…and a florist!
I’ve just checked… and our nearest town is 27.22km sq with nearly 3k inhabitants… in fact it is a Commune as well as a town…( a onesy)
If your commune has 550 people over 30 hamlets then on average each place has about 18 people! Or you have 30 or so scattered collections of housing with a handful of people in each, and a small village of 250 odd?
Our hamlet which is now 62 people used to have 90, and had 3 cafés and 4 businesses… I think the 90 people must have spent all their time in the cafés for them to survive!
Much like villages in the UK. Small businesses have suffered at the hands of supermarkets.
You’re lucky to have Post Office. We have a bureau de poste in the hairdresser! It’s closed on Thursdays because that’s when she does her house-calls. Guess what day it was the only time I ever tried to use it!
Jane…
OH has just taken a count of actual full-time humans in le bourg: 40
19 Houses in le bourg are occupied full-time and we have 18 houses in le bourg empty/holiday…
The rest of the folk (roughly 510) are scattered across the landscape… in their rural hideaways… hamlets/lieu dit
In olden days… there were actually 3 different schools in our Commune… now just the one left… in le bourg…
In olden days… there was a lot of work, quarrying, lots of carts… then lorries, going back and forth with all that that entailed… also a textile factory… and the wood yard was the biggest in the area (at that time)…
and OH has just reminded me that le bourg had 2 forges on the go…
Anyway, to cut a long story short… Our Commune is land-rich and people-poor… but we are very active and welcome new ideas and newcomers… our school has opened another class and more families are arriving to enjoy the benefts of clean air, no chemicals… etc etc.
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In 2015 our village had a population of approx 1700, according to INSEE (?)…it’s since increased, but we have
a small superette
a bank (boo hisssss!)
a gendarmerie
2 physios
a driving school
2 schools
a creche
a “lycée forestier”
a “maison de retraite”
a pharmacie
3 hairdressers
2 “immobiliers”
a florist
2 garages (1 HGV)
a “carrosserie”
a “tabac”
2 bakers
a DOCTOR !!
a bar/ café/ PMU
2 pizza outlets
a computer specialist
& more besides.
Well that is pretty good, why ‘a bank boo hiss’, very convenient to have a bank I imagine.
My former parents-in-law’s ‘village’ in Dorset, population 7000 has not one of those things and not even a post office counter nor a shop nor a pub. Appalling soulless place though they bang on about how pretty and rural it is, ugh.
Ha ha… us around here… we would reckon your “village” was definitely “a town”… 
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Don’t forget…
Pagés Inox (the metal works),
the funeral/ambulance place,
2 cabinet infirmières,
a Sophrologue (whatever one of those is)
la poste,
a knife sharperner (goodness knows how he makes any money!),
a déchetterie,
a menuisiere,
a brocante,
a theatre,
a hotel that’s been for sale for at least 12 years,
Ferrand Constructeur
and, as you say, a host of other, mostly small, businesses.
However, there is an almost identical sized village next door and several smaller ones that are supported by the businesses in this village. It’s a hub for probably 5000 people(?).
All banks deserve a “boo hiss” IMO…but above all, CA.
My neighbour once very proudly told me that our village is a canton.
That would appear to be more important than being a village.
We are indeed blessed. 
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Sophrologues do relaxation meditation type stuff, visualising problems to get rid of them etc. We have had one doing various courses with staff and pupils in lycée this year.
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I’m surprised you don’t know her Mandy…she’s from Albine…
I only really knew my immediate neighbours in Albine sadly.