Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

One thing I really miss about living in the UK is being able to walk to the shops etc. Everything was close by and you didn't have to depend on a car to go places.
Here in VA, nothing is within walking distance from my house. I have to rely on my car or public transportation just to go pick up milk from the store. I've spent an hour stuck in traffic from trying to run some simple errands.
What's it like living in other parts of the country?
Do you have shops and services within walking distance from where you live?

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

I can walk to a pharmacy, grocery store, off license, bookies, curves and an auto body place (wonderful mix huh!:D ). Everything else I would have to either take a slightly longer walk or get in my car.:)

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

I hear you yes I feel the same way and it was nice to have a natter with the neighbors on the way.

Whats even more scary is that you do not realise how much weight you start to put on just because those little trips to the local store are no longer possible and that little form of exercise was more valuable than you thought.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

yep i can walk to a starbucks however not on many days due to the high humidity and so sadly have to take the car everywhere. i miss walking and meeting people, one of my many dislikes where we are located :(

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

I could walk to a drugstore from where I live. I do believe there is continuous sidewalk from point to point! Gasp!:D

However, crossing the intersection to get to the drugstore is a scary thought due to the number of lanes I have to cross.


NC Penguin

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

I can walk to a grocery store (if I take my lunchbox with me).

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

I suppose I could - it would take about 20 minutes one way, but it involves crossing three intersections, so in practice I don't.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

hmmmmm

1 Starbucks
1 Arabica
6 bars
4 restuarants
1 Library
1 Convenience store
plus a few others (Post Office, pizza shop, garage etc etc etc)

all within 10-15 minutes walking distance which is good. Its the 30 or so Churches you have to get past first though that slows you down:D

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

when first lived in maine, had to drive everywhere, there wasn't anything near by...then we moved to belfast, and there were things in walking distance, but it weren't that much fun walking in the winter, with the dodgy pavements and cold.

Where we are in Mass, there's the library, offie, bakery and a few other bits and pieces in walking distance...and even a pretty shitty monging looking bus service that takes you out to the mall and a few other stops like the commuter rail stations.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

School
2 Parks
Hardware Store
Custom Bike Shop
2 Cycle Shops
2 mini supermarkets
Library
Town Hall
Police Station
Antique shops various
2 Cafe's
Restaurants

and a Brewery:beer:

Apologies to those not mentioned.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

Our whole neighbourhood is paved which is great 'cause people don't think think it's odd to go out for a walk. We have a supermarket, video store, hardware store, CVS, ice-cream store, coffee shop, couple of restaurants, Subway, Mac D's, Dollar store (that's the ones I can remember) within walking distance.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

The train station (for the trains to NYC and Hoboken) is a 6 minute walk from our house so we have:

Post Office, newsagents (poorly stocked since the owner died and his daughter has taken over), an estate agents (never seems to be open), hairdressers (fine if you like Jewish old lady big hair & blue rinses) a closed-down travel agency, a pharmacy (miserable staff) and a small deli. I rarely go to the deli but do go there to buy milk if I've run out or on winter days when we're snowed in and I just need to get out of the house for some fresh air...sadly they don't stock organic milk. Our doctors practice is around the corner and there are also a couple of petrol stations where they also do inspections and repairs - however it's a quiet road so the petrol is extremely expensive so I don't buy it there.

We are also a 10 minute walk from other local shops but I only ever go to the kosher bakery. The rest comprise of real estate agencies, restaurants, a large fur shop :mad: and quite a few v. v expensive 'boutiques' for men, women and teenagers (ie. dresses typically costing $500+).

Going in the other direction is our local town centre, approx 15 minutes to walk. It was such a lovely day yesterday...72f in New Jersey - the hottest on record - that we walked into town to get some tourist guides from the library. It was closed due to new carpets being laid, but it occurred to me how crap our town is compared to any town back home in England. The shops in our township (Millburn) aren't really places where anyone can do any day to day shopping unless they have a car as the supermarkets are on the outskirts. We don't have anything like a greengrocers, fishmongers, butchers etc. and certainly nowhere to buy a pint of milk or loaf of bread.

The shops consist of: Loads of delis/cafes, restaurants & a Starbucks (as there is a stage theatre in the town showing 'old lady' type stuff 99% of the time and there is a cinema with poor sound, picture quality and seating), a fur shop :mad:, v. expensive lingerie shops, baby equipment and clothes shops, loads of banks and investment type offices eg. Charles Schwab & Fidelity.

There are also about 8 or 9 nail salons, 3 ice-cream shops, opticians, florist, Post Office, photo shops, shoe shops, dry cleaners, oriental carpet store, barber shop, about 6 jewellery shops, sun tan salon, musical instrument shop, gift shops, French furniture shop, bridal salon, cycle shop, pet food shop, costly womens and teenage girls clothes shops. There is also a hardware shop which seems stuck in a 1940s time-warp and much more expensive than Home Depot. The paint store also has miserable staff so I don't go there either LOL!

There was a scuba diving store, a knitting shop and a weight-loss food shop but they've gone out of business recently. I understand that the rents are v. high which I think is why so many banks have moved in - but you can't do your shopping in a bank! :(

There isn't even a newsagents (although you can buy the dailies from those coin-operated roadside stands) so unless I want to get a snack in the town I never have a compelling reason to go there. None of the big chains are 'allowed' (but for some reason there is a Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts opposite the police station LOL) and they have to be situated at the mall on the outskirts of town.

I'd love to have shops like Boots and W H Smiths to go to, and a nice bakery selling sausage rolls, cornish pasties and fresh cream cakes...:(

(OMG.....just realised I got totally carried away....I know I'm luckier than most at least being within walking distance of some shops but sadly they're not the kind of shops which are as nice as the ones I went to back home).

Another thing which I've noticed: why can't people just sit down and drink their coffee? I see so many people wandering around the town with their coffee in styrofoam cups - can't they just sit down for 10 minutes and savour it? :rolleyes:

Again.....in many of the towns I've passed through in the North East, it seems that local town ordinances keep the 'chains' out of the town centres and confine them to strip malls on the outskirts. However, I've noticed that a lot of these 'mom & pop' stores just don't have the money or inclination to modernise their shops; they look like they are in the same state of decor as they were about 40 or 50 years ago...all tired and run-down in appearance and the stock looks pretty ancient too.

It's not very enticing to go in these places and spend money in them - unless of course they're in a tourist destination and have a higher rate of customers calling in and have obviously made an effort to attract them.

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

how could I of missed that one:scared: we've got one of those too:beer: :beer:

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

Yes, I forgot the vet, a small pizza store and a Mobil petrol station with convenience store (I know, how could I possibly have forgotten those you ask yourselves!:D )

Re: Do you have shops and services within walking distance from your home?
 

the pavements...we have them too, yet people still prefer to walk on the road...it's kind of weird *lol*