Our trip to the Eastern Shore (Easton: shopping center, residential, approval)

[cancan]

Originally Posted by macdebbie

Thanks. What is Lewes like? I hear it is quaint with a nice downtown but on the bay, not the ocean, but there is a state park with ocean frontage?

As to the people who commented about cost of living. Yes, we are well aware that it is expensive to live in MD, however, the housing prices are nowhere near what they are hear. You cannot find an old ranch needing updating with 3BR/2BA for under 500K here. We saw several homes in the 300s in Easton that we would live in.

Additionally, we are considering the move due to the weather. We know also that it gets cold and snows where you are, but the winters are definitely more mild.

Lewes is a decent little town and really is on both the bay and the ocean....town proper is on the bay but the point that divides the bay and ocean is very close (cape henelopen). Just take a look at a map. Lewes does get quite crowded during the summer months.

[Chicken-Necker]

I do not know if you are still reading this post. Thought I would bring it up to date. Currently there are no Kohls or Best Buy, they are just rumors. In big box there is Target, a small Wall-mart and a BIG Lowes. Three grocery stores Giant, Acme and a small Safeway ( Safeway tried to expand on route 50, but was turned down for not enough traffic control ). As far as all the hubris about having to travel so far for shopping, so what? How many times do you HAVE to go to a mall. Annapolis is only an hour away from Easton ( by route 50 ), that would be about half an hour more then if you lived closer and had to drive though suburban stop lit roads if you lived in the burbs. Home-depot is in Salisbury, 45 minutes away ( and in Annapolis ).
There actually are quite a few restraurants in town.
The town is getting hit by the economy right now, but is holding up somewhat, a couple of business's are going out-of-business, but I find they are ones that have over-leveraged themselves.
One of the things that nobody mentioned is that the town has it's own non-profit utilities - highly unusual. this definitely keeps the cost of utilities down.
House prices have not dropped anyway near as low as other locations, but they are taking a lot longer to sell and you do not get top dollar.
My wife and I moved here four years ago, not to retire - I have a home office, but because we were tired of living in the burbs. We bought a house downtown, take walks all thoughout the town, ride bikes to Oxford, etc. We are military brats and I was in the Airforce so we lived in about 10 different states - countries, so i guess i do not pay attention to what locals think about an outsider moving in. This area is great and i find that the people that have lived here and the ones that have moved here are equally noce people.
By the way I got my chicken-necker status as a boy crabbing in the Virgina Beach area, use to get a trash can full, not anymore.
Oh, and the temps that are posted by Weather.com are about 5 degrees lower then they really are. They actually use annapolis's weather.

[Grasonville]

Safeway tried to expand on route 50, but was turned down for not enough traffic control

The Chester Safeway DID expand on Route 50 - I gather you mean the Easton Safeway?

From Kent Island to Grasonville we have Acme - Food Lion - Safeway for grocery shopping. There is also a Kmart - Rite Aid - Walgreens - Kent Drug and the NEW CVS. We just got a Cracker Barrel Resturant - Adams Rib is set to open - in addition to all the wonderful Eastern Shore resturants that have been here forever (Holly's, Harris's, Fisherman's Inn, Crab Deck, Annie's The Narrows , Hemmingway's and so on)

[MikeinMD]

Best Buy is not a rumor, it is being built next to Target. As far as Kohl's it's planned to be built behind Target in another phase of that project, but has not been approved by the town.

[Chicken-Necker]

I say rumor, purely because of the economy and the lack of financing available Don't see any corporations pushing expansion plans right now.

[North Beach Person]

All you folks who moved to the Eastern Shore because of the rural "ambience" and now miss or want the conveniences/shopping or where you used to be need to be carefull what you wish for. Look at Calvert or Charles to see what I mean.

[MikeinMD]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

All you folks who moved to the Eastern Shore because of the rural "ambience" and now miss or want the conveniences/shopping or where you used to be need to be carefull what you wish for.

I have lived in Talbot County my entire life.

Originally Posted by Chicken-Necker

I say rumor, purely because of the economy and the lack of financing available Don't see any corporations pushing expansion plans right now.

The developer of Waterside Village has received approval from the town to build the 30,000 sq.ft. Best Buy and 7000 sq.ft. retail space next to it at the corner of Marlboro and Commerce next to Target. Not a rumor, check the town records, or even the newspaper on that. Now I imagine that Best Buy could still back out of the deal somehow but this is all fairly recent and you wouldn't go through the expense of gaining the approval to build if you didn't have some sort of concrete plans/lease.

Sonic Drive-In and Country Inn and Suites are being built on Rt. 50, Belk is still planning to renovate and move into the old Lowe's, so some corporations are still expanding.

[longdriver88]

There WAS a reason why home values were as high as they are, I guess they will decline now that more big businesses are being built and will bring some of the western shore charm with them!

[BIGBOB]

I live on Kent Isl. proper, just for reference. 1 mile from the bay bridge. I've also lived several years in Centreville. Altogether more than 15 years on the E.S.





I've never lived in a worse place. Please pray to god to save me. And yourself. The eastern shore is hell on earth. Save yourself. Stay far, far away. The poor people who moved here are now stuck. again........save yourself. Do not do to yourself what I did to me.

I mean, real shopping is either 15 min. (annap) or 30 min.(chestwn-easton) away. And who could deal with that? Keep to the western side. Thats where you belong.


It's helll here on the E.S.

[BIGBOB]

Originally Posted by MikeinMD

I have lived in Talbot County my entire life.



The developer of Waterside Village has received approval from the town to build the 30,000 sq.ft. Best Buy and 7000 sq.ft. retail space next to it at the corner of Marlboro and Commerce next to Target. Not a rumor, check the town records, or even the newspaper on that. Now I imagine that Best Buy could still back out of the deal somehow but this is all fairly recent and you wouldn't go through the expense of gaining the approval to build if you didn't have some sort of concrete plans/lease.

Sonic Drive-In and Country Inn and Suites are being built on Rt. 50, Belk is still planning to renovate and move into the old Lowe's, so some corporations are still expanding.

This is all in Easton? You all need a good old fashioned revolution. See what happened when 15 yrs. ago Wal-Mart tried to put a store in Chestertown. The council cut them out based on square footage. WMart will not build smaller than XXX square feet. Think the rest may be the same. 'Cept you guys already alowd the W-mart at the sq. ft. Can you still change? Easton has become a metropolis in the middle of nowhere. And good for them. They still resemble an old style E.S. town. On steroids,+++. Do not be lap dogs. Even if you have already got the Big W.


You know, you guys are all that and the Bob Evans.


I've got to apologise, Easton is a joke of an Eastern Shore town. The rest of you, please forgive me.