Business in a residential area of the city: what to open near your home?

what to open near home?

In developing cities, there are entire areas built up with multi-storey residential buildings, in which there is practically no infrastructure. But such a place is a source of potential income. In addition, to launch a retail outlet in a residential area, you do not need large financial investments, especially if you figure out what goods or services are in demand in this area.

To promote a business in a densely populated area of the city, the owner does not need to make any serious efforts - he just needs to sell quality goods at prices no higher than market prices, provide high-level services and hire a charismatic salesperson to whom customers will return again and again.

Try to find time to watch this interesting video:

Pharmacy

Selling medicines is a great business idea. In the modern world, city residents begin to get sick much more often and more severely than before. People of different ages live in a residential area, and it is unlikely that any of them will enjoy going to another neighborhood to get the necessary medicine. Such goods should be sold within walking distance. In addition, various biological additives have recently become popular, for which people are willing to pay a lot of money. Opening a pharmacy business is not an easy task; you will have to go through many steps. However, this business can generate high profits.

Features of entrepreneurship in residential neighborhoods

The revenue of a store in a residential area of the city directly depends on getting into the flow when residents either go to work or return home. This feature is important to consider when drawing up a schedule.

Worth knowing. A clothing store (men's, women's, children's) as a business for a residential neighborhood is no longer relevant. The fact is that buyers prefer to dress in large shopping centers, so the traffic of such retail outlets is small and profitability is low.

When doing business, it is better to focus on essential goods, i.e. open or sell:

food products with a long shelf life;
purified water for drinking and cooking;
fast food, baked goods, tea, coffee, pizza, sushi, etc.;
repair clothes, shoes, umbrellas, watches, make keys, etc.

Advice. If 1-2 large chain stores are open nearby, and you have found premises closer to residential buildings, feel free to launch a grocery store.

How to start a business in a residential area

A residential area is a residential area in a big city. People living there go to work in the center every day and return home in the evening to relax. Most often this is a quiet place with little business activity.

When creating a business in a residential area, you should consider several important issues:

What to sell to locals.
What essential goods do customers need?
What services do they need?

Features of business in a residential area

When planning a business in a residential area, you definitely need to develop a strategy. It should take into account that people will pop into the store on their way to work or back. To understand your customers' needs, put yourself in their shoes. For example, a clothing store would clearly be inappropriate. For such purchases, people go to large shopping centers.

A business in a residential area must sell relevant goods: food, drinking water, household items. Popular services include clothing repair, shoe repair, and catering services. Food is consumed quickly, and almost all residents of a big city do not have time to cook lunch and dinner. You can offer them light breakfasts to take with them. In the evening people will come to you for dinner or just to sit with friends.

Residents of residential areas like to take a walk after work. Consider creating a cafe or bistro. Convenient location near the road, affordable prices, and your profit is guaranteed. You won’t have to look for long to find regular customers. If there is little competition, they will come to you.

A business such as a grocery store is well suited for a residential area. In the evening, food is purchased for dinner; bread and cigarettes are always in demand.

One of the current business options for a residential area is a pharmacy. But it should be maximally adapted to the needs of residents. The demand for medicines may be so wide that an assortment of five thousand items may not be enough. It is clear that a visitor who cannot buy the necessary medicine from you is unlikely to come again. It is also worth considering that the majority of pharmacy visitors in a residential area are housewives and retirees. Include widely advertised medicines and dietary supplements in your range. Pay special attention to drugs that are advertised on the radio. Pensioners will be glad to receive competent advice about them.

Specifics of the residential area

The main feature is visiting the store in the morning and evening. During the day, active trading is possible only on weekends, but purchases are likely to be impressive. After all, usually a person tries to purchase everything he needs and as quickly as possible. Therefore, food products are an ideal business for a residential area, but not the only one.

In older areas, the infrastructure has been thought out and tested over the years. They usually have a lot of shops, kindergartens, catering establishments, consumer services, clubs, etc. In new areas the situation is not so rosy. Their residents are forced to travel to the other end of the city for the things they need. In such areas it is easy to develop almost any business. Food products, clothing, industrial goods, hairdressing services, electrical appliance repairs - everything will find its buyer. The question of how to choose an area that will definitely generate income cannot be answered unequivocally. It will be different for each region. Therefore, consider several options, determine their pros and cons.

