A one-stop-for-everything grocery store. Some local stores have good produce, but their butcher is lacking. Others have great (albeit fabulously expensive) butchers but limited package goods. I miss Marianos in Chicagoland.
We would be happy with a small grocery store! Ours closed a year ago. We do have two fabulous farm markets, but they donāt sell all the things a small grocery store sells.
We used to have housing, movie theaters, lots of family owned restaurants but since covid weāve lost a lot of those. The small artsy fartsy movie theater closed after 52 years. The big 12 plex closed. The small Elvis ($3-4) theater showing movies that were several months after release all in my neighborhood closed, all sitting empty.
Weāve also lost a lot of downtown life. We had a pedestrian mall that lost a lot of stores and gained a lot of homeless. Many office building sit empty as workers want to work from home, so the businesses that supported them - restaurants, small stores, bars - also closed. Some of it shifted to another end of town, closer to the sports arenas, but most is just gone.
So we need our city back. And it needs to be cleaned up. We have public pools but they have very limited hours because of the lifeguard shortage and sometimes the rec centers are closed to the public because they are using them as shelters for immigrants or homeless. Beautiful city parks arenāt kept to the same standards pre-covid as theyāve reduced maintenance and flower planting to save money.
Public transportation also took a big hit. They reduced the number of buses on certain routes so now instead of running every 30 minutes it is every hour, and the light rail was ābeing repairedā for more than a year so you could be waiting more than an hour for a train if you went downtown for the theater or sporting event. Not good when it is 20 degrees out.
So we need more:
public transportation
police
movie theaters
restaurants
flowers
Mayoral candidates. Just got back from Primary voting and no one is running for mayor. You can write-in, but thatās it.
I was thinking movie theaters, but I wouldnāt go to one anyway.
Bakeries! My nearest is about 25 minutes away. Itād be nice having pastries closer.
But we also have 40,000 more people than you!
I live in a suburban area. There is plenty of housing, but itās not affordable. Basic homes, with a very small yard cost >$2M. I am not aware of any homeless shelters in the town, but homeless persons are also rare. They exist, but you are not likely to run in to one unless you know where to look. However, a small minority of residents do negatively comment about homeless persons in the neighborhood, which I expect is primarily not grounded in actual homeless persons. For example, one resident assumed some seating with a bunch of light beer cans slightly off from the walking trail and nearly in site of homes means homeless persons (itās neighborhood kids). I was once mistaken for a homeless person while walking my dog around the neighborhood and offered food.
As far as availability of stores and services, no major complaints. There are a very large number of grocery stores. If I want to buy something in person instead of online (clothes, car, furniture, ā¦), there are plenty of options. If I want a service such as car fixed or fence repaired, there are plenty of options. If I want to see a medical specialist, there are plenty of options (although may have a long wait). Some of these options are going to be substantially more expensive than other towns, but the stores and services exist.
Some areas that are lacking compared to other regions of US.
- Affordable Visitor Lodging ā A quick check shows little visitor lodging available, and the least expensive visitor lodging that is available starts at >$300 per night. VBROs show the same pattern.
- Good Value Services ā For example, I bought a used car recently. I need to drive ~1 hour way to find a dealership offering good value. Itās a similar idea for a mechanic to maintain the car or gas to fuel the car. Most things cost more than elsewhere.
- Fast Food ā I find it interesting how fast food franchises keep failing in my local area. One will open, go out of business within a year or 2 after opening, then a new one will open at the same location with the same result. However, overpriced restaurants selling a similar type of cuisine flourish, sometimes with extremely long waits to get service.
- Hiking Areas ā While there are plenty of scenic walking trails, the area is generally more developed than Iād like. Itās an hour drive before there are any quality wilderness-type hikes, with many miles of trails, no housing is visible at any point, and many animals. Expensive land contributes.
- āWildā Animals ā Similar to above. Maintained lawns leads to rabbits. Rabbits leads to animals that eat rabbits. Coyotes do especially well in this type of developed environment. Bobcats also get by. However, itās extremely rare to see any other medium/large mammals that are not pets.
- Rain ā Average ~10 inches of rain per year⦠a similar level to some deserts. This contributes to water shortages, as well as high water prices. I spend more on water than all other utilities combined, most of which goes to my relatively small lawn. I expect this also contributes to the animals noted above.
- Non-White Residents ā In 2020 census, 35% of CA residents were White. My town is ~80% White. Residents in my neighborhood are >95% White. In the many years I lived here, Iāve never seen a Black resident.
- Single Adults ā This fits with the housing costs noted above, as well as some of the other comments.
- Theater, Museums, and Similar
A really good bakery
Restaurants
Obligatory: homes for people making the median income. I am so tired of poorly-built townhomes. (8 going in down the block)
I wish we had more farm stands with local & regional produce. We do have a large regional farmerās market, but I wish we had more pop-up farm stands that were closer to where the bulk of people live.
This is mostly a good thing, aesthetically, but for a fairly large city, we donāt have a lot of gas stations. When I go to other cities, I notice them on every corner of an intersection, but my city doesnāt have that. Thatās mostly a good thing but sometimes I have to plan which direction to go so I can hit a gas station along the route.
