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unwilling to modify their business model for city-friendly locations...
Looks like there are 6 Tops locations in the city of Buffalo, so I overestimated somewhat. There are a couple others quite close to the city border, however. Tops' store locator is somewhat misleading, as they list 4 locations for Rochester, but I see that one is in suburban Penfield, and another appears to be in Greece (your territory if I'm not mistaken)
They have developed a very good business model, and they know their customer base. People drive for miles to shop there. It has been said, the surest way to failure is to try to please everyone.
I believe there are about 10-12 Topps in the Rochester area. They've closed quite a few. The 2 in the city are on Buffalo Rd. and Upper Falls Blvd.
When we visited the Catskills, Adirondacks and Southern Tier we just shopped at little local stores and specialty shops, but when we visited the Finger Lakes we did make our way to both Tops and Wegmans.
We stayed once at a tiny cabin in Prattsburgh and another time at a more luxurious cabin in Naples. We went to Tops in Penn Yan; thought it was perfectly adequate for vacation but as my husband put it "wouldn't quite cut it for long term." We also went to Wegmans in Canandaigua and it was excellent. Of course in the Finger Lakes we also went to the little local markets, roadside stands, etc.
I just know that realistically, in order for a place to be sustainable for us long term, we'd love to be more like 10 mins to something comparable to Wegmans. I feel like an idiot saying that, since it likely conflicts with the setting we've enjoyed so much on our vacations.
I was basically in a state of bliss at those Finger Lakes cabins. I swear there's something about the fresh air up there, it's intoxicating! On those vacations the long drive to the bigger grocery stores was not a problem, it was more like an opportunity for a scenic drive, but I bet it would become a drag after a while. Where we live now I'm very close to a Publix grocery store and I'm in the habit of shopping there about every five days...
I'm so curious to see how the different areas compare to each other and to the places we've vacationed and loved. I'm kind of categorizing areas in my mind in terms of how I expect them to be. I'll go ahead and share how I'm picturing the categories and you can correct me if any are off.
Places that overall are very suburban but where I can live in a neighborhood that feels like living in the woods: Perinton, Victor, East Aurora, Orchard Park, Fayetteville, Manlius
Places with a combination of wilderness and rural farms right outside small cities: areas surrounding Corning, Ithaca, Jamestown, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Geneva
Places where I'll find a dream house but it'll be too far from Wegmans level grocery store: various Finger Lakes and Southern Tier areas that are more secluded
When we visited the Catskills, Adirondacks and Southern Tier we just shopped at little local stores and specialty shops, but when we visited the Finger Lakes we did make our way to both Tops and Wegmans.
We stayed once at a tiny cabin in Prattsburgh and another time at a more luxurious cabin in Naples. We went to Tops in Penn Yan; thought it was perfectly adequate for vacation but as my husband put it "wouldn't quite cut it for long term." We also went to Wegmans in Canandaigua and it was excellent. Of course in the Finger Lakes we also went to the little local markets, roadside stands, etc.
I just know that realistically, in order for a place to be sustainable for us long term, we'd love to be more like 10 mins to something comparable to Wegmans. I feel like an idiot saying that, since it likely conflicts with the setting we've enjoyed so much on our vacations.
I was basically in a state of bliss at those Finger Lakes cabins. I swear there's something about the fresh air up there, it's intoxicating! On those vacations the long drive to the bigger grocery stores was not a problem, it was more like an opportunity for a scenic drive, but I bet it would become a drag after a while. Where we live now I'm very close to a Publix grocery store and I'm in the habit of shopping there about every five days...
I'm so curious to see how the different areas compare to each other and to the places we've vacationed and loved. I'm kind of categorizing areas in my mind in terms of how I expect them to be. I'll go ahead and share how I'm picturing the categories and you can correct me if any are off.
Places that overall are very suburban but where I can live in a neighborhood that feels like living in the woods: Perinton, Victor, East Aurora, Orchard Park, Fayetteville, Manlius
Places with a combination of wilderness and rural farms right outside small cities: areas surrounding Corning, Ithaca, Jamestown, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Geneva
Places where I'll find a dream house but it'll be too far from Wegmans level grocery store: various Finger Lakes and Southern Tier areas that are more secluded
In terms of the last two parts, all of the cities are in those two regions. Keep in mind that this doesn’t include include Wegmans in Hornell(Southern Tier), Olean(Southern Tier/WNY like Jamestown), Auburn(Finger Lakes), Geneseo(Finger Lakes) and even the Newark location(Wayne County, but just north of the Finger Lakes). So, that gives you an idea of the locations within those regions or nearby(there are some in the immediate Syracuse and Rochester areas not too far from the Finger Lakes as well).
^Ironically, I can see both dynamics with Tops in Syracuse, as they closed a location in the city's Valley neighborhood, but also replaced a former Wegmans on the North Side of the city.
A lot of them are right at the city line around here and they closed one on West Genesee street in Westvale Plaza, but took over the former Peter's(a local chain) location on Nottingham Road not far from Syracuse University and expanded it.
There is also one in Shop City Plaza on the Syracuse/Salina line and another in DeWitt not too far from the city line on East Genesee Street.
Tops also took over a former P & C(another former local chain) in North Syracuse. So, they also have a history of taking over locations from chains that go out of business. Same in terms of being more apt to be in smaller towns as well: https://www.topsmarkets.com/StoreLoc...=New%20York&S=
That drive from Manlius to Cazenovia can be quite wooded and Cazenovia has a nice little lake that it is adjacent to. You also would be minutes from this park with a nice waterfall: https://www.madisoncounty.ny.gov/2312/Delphi-Falls-Park
watergarden, I'm wondering if you would consider having a house built. It may be easier to find your perfect spot, and then build your perfect house on it.
I like it! So it looks like I do need to add the area surrounding Auburn to the list.
On satellite that area looked more farm-ish than woodsy to me so I wasn't really including it but now I will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JWRocks
watergarden, I'm wondering if you would consider having a house built. It may be easier to find your perfect spot, and then build your perfect house on it.
I was actually going to ask about that next but I predicted people would tell me not to do it. We have never done a build before, but it's something we've been interested in for a while. I have a notebook of drawings with ideas I've had for floorplans.
Thinking about trying to buy a house, I can picture us finding a place we fall in love with and then being heartbroken when we're out-bid by someone else. We could avoid that by building.
I'll have to take a look at what land is for sale.
Another thing we'd be interested in doing is buying a rustic style house with an exterior we like but that needs some work inside. I've seen a few that fit that category and if the price leaves room in our budget to fix up the inside we'd be up for that.
I was looking at one though that I liked the rustic style architecture but the inside had been redone in what I would call a glam style. Brand new kitchen for example but in my opinion it did not go with the rustic style of the exterior and architectural features. So I'd feel a little weird redoing a brand new kitchen, but I guess I would go ahead and do it if I loved the property and the bones of the house.
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I swear there's something about the fresh air up there, it's intoxicating! On those vacations the long drive to the bigger grocery stores was not a problem, it was more like an opportunity for a scenic drive, but I bet it would become a drag after a while. Where we live now I'm very close to a Publix grocery store and I'm in the habit of shopping there about every five days...
