[MDL]

My husband and I are considering a move to the Manchester area. Both of us are professionals and we are looking to live in a lively, relatively upscale neighborhood with professionals like us. My question to those of you who might reside in Manchester or its environs is whether you enjoy living there and what the pluses and minuses are of living there as opposed to a bigger metropolitan area. What might the commute to Storrs be like (is there much traffic, etc.)? We also would like to have some amenities close by like a shopping area, upscale restaurants and food stores (Wegman's, Whole Foods or organic food stores). Is that possible? Thanks for your advice.

[glxyman21]

Manchester is more of a working class city, there are a ton of stores though and a large mall, which mostly consists of many chains. Commute to UCONN may be around 20-30 Minutes. You should check out neighboring Glastonbury, it sounds more like what you are looking for in terms of upscale neighborhoods and restaurants and food stores, though the same house will cost more in Glastonbury than Manchester.

[skytrekker]

Manchester is a diverse town of 54,000. It is more working class then upscale professional. Though there are parts of town that are very upscale, especially around Porter street, Birch Mountain and near the Glastonbury town line.

The downtown along Main St. is very nice, having a very New England ambiance with non chain stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. The town has the renowned Lutz Museum, and Mansions of the Cheney Textile families along Hartford Road. Manchester Community College is perhaps one of the best 2 year colleges in the north east.

The town has a great shopping area in the north end near the South Windsor town line. In nearby South Windsor the very upscale Evergreen Walk is a very inviting area of shops, restaurants in a unique 'Main Street' experience.

South Windsor, Ellington, Vernon and Glastonbury may be close by alternatives to consider.

[MDL]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. They were very helpful.

[JayCT]

I too would suggest considering Glastonbury. It is an upscale town with many upscale stores and restaurants. The schools are consdiered excellent and there are many nice neighborhood to choose from. It is considered one of greater Hartford's premier suburbs. If you have any questions, pleaselet me know. Jay

[crodny]

We have resided in Manchester for over 19 years, raised two children here and run a retail business since 2003. Manchester is defintely on the decline with businesses closing monthly, section 8 housing, many multi family houses in town, and a plethora of drug and rehab facilities that are not widely publicized, but do exist and bring addicts from other towns such as EHartford. Crime is also not talked about among retailers as this would prevent all people from shopping downtown.
Web cameras have been installed to try to catch perpetrators, but the systems chosen are completely inadequate and do not work. MY recommendation is to look at Glastonbury, South Windsor or W. Hartford. Gastonbury is building a multimillion dollar retail complex with upscale restaurants and shops to accomodate their growing population of people that want to shop local. South Windsor has the Evergreen Walk complex,and W. Hartford has the BlueBack Complex which includes high end shops, restaurants and condos.

[Srib]

crodny, you obviously have an agenda here since you posted the same response on another thread. I think you paint a rather bleak picture of manchester that is clearly biased. Manchester has some very lovely, upscale areas. Any place that has a large retail center will of course experience higher crime than a town that does not have a similar environment. Manchester has section 8 housing?? OH MY GOSh - so does glastonbury and some other upscale towns in the hartford area. Please provide all the facts before you feel the need to bash something. Also, BTW, east hartford has its own rehab place so its unlikely that "they" are the ones ruining manchester.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by crodny

We have resided in Manchester for over 19 years, raised two children here and run a retail business since 2003. Manchester is defintely on the decline with businesses closing monthly, section 8 housing, many multi family houses in town, and a plethora of drug and rehab facilities that are not widely publicized, but do exist and bring addicts from other towns such as EHartford. Crime is also not talked about among retailers as this would prevent all people from shopping downtown.
Web cameras have been installed to try to catch perpetrators, but the systems chosen are completely inadequate and do not work. MY recommendation is to look at Glastonbury, South Windsor or W. Hartford. Gastonbury is building a multimillion dollar retail complex with upscale restaurants and shops to accomodate their growing population of people that want to shop local. South Windsor has the Evergreen Walk complex,and W. Hartford has the BlueBack Complex which includes high end shops, restaurants and condos.

I could not disagree with this post more.

Manchester has had more development in the last 5 years than any city it's size in CT. Example: I can count 10 new, large, nice restaurants in the past few years opening alone including one of only two Frank Pepe (Pepe's famous New Haven Pizza) locations outside of New Haven in the state.

[glxyman21]

There is a Pepes in Fairfield as well.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by glxyman21

There is a Pepes in Fairfield as well.

To clarify, I meant to say two other locations outside of their main place.

FFLD would be the other one of the "two".