What's Chapel Hill Like? (Raleigh, Durham: Home Depot, good schools, university)

[trustfundbaby]

What are the pros and cons of living in Chapel Hill?

If someone were to work in the 27514 zip code area, what would it be like?

[lovebrentwood]

Lots of young white females (most likely attending college, I would think) according to City-Data:

http://www.city-data.com/zips/27514.html

[StoneOne]

In a nutshell:

Pros

Safe
Good schools
Great restaurants and culture
Free buses all around Chapel Hill and Carrboro
Lively university community
Overall highly educated and interesting population
Great for biking (trails and bike lanes), nature nearby
Lots of interesting locally owned businesses

Cons

Traffic is much worse than it should be for a city of its size
Expensive relative to other nice areas in the Triangle
Residents can be overly political (almost groupie-like)
Relative lack of chain restaurants and stores (if this is a problem)


I like in the area and on the whole, I like it quite a lot, although there are certainly times I'd prefer a larger city atmosphere.

[trustfundbaby]

Originally Posted by StoneOne

In a nutshell:

Pros

Safe
Good schools
Great restaurants and culture
Free buses all around Chapel Hill and Carrboro
Lively university community
Overall highly educated and interesting population
Great for biking (trails and bike lanes), nature nearby
Lots of interesting locally owned businesses

Cons

Traffic is much worse than it should be for a city of its size
Expensive relative to other nice areas in the Triangle
Residents can be overly political (almost groupie-like)
Relative lack of chain restaurants and stores (if this is a problem)


I like in the area and on the whole, I like it quite a lot, although there are certainly times I'd prefer a larger city atmosphere.

Thank you for the concise answer. One thing that worries me is the lack of chain restaurants and stores. We can handle the high prices, love the liberal politics, can deal with traffic. Strange to think of rural and liberal in the same sentence...

Is there a side of town that is closer to the malls and general shopping?

[Francois]

Originally Posted by trustfundbaby

Thank you for the concise answer. One thing that worries me is the lack of chain restaurants and stores. We can handle the high prices, love the liberal politics, can deal with traffic. Strange to think of rural and liberal in the same sentence...

Is there a side of town that is closer to the malls and general shopping?

Chapel Hill itself is not rural. There are rural areas around it, but they are falling to the same development that the rest of this area is. Hillsborough to the north is more small-town-ish with the same liberal/intellectual bent that CH has.

The Eastern side of town, toward Durham and Raleigh, is closer to the malls. There is a small mall, University Mall, in CH itself but it's very drab-looking and dated, even while having some of the coolest "boutiquy" stores you'll ever see (Don't miss CAMERON'S, which is one of a kind, or A Southern Season, or the kitchen store there). Southpoint on I-40 is the closest big mall. If you lived in CH, you'd be going to Durham and probably Raleigh a lot to shop, anyway.

[sandycat]

Living in Chapel Hill gives you access to lots of chains, if that's what you need. YOu can get to Target in about 15 minutes. There are chain grocery stores, there's a Trader Joes, a few Whole Foods, and others. There's plenty of chain-y things. You can even get to Wal Mart in about 15 minutes. Sometimes I wish we would have moved to CH instead of Durham, but the commute would have been bad and Durham is pretty fine too. Chapel Hill would be MY first choice of places to live in the Triangle, followed by Durham, then Hillsborough, then Wake County. But others here will totally disagree with me.

[sandycat]

Really? I never go to Raleigh to shop (not that there's anything wrong with Raleigh). I have everything I need in Durham and CH.

[CHTransplant]

There is a small mall (University Mall) and a shopping plaza (Eastgate) in Chapel Hill between East Franklin Street and US15/501.

There's plenty of other shopping nearby:

US 15/501 in Durham offers a lot of big box retailers. There's a Home Depot and Walmart in Hillsborough about 10 miles north of northwest Chapel Hill. Further east on I-40 is Southpoint mall and all the retail areas around it.

[water_dancing]

Originally Posted by sandycat

Really? I never go to Raleigh to shop (not that there's anything wrong with Raleigh). I have everything I need in Durham and CH.

I agree. I have lived in CH for 11 years and have never needed to go to Raleigh or Cary to shop. I have always been able to find whatever I need in CH or Durham.

[trustfundbaby]

Originally Posted by CHTransplant

There is a small mall (University Mall) and a shopping plaza (Eastgate) in Chapel Hill between East Franklin Street and US15/501.

There's plenty of other shopping nearby:

US 15/501 in Durham offers a lot of big box retailers. There's a Home Depot and Walmart in Hillsborough about 10 miles north of northwest Chapel Hill. Further east on I-40 is Southpoint mall and all the retail areas around it.

I think that Chapel Hill will end up being too rural for our tastes. We've been living in Scottsdale, AZ for so long that we've gotten used to things being within a 2-5 minute drive. Driving 15 minutes to go to the grocery store or to get to a Target, etc. just seems too long for us.

How far of a drive in general is Durham or Raleigh? Work would be in 72514 zip code area. I have no clue where that is located. Thanks for all the answers thus far.