Possible Move To Oklahoma and have a few more questions (Oklahoma City: fit in, coupon)

[buzzdecker]

My family has a possible job in Oklahoma and there are a few questions we still have about the area. Doing our research it looks like Edmond would be the place we would be fit in best. We are coming from a highly populated area so we don't want to move somewhere "too out there". So here are my questions:

What are some of the best Elementary Schools in Edmond?

Where are some of the best family friendly neighborhoods?

What is the average cost of home owners insurance there?

Does Edmond or even OKC have any dog parks?

How is the shopping there? (for my wife)

Also I have only been able to find people who rave about living in Oklahoma, I would like to know what some of the cons are as well. So far the only ones I have found are the roads and traffic.

Any information will help a lot. It is good to know that people love living there. Thanks!

[fromdust]

check this out for schools, Edmond Schools - Edmond Oklahoma School Ratings - Public and Private
what do you mean by family friendly neighborhoods? what parks they have or what?
insurance, im not sure.
edmond does have a dog park. okc has one of the best in the nation, which is at lake hefner.
http://www.pawok.com/Top_10-PAWOK.pdf
i know there is a talbots, ann taylor, stein mart, a place called mcalls that has lacoste, hickey freeman, tommy bahama and bills khakis. aeropostale and abercrombie are also some stores out there. then just a few miles away in okc is quail springs mall.
i really liked living there, for the short time that i did, and if i could move back to edmond i would. its true that the roads suck.... bad. the whole states roads suck. i dont know where you are from. you say you live in a big city, so traffic shouldnt be a problem. i say in edmond it gets bad. the infrastucture in that city has not kept up with the growth. everyone is always complaining about the beer since its only like 3.2, but to me its easily solved by going to the liquor store. a lotttt of people think its a con cuz its a conservative place, but whatever. anyway, hope this helps a little.

[okcpulse]

Originally Posted by fromdust

...its true that the roads suck.... bad. the whole states roads suck. i dont know where you are from. you say you live in a big city, so traffic shouldnt be a problem. i say in edmond it gets bad. the infrastucture in that city has not kept up with the growth.

That is changing quickly. A lot of freeway resurfacing is being done and just about every road just west of Edmond going into OKC is being widened, hence a smoother surface. Beware of the road construction. Also, OKC is investing another $800 million for better roads, so there will be a lot of improvements.

I would have to say one con in living in Oklahoma is that liquor stores cannot sell refrigerated beverages. Supermarkets cannot sell wine. However, we may see those laws coming off the books in the near future. The wine industry in Oklahoma is getting more representation in the legislature, so the chances of them getting their products into supermarkets are improving.

Another con of Oklahoma City living is this... the supermarkets aren't very nice. Your best bet for decent supermarkets are SuperTarget and Crest. Homeland, Buy For Less and the fact that Wal-Mart cornered the OKC market with Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets doesn't jive well with me. My hope? Homeland gets taken off life support and Kroger takes over. Whole Foods is blatantly ignoring the OKC metro area for some reason. I have done much research and see no reason for them not to put a store in OKC. Some have said Whole Foods is not in OKC because they cannot sell wine, but they would be incorrect as there is a Whole Foods Market in Tulsa, and Whole Foods has locations in other states where supermarkets cannot sell wine, namely Kansas and Utah. If Whole Foods can run a store in Little Rock, Arkansas and not OKC, then something is not right.

Other than that, I miss OKC, and look forward to every return visit.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by okcpulse

That is changing quickly. A lot of freeway resurfacing is being done and just about every road just west of Edmond going into OKC is being widened, hence a smoother surface. Beware of the road construction. Also, OKC is investing another $800 million for better roads, so there will be a lot of improvements.

I would have to say one con in living in Oklahoma is that liquor stores cannot sell refrigerated beverages. Supermarkets cannot sell wine. However, we may see those laws coming off the books in the near future. The wine industry in Oklahoma is getting more representation in the legislature, so the chances of them getting their products into supermarkets are improving.

Another con of Oklahoma City living is this... the supermarkets aren't very nice. Your best bet for decent supermarkets are SuperTarget and Crest. Homeland, Buy For Less and the fact that Wal-Mart cornered the OKC market with Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets doesn't jive well with me. My hope? Homeland gets taken off life support and Kroger takes over. Whole Foods is blatantly ignoring the OKC metro area for some reason. I have done much research and see no reason for them not to put a store in OKC. Some have said Whole Foods is not in OKC because they cannot sell wine, but they would be incorrect as there is a Whole Foods Market in Tulsa, and Whole Foods has locations in other states where supermarkets cannot sell wine, namely Kansas and Utah. If Whole Foods can run a store in Little Rock, Arkansas and not OKC, then something is not right.

Other than that, I miss OKC, and look forward to every return visit.

