offer a level of customer service beyond what I will find anywhere else.
Otherwise, I go somewhere else. And neighbourhoods wither. I refuse to support local shops simply because they are local: I will support them because they are local and good.