[Platinum350]

Man, it is sooo overwhelming reading all of these posts...need to vent!
I am a 30yr old male franchise owner of a hearing aid store. I used to frequently visit the Ft. lauderdale area and have always wanted to move there but never did. Now, I am a little older and some oppurtunities arrised for me to purchase another store, this time in Florida. So, I started my researching...narrowed it down to Coconut Creek, FL. Had all my ducks in a row and was on my way 1st week in Sept.

Just found out that my co. made a big mistake and I lost the availability to a liquor store now renting the space. So, it's back to the drawing board and have very limited choices of where I can go. I prefer the east coast of Fl due to the active nightlife and seems everything is not so spread out. My available choices now are:

Bradenton
N Ft. Myers
Port St. Lucie
(prefer to be near beaches)

After searching these places, man, am I really double thinking this whole Florida deal. I have read dozens and dozens of reasons why NOT to move to Ft. Myers and Bradenton, from high crime and barely anything to do socially. Ofcourse read a couple that said it was nice and had great sunsets...

P. St. L didn't have much of an appeal to my age bracket either! Anyone else have any insight to share with me?????

Also, below are other locations I could choose from but ruled out already...however, if you have anything to share about these area plaese feel free to.
FL Jacksonville - too far north
FL Merritt Island
FL Naples - been there, too boring 4 me
FL Palm Coast
FL Pensacola - too far north
FL Port St. Lucie
FL Viera

[INeedAChange]

I'll leave it to the Floridians to give you advice on the places. But remember that a some of the complainers on here are very sheltered and pampered--they've never lived anywhere REALLY bad--I would take anything negative they say with a grain of salt.

Originally Posted by Platinum350

Man, it is sooo overwhelming reading all of these posts...need to vent!
I am a 30yr old male franchise owner of a hearing aid store. I used to frequently visit the Ft. lauderdale area and have always wanted to move there but never did. Now, I am a little older and some oppurtunities arrised for me to purchase another store, this time in Florida. So, I started my researching...narrowed it down to Coconut Creek, FL. Had all my ducks in a row and was on my way 1st week in Sept.

Just found out that my co. made a big mistake and I lost the availability to a liquor store now renting the space. So, it's back to the drawing board and have very limited choices of where I can go. I prefer the east coast of Fl due to the active nightlife and seems everything is not so spread out. My available choices now are:

Bradenton
N Ft. Myers
Port St. Lucie
(prefer to be near beaches)

After searching these places, man, am I really double thinking this whole Florida deal. I have read dozens and dozens of reasons why NOT to move to Ft. Myers and Bradenton, from high crime and barely anything to do socially. Ofcourse read a couple that said it was nice and had great sunsets...

P. St. L didn't have much of an appeal to my age bracket either! Anyone else have any insight to share with me?????

Also, below are other locations I could choose from but ruled out already...however, if you have anything to share about these area plaese feel free to.
FL Jacksonville - too far north
FL Merritt Island
FL Naples - been there, too boring 4 me
FL Palm Coast
FL Pensacola - too far north
FL Port St. Lucie
FL Viera

[doggiebus]

As a young person myself, I understand the west coast vs. the east coast view. As a young person South Florida (Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade) is the best place to be IMO. If you have to look at other areas in the state, I would stick to the larger cities (Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale) especially if you want to be close to some sort of nightlife, many restaurant choices, and entertainment. So out of the list you gave, I would pick Bradenton, as it is close enough to Tampa. You wouldn't be to far from the Tampa nightlife, not to far from a major airport, and there are many old people on the west coast of the state that will need your product for sure so your store will have many customers for sure. Now I wouldn't live in Tampa myself, but I have friends that live there and love it (granted they are raising a family and are church going people).

[Obrero]

From your list I would pick Bradenton. I just wouldn't live there. Not sure of your budget but you could live in downtown Sarasota where there is at least some stuff going on and drive to Tampa when the need arises. Or possibly live in St Pete where the drive to Tampa would be better...I don't think the commute to Bradenton from St Pete would be too horrific, but I'm sure someone can tell you that for definite.

[Platinum350]

very helpful...thanks! Yeah, i've been leaning towards Bradenton myself. So, let's say I were to work in Bradenton, I then should think about living in Sarasota...what other areas are nice to live in. Again, prefer to be somewhat close to the beach without a too long of a commute.

[Suncoaster]

Check out St. Pete. It's convenient to Tampa, and it's a thriving community. If proximity to the gulf is important, the beaches here are terrific - I believe Ft. DeSoto won a best-beach type of award.

Of course, I'm very biased as I love it here.

[Platinum350]

Originally Posted by Suncoaster

Check out St. Pete. It's convenient to Tampa, and it's a thriving community. If proximity to the gulf is important, the beaches here are terrific - I believe Ft. DeSoto won a best-beach type of award.

Of course, I'm very biased as I love it here.

How far(roughly of course) do you think St. Pete is from Bradenton?

[cariad]

Depending on where in St. pete, about 25 m-less if you live at the beach or right by the skywaybridge.
I would choose to live in St Pete and commute to Bradenton-no contest.

[Floridabound09]

You mention you like the east coast, but almost all of your list is west coast. For the night life you need Daytona or like areas.

As someone mentioned take the negs with a huge grain of salt, there are some negs but it depends on the choices you make that is the difference.

Cocoa Beach are also might fit you needs as well.

[Chromedome]

i live in cape coral, about 5 minutes from Ft myers, and theres a definite lack of a social scene and nightclubs here ESPECIALLY in north fort myers

to put it in perspective, north fort myers makes naples seem like midtown manhattan, so if you thought naples was boring you can make your own conclusion about fort myers lol, N. ft myers also has alot of crime. nothing ridiculous, just not a place id recommend putting your type of business.

the best way to describe central/south fort myers would be a "blue collar naples"

none of the areas you mentioned would fit the criteria i think your looking for so you probably just wana pick whichever is closest to a major city that does.

fort myers is 2/2.5 hour drive from miami, i think bradenton is closer to tampa.

regardless, definitely come to the area and visit before making a decision