I also wish we had more locally owned coffee shops and/or pop-up coffee stands that I see more of when Iām out west. Iām not a Starbucks fan. We do have one area of our city that has a lot of local coffee but itās on the other side of the city from where I live and could take 30+ minutes in traffic.
So many wanting independent bookstores, but does anyone really buy books anymore? I love browsing and maybe enjoying a cup of local brew, but I havenāt bought a book in decades though I love them and have a large library gathering dust since the invention of the e-book.
I know we CCers are avid readers and many are the reasons to stick with the lusciousness of paper, but there is no way an independent bookstore could survive in my area. Too many browsers, not enough buyers. Even Barnes & Noble left, and donāt get me started on the heartbreak of the original Borders (Ann Arbor) closing.
No need to defend why we all love the feel and smell of paper and eschew the evil e-book. I think the cohort here and those like us are the ones keeping the straggling independents alive. I love that they exist, but Iām not a customer.
I just got two books for Motherās Day, and this weekend we bought ds2 three books at an independent bookstore. I love that he loves to read. I always told the boys that I will never say no to a book.
Right. Again, CCers are the ones who might be buying books, butā¦
You know what made it easy to support an independent bookstore? Because we were staying with ds1, and he lives in a wonderful, walkable area where you can stumble upon an independent bookstore. I love where they live. The closest bookstore to us at home is about two miles and youād have to cross a lot of dangerous traffic to walk there.
I would love to have an independent close enough to walk to. I would be a frequent browser.
INDEPENDENT COFFEE SHOP! YES! Not actually a huge problem where I live, but why is there nothing near where I work? My son has to use my car for the summer, so Iām taking public transport to and from work everyday. Which is fine. Requires more planning, but no problem. EXCEPT. Iām a sad sad coffee addict. I normally drink a 12oz in the car while driving in, then start on my 24 oz cup that comes in and sits on the desk with me. I donāt want to carry a large bag on my bus/metro morning saga, so I only take the thermos of coffee that fits inside⦠which is a measly 10 oz. Iām 26oz shy of my normal consumption and it is NOT GOOD. I mean, the lack of good coffee nearby (I hate Starbucks, it always tastes burned to me) means Iāll use the office keurig, so the clear solution is to bring in some kcups and milk, but for today, when i donāt have those and itās gray and rainy and gross and Iām tired I JUST WANT MORE COFFEE PLEASE.
Sorry for the vaguely off topic diatribe. Need coffee. Canāt think.
Now, put an independent coffee shop next to an independent bookstore, and Iāll browse for hours!
I donāt understand why we donāt have more combined businesses, like
- Coffee shop, plusā¦
- Book store (drink coffee and browse!) plusā¦
- Laundromat (browse books and drink coffee while your clothes are washing!) plusā¦
- Electric car charging stations (charge your car while you are washing clothes and browsing books and drinking coffee!)ā¦
For a while, there were a number of āSuds-n-Sudsā type laundrobars where you could imbibe while you watched your clothes spin.
Our one local bookstore does have a coffee shop in the day time and a wine bar in the evening. Great combination!
As much as I love reading actual, physical books, I agree with youāitās different for people whoāve grown up in the digital age.
My daughter, for example, is a voracious reader, but she doesnāt see buying physical books as convenient or eco-friendly. The same goes for her friends.
Almost everyone I know who still buys books from bookstores is olderātypically 30 or above. Itās a real challenge to open an independent bookstore when the population of physical-book readers keeps shrinking.
This thread is giving me new appreciation for where I live (suburban community immediately outside the large city line.) I think we have just about everything that posters have noted as lacking, including various housing options, including rentals, at relatively affordable prices (compared to other cities and other local suburban towns.) One housing category we do not have enough of is single story homes or homes with primary bedroom/bath on first floor. We are also not a community that attracts single young adults, but they live in nearby rental communities and come here for their starter homes.
Amenities we enjoy in this community (from walking distance up to 15-minute drive radius): plenty of public transportation, several library branches, walkable shopping street with independent retailers including a bookstore, tons of local coffee shops, hiking trails that run along creeks and up into the woods, biking trail, great volunteer fire companies, superb streets department (keeping our roads clear and safe in winter), a small but excellent school district, some diversity with close proximity to more diverse communities, many grocery stores from lower end (Aldi) to high end (Whole Foods) to a co-op market plus Costco and Samās Club, working farm with farm stand and pick your own strawberries, asparagus and zinnias, several summer-month farm markets, tons of restaurants at all price points, a small but acclaimed art museum, an arboretum we can walk to, local community theater, Ikea, many movie theaters to choose from, running shoe store, access to world-class medical care and plenty of doctors with reasonable wait times, and at least 6 very nice CCRCās that we could choose from if that was our next step - and know at least one or more residents at each, and proximity to excellent cultural experiences and major sporting events in the city (30 minute drive or train ride.) Airport is 40 minute drive.
So, like @fiftyfifty1 said, pretty much everything except warm weather in the winter!