I LOVE the local Signature Kroger here. As for Whole Foods, there is one South of us in Arlington (TX). I went there one time and was flabbergasted at the prices. I could never afford to shop there on a regular basis. I think shopping the local farmer's markets is another option to get high quality produce; too bad they don't sell beef and pork.

[buzzdecker]

Thanks for all the info. The liquor laws won't be a problem for us because we don't drink and we would be moving from Utah which takes the cake for weird liqour laws. Also what are some of the best local restaurants there?

[rubyspirit]

Check with Nationwide or Farmer's for good home owners insurance rates.

I work at Homeland corporate office. We work hard to please our customers. There is a double coupon program unmatched by any other store chain. If you shop with the ad, the prices are the best in the city. There are two Atkins Natural Food stores. They have organic produce and hard to find organic items. I buy my vitamins from the Nutritional Center at 10th and Classen. There's also a Health Food Store on South I-240. The market really can't support another natural food store, otherwise someone would have to close their doors.

Penn Square Mall on NW Expressway and Sooner Fashion Mall in Norman are THE BEST. Trust

[fromdust]

i have no faith in odot and their contractors actually doing a street right. it almost always is just as bad as the old road. i can name several streets that are on the okc-edmond border that are terrible. take for instance 164th between may and western. i liked it better when it was old and torn up, then its "resurfaced" new self.
cous cous for mediterranian, some people like zorbas too.
casa perico has awesome mexican.
cafe nova is a great restaurant.
for pizza. 3 places the best. falcones, the wedge, and hideaway.
for asian you can go to classen, aka asian district, and throw a stone and hit a good place for food.
cafe 7 is a really good deli.
for steaks. mickey mantel and bar none the best place for steak is red prime. just bring a lot of money.

[okcpulse]

Originally Posted by rubyspirit

Check with Nationwide or Farmer's for good home owners insurance rates.

I work at Homeland corporate office. We work hard to please our customers. There is a double coupon program unmatched by any other store chain. If you shop with the ad, the prices are the best in the city. There are two Atkins Natural Food stores. They have organic produce and hard to find organic items. I buy my vitamins from the Nutritional Center at 10th and Classen. There's also a Health Food Store on South I-240. The market really can't support another natural food store, otherwise someone would have to close their doors.

Penn Square Mall on NW Expressway and Sooner Fashion Mall in Norman are THE BEST. Trust

I disagree. The market is underserved. How many Oklahoma Citians visit Tulsa's Whole Foods Market? Too many to count.

But I am glad someone is posting on here from the Homeland corporate office. Because I feel you guys are not listening to the community on a number of issues with your stores. They are flat out ugly, dirty and the selections are horrible. Double coupon day does not make everything better. Try Krogers with their nice, clean, modern stores and nice layouts and displays... not to mention good food selections. I worked at Price Chopper when Homeland came in and bought them out in 2000. Your company ran that store into the ground, ran off good clientele and treated good employees like kindergarteners, not to mention they slashed everyone's pay and replaced the promotion scale with the Food Worker's Union payscale, which was all but discouraging. Moreover, all of the good quality products in the deli section was replaced with crap. Nothing but bulk Reser's pre-packaged muck.

What was a nice clean market, Homeland left it dirty and dumpy. Why? If Homeland works hard to please their customers, it's not enough. I challenge you to work harder. For the prices your company charges you guys can afford to be an upscale chain, but choose to leave OKC with dumpy, 1980's looking stores. Be a better corporate citizen and give Oklahoma City the classy supermarkets they deserve.

And don't tell me OKC can't support another natural foods market because we both know that is not true. Akins is okay, the rest don't meet the quality. And if Whole Foods must end up shutting someone down for not being an aggressive competitor, so be it. That's the nature of the beast.

[okcpulse]

Originally Posted by fromdust

i have no faith in odot and their contractors actually doing a street right. it almost always is just as bad as the old road. i can name several streets that are on the okc-edmond border that are terrible. take for instance 164th between may and western. i liked it better when it was old and torn up, then its "resurfaced" new self.
cous cous for mediterranian, some people like zorbas too.
casa perico has awesome mexican.
cafe nova is a great restaurant.
for pizza. 3 places the best. falcones, the wedge, and hideaway.
for asian you can go to classen, aka asian district, and throw a stone and hit a good place for food.
cafe 7 is a really good deli.
for steaks. mickey mantel and bar none the best place for steak is red prime. just bring a lot of money.

NW 164th hasn't even been widened yet. Just patched. Try NW150th east of May Avenue into Edmond. Nice, wide, smooth 4-lane roads. NW 164th is next.

[Synopsis]

If Tulsa can support a Whole Foods Market, I'm sure that OkC, being larger, can support the franchise as well.

BTW, are there many Signature Krogers in OkC? I'm telling you, the one in our neighborhood is excellent and carries both organic and non-organic foods at VERY reasonable prices. They have excellent produce, selection, are clean and well-managed. The employees obviously are treated well because they are very friendly.