Hi Taswegian,
Thanks for your reply,,
Just my opinion again,,, regarding a sari sari, yes the right spot,, hmm,, not easy,, we live in a small fishing village south of Maasin,, and i mean small,,, the street we live on is about 120 yards long just off the main road it has 4 sari sari's 1 has a small back room with computer games for kids, 2 vulcanizing shops, a guy that repairs boat engines and 2 BBQ chicken and hot dog stands at night,,,some days when the kids are off school they sell the fried 1peso fish balls,,,, all of the people running these stores are relatives of my future wife,, EVERY other street even the gravel roads down to the shore have similar,,, everyone is selling because there is just no work,,, in addition there are people coming around almost every hour selling something, from veggis to ice candy to bulot, you name it someones selling it...but mostly they come from other surrounding villages...

Please be my guest, come here travel from Maasin to Padre Burgos, you wont find one village different on the way...

As for deliveries,,,if what you need isn't sold at your door then the local shop will deliver it,,, for example if we want drinking (spring) water the supplier has to come all of 20 yards to install it in our kitchen, a sack of rice,,, same 20 yards,,, to go into Maasin to buy a sack of rice isn't economical,,, we can buy the good rice for 1650 a sack,, 50kg,,,in Maasin its 1600,,, the motor taxi cost 15 each way plus the driver charges 15 for the rice so a total of 45pesos to go 20 minutes each way for a saving of 5 pesos...

Rent doesn't come into the equation in our case the house was an inheritance from long ago...
The the shop owners barely scrape a living but most have grown children who have gone to work in Manila or Cebu,,, they send back whatever they can afford to help there parents...

The only place where I think there might be a place for a Hot dog stand is in Massin but I already see so many with the sign buy one,take one, in fact when I was there last month I think 1 or 2 has closed down..the town is full to bursting with eatery's as they call them...

Wow, chicken and spuds are expensive in Australia,,, regarding rent in France it can be expensive enough depending on the area but where I live around 450 Euros a month for a modest 3 bed however its not a problem for me,,, I own my own home,,,,
However for a phily to pay 9000 a month rent in these parts in Southern Leyte they would need a fairly good job,, break the month down into 30 days and you are paying 300pesos a day,,, I cant honestly see very many in our village being able to afford that...most live in what I think are called Nipa huts...wood, bamboo with Anahaw leaf roof's.

Running errands for the local stores in our area isn't an option,,, my wife's Mom sells coke and other bits an pieces a small sari sari, she gets all she wants delivered the same as all the other stores once or twice a week,,, basically the wholesalers in Maasin send there lorry around a couple of times a week trying to get sales on the drop to increase there sales in an otherwise competitive business in Maasin...

Trust me this area was poor before the Fishing got wiped out but now its pure poverty,,,

Just as a side point my wife tells me stories from her child hood, regaling the times when there house was destroyed almost yearly from hurricanes along with the other half the village,,, times when the monsoon rains came down from the mountain and flooded the fresh water lake 100 yards from there house and washed it away while they headed up to higher ground in the middle of the night in the monsoon rain...
I cant ever recall anything like that happening to me,, I think I would have remembered if it had....

These people have it hard but now the Fishing has gone hard has become almost impossible...

Finally, I remember thinking 20 years ago as a European in Europe with all the automation of factories and industry,,, modern technology,,, lose of jobs,,, that the day would finally come when the only thing left that would pay was crime,,, I think the people in the Philippines got to that stage long ago through poverty but in my village managed to resist that lifestyle,,, however only God knows how... Poor or not,,, they are the nicest most humble kindest people I ever met...

Thanks to all

Mike001