West Plains (Mountain View, Houston: theater, live in, shop)

[caboolbound2]

well, we had to stock up on canned goods. aldi is so much cheaper than some of the other stores. i know...... real exciting. LOL it was a nice trip though

kim

[2beamissourian]

Originally Posted by caboolbound2

well, we had to stock up on canned goods. aldi is so much cheaper than some of the other stores. i know...... real exciting. LOL it was a nice trip though

kim

years ago I think that was Aldis "ad" the stock up store! LOL

I buy most all my can goods there .. daycare would be too expensive if I did not!
They have a few other things that we get .. my daughter lives off ramen noodles .. I swear shes gonna wake up one day and be sprouting them things!

[lil kat]

I still own a home in West Plains even though I've been gone six years as I plan to retire in this lovely town. I lived there for eleven years and can't believe the growth when I return to check on my house. Currently a Walgreens and Colton's Steakhouse are being built out by Wal-Mart and Goody's. It's not an expensive town by any means and the downtown square area is being revitalized with new and quaint businesses. A good friend of mine opened a photography studio on the square with a gift store underneath. Lots of antique stores along with well known chains. Excellent schools and even a college, Missouri State University - West Plains, which offers bachelors degrees now. Wonderful place and can't wait to live there again.

[herewe2go2mo]

Originally Posted by CaboolBound

2b....my daughters and I just went to West PLains on Saturday. It is about 30 miles from us and I was impressed. It takes us about an hour and a half to get to Springfield and it only took us about a half an hour or so to get to West Plains. We were looking for an Aldi's and were very happy to find one in WP. We did find a Wal Mart, Big Lot, Fashion Bug, JC Penny and many other stores and resturants. I am so happy that we don't have to drive so far away for some of the stores that we shop at. From what we saw it is really nice. We didn't go through the whole city, this was just on one main street. This would be a must see if I were you. Good Luck.
Kim

Thanks a million! Have been busy and have not checked into the Forum. West Plains sounds like a place we'd prefer to visit also for regular shopping, entertainment, etc. Kansas City for big shopping I suppose. I raised my sons in K.C., and have family there still. But West Plains is the area I have been doing some real estate search. Again, thanks for the eye witness account!
Wendy

[herewe2go2mo]

Originally Posted by lil kat

I still own a home in West Plains even though I've been gone six years as I plan to retire in this lovely town. I lived there for eleven years and can't believe the growth when I return to check on my house. Currently a Walgreens and Colton's Steakhouse are being built out by Wal-Mart and Goody's. It's not an expensive town by any means and the downtown square area is being revitalized with new and quaint businesses. A good friend of mine opened a photography studio on the square with a gift store underneath. Lots of antique stores along with well known chains. Excellent schools and even a college, Missouri State University - West Plains, which offers bachelors degrees now. Wonderful place and can't wait to live there again.

What is "Goody's"? It does sound great. We are retiring in 2008 March or April, and want a place to settle down, but not isolate. Variety is good for us, and shopping is fun and we get some exercise (as long as we don't exercise our CREDIT too much...!) Thanks for the info!

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by herewe2go2mo

What is "Goody's"? It does sound great. We are retiring in 2008 March or April, and want a place to settle down, but not isolate. Variety is good for us, and shopping is fun and we get some exercise (as long as we don't exercise our CREDIT too much...!) Thanks for the info!

Goody's is a clothing department store: Goody's Family Clothing | Common Questions (http://www.goodysonline.com/about/ - broken link)

Can find one in 21 states throughout the SE, SW, and MW areas via:
Goody's Family Clothing | Find a store near you (http://www.goodysonline.com/find_a_store/ - broken link)

I think there are a dozen or so w/in MO... nice little stores.

[jdhd2004]

I lived in a small town called Dora (27 miles west ) , VERY NICE river to float and great people . I live in Arkansas now and really miss the area . I do think you will really love the area I know we do .

[2beamissourian]

thanks for the info ...

hows Arkansas ??

I recall seeing Dora on a map. Does the river flood?

[kfrazier]

I am a college student living in West Plains right now (about to transfer to Columbia) and feel like West Plains has kind of gotten a bad rap on here. Let me outline everything I can think of about the town.

It is still pretty small, about 11,000 people, maybe a little more.

