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I am opening a business in the near future that will import and distribute goods throughout the United States. I currently live in North Carolina, but don't know if I love it here. Please vote from the following cities above and comment on why you chose it.
I am particularly looking for answers based on business and culture. I like to be in a place that is geographically placed well for drop-shipping for U.S. Residents and a place where it is very diverse in culture.
I think it would depend on how big your network is. If it's the entire US and you have nodes elsewhere, then I'd look more in the midwest. Chicago became the rail hub for a reason, for example. A lot of distribution centers are still there because it's basically in the middle of the country. O'Hare is also the busiest freight airport in the world (or it was, maybe it dropped to 2nd or 3rd now) and they're building a huge extension with a new runway just for freight as we speak. Big rail and air network, and it's in the "middle" of the country so if you truly have to ship all over the place and it's pretty even in various regions, I'd imagine you'd want to be someone centrally located for the US.
UPS Air and Cargo are based in Louisville, CA
FedEx is in Memphis.
Yeah, you're right. Those two are the busiest in the US.
Regardless, I think Chicago should be up there when considering a diverse place and an area where you could have a distribution center that is central if you truly need to ship things all over the US. I think in the end though it would depend on where you ship most of your stuff to and where you see yourself growing. If 80% of your customers live in California for example, then it would be a cost savings measure to be closer to there.
Lord knows when i'm making a business decision, I always turn to the C-D crowd to help me figure out how to spend millions in capital too!
How can I please my wife? What is the right amount of punishment to give a child? Who should I worship, and why?
JK, I don't think the OP was looking for business advice per se, but instead advice about city cultures and idiosyncrasies about cities themselves that he may not know but could learn through C-D. I assume.
If you need some suggestions that are less pricey than Chicago, I've got two good Missouri cities for you.
Option 1: Kansas City is the second largest rail hub in the nation, after Chicago. It is a huge shipping center for railroads, and historically has been a big transport hub. I can't speak either way for diversity in KC, but I her that the area around Country Club Plaza has an excellent culture and is pretty diverse. It's also very reasonably priced when compared to Chicago. KC is probably worth investigating according to the standards you've offered.
Option 2: The second gem of Missouri, St. Louis, follows KC as the third largest rail hub in the nation. It has long been a meeting place of transport networks, beginning first as a major river city and stopping-off point for the Missouri River (Gateway to the West!), and then as a major east-west rail hub along with Chicago. It's a pretty big transportation/distribution hub, always has been, always will be due to its central location. StL is no cultural slouch either. It's got a pretty diverse culture that draws both from past European influences (Italian, Irish, French, and German influences are pretty prevalent), as well as new immigrants. More diversity is largely focused around the central corridor (particularly around Forest Park), so neighborhoods like the Central West End, Skinker-DeBaliviere, DeBaliviere Place, or municipalities like University City or Clayton, and any surrounding areas, would be where you would want to look. Along with KC, StL could be a good fit for you and your business.
Both cities have a great central location in the country; they are closer to the south and its growing economy than Chicago, and also closer to the West; and they have a more balanced distance between each coast and the north/south borders than most of the other cities listed here. However, even though they have some pretty diverse areas, but they're not as diverse (not demographically, at least) as a lot of these cities here. So you may need to make a decision as to which is more important to you-your business, or your cultural intake. I personally believe that KC and StL both offer you a good balance of both, while also being cheaper and more reasonably priced than most of these options, and offering solid metro areas to live in for the long term.
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