Pay special attention to the staff who will work in your store. If the seller is rude, inattentive, and rude to customers, you may not expect any profit. Therefore, before hiring a person, find time for an interview. And in the future, ensure constant contact with him.

What goods and services are relevant for the residential area

Business in a residential area can be different. Store of household supplies and useful goods. Selling household items, household chemicals, light bulbs, CDs and other goods can bring good profits. In a residential area there is an opportunity to develop a customer base, which is an undoubted advantage of business. If the space allows, you can open a small department store. Products and household items in one place are an excellent option for a residential area.

You can open a shoe repair shop and set up a photocopier there, offering residents printouts and photocopy services. At the same time, you can sell SIM cards, stationery, batteries, and top up your mobile phone account. These points are often called “1000 little things” and are very popular among residents. The profit from them is not very high, but profitability can be increased by creating several kiosks located throughout the area.

When starting a business in a residential area, you should be prepared for a small profit, especially at first. One of the main competitors in this case is chain supermarkets. But if you correctly determine the circle of potential consumers and their needs, and periodically carry out various promotions, you can form a base of regular customers.

A business in a residential area, with the right approach, can become a stable and profitable business.

Grocery store: features of work

Food products have an expiration date, so they quickly spoil or are used up. The accelerated rhythm of metropolitan cities, even in residential neighborhoods, does not always allow residents to visit large shopping centers - for many it is easier to go to a pavilion near their house for essentials. Choose “passable” paths, maintain the correct assortment and pricing policy, after which profit will not be long in coming.

Let's take a closer look at the specifics of business for a residential area:

thoughtful assortment . People don’t go to nearby stores to stock up on groceries for the week. On the contrary, in a big city, close to home, they buy food for tea, ready-made snacks, drinks, and goodies. It is important to consider this nuance before opening a food stall.
long working day . The work schedule of the pavilion should be drawn up taking into account the coverage of the main population flows. It is advisable that in a residential area the point could be opened early and closed after 21-00.
friendly service . The salesperson personality is capable of selling any product. As you know, people buy from people - a negative salesperson will drive away more buyers than they attract, and vice versa;
inexpensive rent . Pay attention to the premises located on the first floors of residential complexes in residential areas. This way you can interest residents of several nearby houses in your product.

Protest from above: teachers on the verge of rebellion against new conditions in schools

Alexander Umrikhin, September 15, 2020, 00:01 — REGNUM Only two weeks have passed since the start of the school year, and teachers began to complain en masse about the new working conditions. They can be understood: it was not the easiest period with distance learning in the spring of 2020, the legal vacation of 56 days was divided into two halves, and the children did not come to school in the best mood after long months in apartments. However, this time the main indignation of teachers fell on the new sanitary recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor, which many schools began to actively implement, but placed all the headaches on teachers. REGNUM news agency talks about how teachers cope with new working conditions .

Education

Ivan Shilov © IA REGNUM

Follow the developments in the broadcast: “Academic year 2020: under the threat of distance learning - all the news”

They wanted the best - they got a breeding ground for “corona”

The first difficulty for educational institutions was the recommendation to separate student flows. Lucky are those schools that have several buildings in the complex, divided according to the principle of stages: primary school, middle and high school. But all the other schools had to get out: so, in order to comply with the rule on the absence of gatherings of children, it was decided to separate the flow of students along parallel lines and from different entrances, and often for this it was necessary to open emergency exits from schools.

In reality, due to confusion with the schedule for children to enter school and the need for mandatory thermometry at the entrance, photographs with huge queues and crowds outside schools began to appear en masse on the Internet. Internet users sarcastically commented on what was happening - they say, there is no social distance, everyone is standing in close quarters. Of course, local outbreaks of coronavirus were not long in coming.

Teacher in class

Alexey Kolchin © REGNUM news agency

Admitting mistakes?

Officials also had to respond to such cases. Thus, First Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Dmitry Glushko said on radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” that isolated cases of local outbreaks of coronavirus arise due to queues in front of schools.

“The problems are mainly related to organizational decisions. We can purchase a lot of disinfectants, but everything depends on the human factor. For example, queues accumulate at the entrance to schools,” Glushko said.

In turn, the head of Rosobrnadzor Anzor Muzaev, during a press conference on the topic of the All-Russian testing work, also said that there are “only a few” schools that have transferred all their classes to a distance learning format.

