Moving to Tri-Cities Area Summer 2015 - Advice Please

[DubbleT]

It's nice to see people gives updates, thanks

[Ted Bear]

Moving Mommy-


That's a pretty good summary.


The Fresh Market in JC..... the chain has just been sold, so we'll see how it plays out as they raise prices and cut quality to raise margins to pay for the debt... has a few things which are otherwise difficult to find. BUT, their meat and fish is the same stuff you buy at Krogers, but their prices are 20% higher for the same items. Sort of a scummy approach, but they survive...for now.


Wegmans.....if I have heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times (along with "where do I buy bread"?(sadly, nowhere). It seems to be the single most missed element when people come here from the outside. Quite honestly, the local grocery stores are lousy. I don't get it, but that's the way it is. High prices, low quality and selection...and even the "new" Food City in JC looks like something right out of the 70's.


The good...sort of...news...is that Wegmans is creeping closer. This year they will open in Charlottesville, and next year in the Raleigh/Durham area....Cary, I believe. It is silly to run that far for groceries...but maybe once every couple of months to buy pasta , canned goods, even a sort of good loaf of bread, and some decent produce...might be the plan. I doubt they will ever come to the tri cities area...maybe Asheville would be a potential location and that would be terrific!


Overall, glad you are happy here. How about this spring in early March? That is a delight no matter what else might be missing.

[Serious Conversation]

Salsaritas is a good option for fast casual dining. Pie Five just opened and they do the fast casual pizza thing - little pizzas with a wide variety of toppings and sauces. If you're thinking of stuff assembled at the counter, not a lot of that here, but there are plenty of reasonably quick options.

The grocery complaints are fairly frequent on here. Prices are high, selection is poor, and Food City dominates. Kingsport used to have a local chain called Oakwood (long out of business), Food Lion (think they're gone as well), Winn-Dixie (gone), White's (some were converted to IGA/Priceless - others were closed). Ingle's in Colonial Heights is slightly better than Food City, but there's only that one Ingles, and the Kingsport/Bristol Krogers are not in good shape. I've never cared for Fresh Market and Earthfare is a poor man's Whole Foods. If you want to eat organic or have specific dietary needs you can't easily meet at Food City, that can be a problem in the Tri-Cities. Knoxville has a Whole Foods now, Trader Joe's, and Costco - bring a cooler and ice. I don't see a Costco or higher end store relocating to the area any time soon.

Cooks Valley, and really everything off 126 to Central is a lot nicer than core Kingsport. I grew up in Indian Springs and the homes and residents are older, and probably without a lot of younger families these days, but it's still a pretty nice. Housing stock is a lot better than core Kingsport and crime isn't really an issue.

[queenladybug817]

Isn't Chipotle coming to the Pinnacle? Or at least a pretty strong rumor?

Moe's and Barbarito's here in JC are a decent alternative. My husband actually likes Moe's better. I'm a tiny bit partial to Chipotle still and would love to have one in JC.

[jabogitlu]

The Fresh Market in JC..... the chain has just been sold, so we'll see how it plays out as they raise prices and cut quality to raise margins to pay for the debt... has a few things which are otherwise difficult to find. BUT, their meat and fish is the same stuff you buy at Krogers, but their prices are 20% higher for the same items. Sort of a scummy approach, but they survive...for now.

The OP mentioned Earth Fare, not TFM. But, as a former TFM employee, it's quite interesting that they're being sold. While Earth Fare is the real deal healthy supermarket, TFM is just a sham - they sell whatever makes a profit, and pipe it through to the consumer with fancy music, lighting and packaging to make you feel like you're having a high quality experience. Trust me, nothing about the back end of TFM was remotely fancy!

I think Moe's is far superior to Chipotle (shudder). Barbarito's used to be pretty good, haven't been there in years.