Empolyment and Environment in Corpus Christi (Dallas, San Antonio: job market, living, restaurants)

[DanielMM]

Are employment opportunities (especially in retail) good in Corpus Christi?
Also, are the people friendly, what sort of environment does Corpus Christi have?

[love roses]

People are friendly and the environment is pretty laid back. It's a coastal city and people do lots of activities relavent to that.

[jbtx]

are the people friendly

Compared to what?

People are as friendly as you present yourself to them. Be that CC or San Antonio, or Dallas. or wherever. Corpus Christians are a friendly lot, (unless you cut them off in traffic on SPID, then they tend to get ugly), but meet them in a pub on a Friday/Saturday night at the Surf Club and you'll make friends right away.

Nice folks generally.

[jbtx]

Edit above,,,

The Executive Surf Club on Water St was what I was referring to,,, a hole-in-the-wall exterior, really crappy food, ****-poor service, etc., but some of the nicest folks in town meet there most evenings.

[LTG1]

Originally Posted by DanielMM

Are employment opportunities (especially in retail) good in Corpus Christi?
Also, are the people friendly, what sort of environment does Corpus Christi have?

No, the job market here sucks...BAD. I have been involved in retail for over 15 years and I can't find a decent paying position anywhere. I have only been offered half of what I made in other places even places where the cost of living was lower than here.

The people here are somewhat friendly but not as friendly as other Texas towns. I find Corpus to have some the most aggressive drivers I've ever encountered (except for NYC) and sadly these habits seem to extend even to how they push their carts thru the local grocery store. (See KRISTV for special report Speed Kills)

The population is primarliy Hispanic and therefor most of the culture is Hispanic. Not that that's a bad thing, but if you grew up in rural predominantly white NorthWest Texas; it's a culture shock.

Corpus does have good points: Sunny almost everyday; warm most of the time; the beach; awesome Mexican food. The bad points: It's a heavily littered town; lots of crime, gangs and taggers; really bad roads; the infrastructure didn't keep up with the population; city leaders are a joke.

[goosenola]

I lived in Corpus for about four years recently and I was very happy to leave. There are definitely worst places to live, I'm not saying its horrible, just not great. Housing is cheap, winters are very mild, and the mexican food is good. Other than that, I found it to be pretty disappointing. The people are not very nice if they don't know you, but once you live there awhile you will meet some really good folks. I continue to stay in touch with a handful of people I met there and consider them good friends. Culturally this city does not have much at all. I have lived in cities half the size of Corpus that have had twice the things to do. The fishing is fantastic, but the beach is not good for much else. It is always full of trash and seaweed. Plus people drive up and down it like its a highway. We brought our toddler out to the beach once and we had to leave after a few minutes, because cars were passing withing 10 ft of him at 20 mph. Unless you eat mexican food, don't expect to find many good restaurants. It blows my mind that there isn't good seafood in Corpus, it being right on the coast. You have to travel out of town to Port A or Aransas Pass for good local seafood. All Corpus has are chain restaurants. As far as making money in retail, you can have success if you're marketing an inexpensive product. I find the city to be very poor overall, so they don't splurge too much on expensive items. You better offer lay-away as well. Good luck

[SoldierBoyBliss]

So Corpus sounds a lot like El Paso, only there you have the coast and are a bit better connected to other Texas cities.

[Heimdall]

I agree with goosenola on pretty much everything except:

Plus people drive up and down it like its a highway.

I do not consider that a bad thing. Because you can always find a remote spot, park your car next to the ocean, and leave quickly when you're ready. It beats the hell out of Florida where you have to park your car 2 miles away from the ocean, walk to the overcrowded beach carrying an ice-chest in one hand and beach chair in the other just to "enjoy" the company of swarming loudmouth tourists from all over the world. Trash and seaweed is just a small price to pay for privacy, IMO