Informal duties

Class teachers are complaining en masse that they are forced to monitor their students’ passage to school on a daily basis. At the same time, the passage algorithm is known to schoolchildren, it will not change in the near future, and the teachers themselves complain that there is no reason for their presence in this case.

“Due to the change in the schedule, I had “windows” in the first and second lessons. Instead, I have to come to school half an hour before the first lesson and formally stand at the entrance, but why - they never explained to me, especially in terms of payment for one lesson. Or, if I have to come to school for the first lesson, I don’t have time to really prepare for it, because, again, I was informally obliged to stand at the entrance,” complains a teacher at one of the schools in the south of Moscow.

Temperature control

Alexey Kolchin © REGNUM news agency

A mathematics teacher from the Krasnodar region, Elena Nikolaevna, told the Moskovsky Komsomolets publication that in the region teachers also have to do the lion’s share of the work according to the new recommendations: “In the morning we have to measure the temperature of children at the entrance, then run around all day wearing masks in a heat of 34 degrees on floors for lessons, hugging bags, manuals and other available materials. <…> The school was unable to purchase recirculators for each classroom, as a result, teachers are required to take turns carrying them around the classrooms to disinfect the premises. Teachers were also required to ventilate after each lesson and wipe down desks every two hours.”

Teachers complain about the pointlessness of such measures: if at school they manage to separate children into parallels for each section of the floor and create their own lesson and recess schedule for each parallel, then what about the situation when children after school can calmly walk and communicate with each other without restrictions and social distancing?

Go to work when it’s still dark, go home when it’s already dark

Ordinary teachers are suffering just as much as class teachers from the new rules. In a number of educational institutions, the study schedule and recess schedule had to be radically redrawn. All this was done to minimize contacts between students: now one parallel cannot intersect with another parallel in the corridors.

Teachers emphasize that now their working day lasts from early morning until late evening: in some schools, due to the new schedule, lessons are arranged so that the teacher can be at school within his “window” for an hour, or two, or more. This is not prohibited by law: formally, records are kept only of those hours of work that the teacher teaches to children; the rest of the time, de jure, he is not busy at work. Teachers say that this situation has both the advantages of being able to check notebooks during “long windows” and the disadvantages of returning home late, since lessons can thus move forward in time.

New class schedule

Georgy Balakov © REGNUM news agency

A history teacher at one of the schools in Tula says that in early autumn and late spring such a schedule is generally not too burdensome, but what to do when cold weather comes to Russia, and with it the length of the day will shorten, is not yet very clear: “Male teachers in this regard, it’s easier, but what should women teachers do who will be forced to return home in the dark? Not everyone lives in neighboring houses near the school.”

The danger is the same for everyone

Another complaint from teachers is related to the fact that force majeure often arises at school and risks to the health of the teachers themselves, and they have to deal with this based on the situation.

“Probably in every school there are children whose parents almost forcefully push them out of the house, even if the child has a fever and all the symptoms of a cold or ARVI. As a result, the child comes to school, does not put on a mask, because, according to the recommendations, children cannot be forced to wear protective equipment, and begins to infect both children and teachers. After this, the teacher can, at best, go on sick leave, having become infected from a student, and receive a much lower salary compared to the time directly at work, and at worst, get serious health problems,” complains a teacher at one of the private Moscow schools.

In the “Overheard at Teachers” public page on the VKontakte social network, a similar alarm has already been voiced. According to one of the teachers of a Russian school, the head teacher of a general education institution was diagnosed with coronavirus, after which all teachers were sent to self-isolation with the subsequent purpose of conducting distance lessons: “As it turned out, the entire staff was on sick leave, and the authorities really did not want to report this. The teachers found out everything themselves by calling the hospital. Accordingly, the payment will be different; young people generally receive less than 100% of the average. I was left with a double feeling: we all understand that children need to be taught, but why did the administration behave this way, and was it really impossible to transfer us to “distance learning” for two weeks without sick leave?”

Classroom

One world - one problem

It should be noted that not only in Russia, officials claim that school is the safest place in terms of sanitary recommendations. Thus, the Minister of Education of the Spanish Autonomy of Catalonia, Josep Bargallo, in an interview with El Periodico, said that school and home are the safest places in terms of the risk of contracting coronavirus.