The closest city for shopping is Springfield which has a large mall as well as all the expected businesses in a larger city (200,000 or so). Springfield has a great downtown full of music and bars.

West Plains has 2 movie theaters the Glass Sword Cinema 6 and the Family Theater which has 2 theaters. The Family Theater won't show R rated films and is much cheaper than the main theater, Glass Sword.

West Plains has 1 bowling alley called Lightning Bowl that is just outside the main part of town.

West Plains has a large central city park called Butlers Children Park and several smaller parks dispersed throughout the neighborhoods. I live in the Wayhaven Subdivision (actually my grandfather built it) and it is still a nice neighborhood with an ok little park.

There is a city pool with seperate large pools for adults and children with a large water slide for children.

There is an branch campus of Missouri State University where I am finishing up my AA degree right now. The college is currently buying up most of the downtown to expand. There are multiple buildings in planning right now to compliment the 6 main buildings already in place.

There is one main "in town" elemtary school, West Plains Elementary, which takes all of the kids living in the city limits. There are several Rural Schools that serve kids out of the city limits from k-8th grade. They are Glenwood, Richards, Fairview, South Fork, Howell Valley, and Junction Hill. Kids in town go from WPE to West Plains Middle School. Then all the kids from in town and the rural schools combine to go to the high school, West Plains High School. The team mascot is the Zizzer which has no real or official meaning. We use a lightning bolt as a mascot. Zizzer was in a Dr. Seuss book. I am a Zizzer Alumni myself.

The town is easily 95% or more White non-hispanic. I don't know if you want more diversity than that.

The main sit down restaurants in town are, El Charros, Primas, Chens Garden, Diamond Head, Ryans, Shoneys, Windy Citys Finest, Rubys, Red Apple, Cup O Joe, TJ's, Coltons, Viva Tequila, The Firehouse, Cafe 37, Grapevine, as well as a ton of the regular fast food places.

Most of the neighborhoods are fine and there is relatively little crime in the city. There have been a few gang related grafitti sightings lately but it is mainly kids thinking they are punks I think. Nothing to worry about. If you can avoid Jackson St and the streets around Carmicheal School as far as finding a place to live. Neighborhoods go from top to bottom like this, Country Club, Wayhaven, Park Area, Morrison, Meadow Vista, Kelly, Downtown, Area around High School. I'm not including the very nice neighborhoods just outside the city.

The city is very spread out so don't expect to walk everywhere. There are a few walking parks though if you want to walk as well as a bike path.

Downtown is attempting to bring itself back with several upscale or specialty stores going in downtown as well as the highest priced restaurant. There is the Avenue Theater downtown where local stage productions go on. It's very neat and the downtown is historic. There is a large mural downtown showing the history of the city including the infamous Dance Hall Explosion. The large mass gravestone from that tradgedy is said to be haunted because it shifts a little.

The main road through the city is Porter Wagoner BLVD.

Most of the growth is happening around Wal-Mart a little seperated from the rest of the city. All the new business and dining is going in down there. Walgreens, Coltons, Hibbits Sports, Gamestop, Goodys, SleepMart, and more have gone in recently there. Don't expect a lot of shopping as we have very few department stores. You really have to go to Springfield to shop hardcore.

There are 2 golf courses, the Country Club and the Municipal.

There is a Civic Center where small concerts, rodeos, circus, college games all go on.

There is a fairground with 2 carnivals in the summer, stockyards, rodeos, demolition derbys, etc.

Nearby attractions are Norfork Lake, many rivers, many mills, trails, caving, biking, hunting, fishing, camping, etc.

The sinkhole problem is basically non existant, especially in the city. People seem to think because we are karst that it is everywhere but it is not. I have only heard of a few sinkholes my entire life (20 years) that affected a house at all. Don't expect to see them everywhere.

Anything else just let me know.

[kfrazier]

I forgot to do grocery stores.

There are Country Mart, Aldi's, Discount Groceries, Ramey's and Wal Mart.

Pharmacies are Bradford, Burton Creek, Wal Mart, and Medicine Chest.

1 Hospital, Ozarks Medical Center, growing but having lots of budget problems. I dunno about that place.

Burton Creek is next largest medical complex. After that might be Howell Valley Medical Complex.