New stores open every minute but at the same time some others close, if you have a good placement in the marketplace listings then new people use the app and if you can keep them, you will grow a decent monthly revenue.
Shopify is missing many things and the apps are there to fill those gaps, Shopify doesn't replicate the apps functionality to drag them out of the game so yea, there is much space left for new apps.
If you need inspiration you can navigate through the marketplace.
I have released such a 'borrowed idea' app before 4 months and i barely have 15 users on it. It's not much but it's more than nothing, it took me less than two months to develop it and about 6 months to release it (slow app verification procedures and stupid bugs).
I can answer any question you may have.