“When a father or mother goes to the beach or a restaurant with their child, being with the child makes them feel like they are in control. They leave their children at school and go away. You don't see what's happening inside. But we tell you that there are more security measures inside the school than anywhere else. Only at home you will have less risk. I can also say that I have seen photographs of cities in which schools have already opened, and where children are hugging without masks in the square. I still insist on shared responsibility,” Bargaglio said.

Snowball of little things

Teachers' fatigue also accumulates due to the constant clarification of their new responsibilities and the loading of new tasks. Thus, according to the recommendations, in a number of schools the teacher received the right to leave the office only after the teacher of the next scheduled lesson arrived. If one of the teachers hesitates and does not come quickly enough, many teachers along the chain have their personal time reduced.

Class

Mos.ru

“It’s getting ridiculous: you can’t go to the toilet during class, because children are forbidden to be left alone, and during recess you have to wait for another teacher, who may come at the very end of the recess. How to relieve one’s natural needs in such conditions or simply have time to have a snack at least in the teachers’ lounge is not entirely clear,” says Antonina Ivanovna, a teacher at one of the Moscow schools.

Teachers’ duties often include duties such as being on duty in classrooms during open hours, wiping desks every two hours, and constantly ventilating the premises. It’s not entirely clear how to fit all this into one working day and at the same time prepare well for the lesson.

Now teachers hope that at least after the New Year the situation will calm down, and “from above” they will make a decision to weaken the recommendations. In the meantime, dissatisfaction and fatigue are brewing among teachers, which are unlikely to be quenched with money or prospects.

Read earlier in this story: Learning in a new way: five innovations in “coronavirus” education in schools

Types of business activities in the courtyards of high-rise buildings

Let's take a closer look at what kind of business to open in a residential area of a big city, where 20-50 thousand people live.

Pizzeria, sushi bar, catering point. These establishments are gaining more and more popularity in big cities. The reason is that residents do not have time to cook or do not want to spend time on it.
Produse store . A grocery business near a public transport stop is especially effective in the evening, when residents of the area passing by buy food for dinner.
Pavilion for the sale of household chemicals . Household stores also bring profit in residential complexes, since once a month or more often residents need detergents, light bulbs, and batteries. If space allows, open a point selling food and household goods in one store.
Repair workshop . In the autumn and winter, shoe repair services and sewing workshops are in stable demand in residential areas; and out of season, key-making services are in constant demand. As additional services, you can offer photocopies, printing of documents, sale of SIM cards, removable media, etc.

When choosing a type of business and opening a store, the following articles may be useful:

How to open a household chemicals store:
Seller appearance standards: https://prodagi-life.ru/vneshnij-vid-prodavca-konsultanta-trebovaniya/
Is it worth buying a franchise?

Trade in clothing and equipment, as a rule, does not bring the expected profit, since the entrepreneur will not be able to compete with large brands. Points selling children's goods will be in demand only if there are no shopping centers nearby. But a grocery or confectionery store with all sorts of goodies will quickly win the hearts of buyers in a residential neighborhood.

Premises and starting capital

An entrepreneur can set up a store in a separate building. But this is a waste of money on renting land, building or buying a pavilion.

The best option would be to rent a room on the ground floor of a residential building. The premises can also be purchased as property; the purchase will be cheaper if done at the construction stage. In this case, you can kill two more birds with one stone: get ahead of your competitors and arrange the premises immediately for selling a store.

If you start a business in a new microdistrict at the construction stage, then you need to be prepared for the fact that the business will begin to make a profit only when at least half of the residents have moved in, and this will take at least a year. This start is suitable for those who invest their own finances. Anyone who uses borrowed funds will most likely be driven into debt by starting a business. It’s better to draw up a business plan that clearly shows whether it is possible to implement your business idea in a residential area. When drawing up a plan, pay great attention to the little things - because it is precisely because of unaccounted little things that everything may not go as you imagined.

Opening your own business is not such a scary undertaking as many people think at first glance, especially when it comes to business in a residential area. What kind of business it will be is, of course, up to you to decide. Perhaps you have an idea not described in this article. If there are no ideas at all or you can’t decide, start from what you are good at. And then look at the available resources.

When deciding what to open in a residential area, it is necessary to take into account that the business must meet the needs of the residents of the area. Only in this case will it bring good profits and be able to pay for itself in the shortest possible time.