Info on Austin Minnesota (Rochester: house, theatres, high school)

[RamblinMan]

Pursuing a job in Austin, MN (Can you guess the company?). Currently live in Portland, OR, previously in San Francisco and Wash DC.... I've only ever lived on the coasts, never in the middle. Is Austin a friendly decent place?
Thank you!

[T.S.]

You are going to be a spam canner?

Not a bad small town I guess, but far from a major city which will be a change from the past places you listed.

[Nate]

I would love to tell you how Austin is. I have the best information about Austin, other than those who have lived there or are currently lived there. I was born and raised in Austin and left when I was 20 for college.

Hormel is the sole economic power in Austin. Without Hormel Austin's economy would plunge. The city planners need to be shot. At times you will see two to three competing business chains within a block of each other. This might not seem unusual for a big metropolis, but for a town with 26,000 its absurd. All major grocery stores are within a quarter-mile of each other. Hy-Vee and Cub Foods. Someone had a bright idea to put Rainbow foods in the same vincinity and that went under in one year.

Night Life:
Please don't come here single looking to find someone. Everyone is married and most single people have 2 or 3 children. When you move here you will most likely be spending your nights at Torge's Live. Not a bad place, but it gets old after awhile. Otherwise I would check out B&J bar, nice rinky dink bar with a friendly older crowd. Torge's Live crowd is between the ages of 23-35 if I had to place 80% of the people.

Shopping: Not even worth mentioning. I hope the Oak Park mall burns down. That place has been in an absolute **** slide for the past 4 years. The only businesses in the mall holding the **** place up is Shopko, Cinemagic Theatres and Younkers. People most often go to the mall not to shop, but to use the mall as an indoor walking track. Get used to driving to Rochester if you like any sort of respectable shopping.

Education: Ahh, I can give you a decent idea of what the high school has transformed into. I graduated in 2002. Thanks to your soon-to-be employer Spanish should be mandatory. The hispanic population has spread like wildfire. I am not saying this is bad, but get used to seeing funny looking Ford Explorers mexied out. If you like Mexican food, check out El Mirachis on Main.

Housing: If you can afford it the best housing will be in the southwest side where all the other Hormel people are at. They all congregate in the same area. Median house range I am guessing is around $190-260,000. This is just a guess. I used to live in the SE side near Layfayette park, that since has turned into one huge park due to flooding.

Recreation: Please don't fish or go into East Side Lake. That place is known for pumping sewage from Nicoville and other surrounding small towns into the lake. How fun! Let's see what else is there to do besides choking down a turd in the lake? The Hormel Nature Center is a neat place to visit maybe twice when you move there. A great walk and the deer are so tame you can almost ride them. Todd Park has great disc golfing and softball diamonds by they are usually overrun by Hispanics and I never felt safe near the
pavilions.

All things considered I would strongly recommend moving to Rochester. Trust me, that's where you want to be, not Austin. If you move to Austin you will find yourself in Rochester most of the time anyway.

[mudmuffin]

I think you might be happier commuting from Rochester than living in Austin if you've lived in those larger cities.

[Amyluwho]

Hope all is going well at Hormel -

[Think twice]

I have a husband who works for that company. We spent 11 months in Minnesota. We did not live in Austin so I can not comment, You really need to go and view it before you make any decision. They call it Stinky town in the summer due the smells in the area. Good company just wrong town. Spend the money to visit prior to making any decision. If you are single definately NO....

[anonymouse09]

Well, at least you can actually see what factory animal slaughter looks like, which is what about 99% of the population would rather not see and so, purposefully don't. Of course, I am speaking of Hormel, that mythic place from whence nuke-proof food comes.