From Boulder to Oregon - where to aim? (Portland, Eugene: home, organic)

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Oregon also has Market of Choice, which, in my opinion, is much better that Whole Foods.

Totally agree. There are also lots of coops which boulder sorely lacks.

[Oregon Bill]

Warning: December in the Willamette Valley is often gray, cold and wet. You may get very discouraged. Early fall is the time to see these towns in their prime.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by dr.garbanzo

My wife and I have lived in Boulder, CO for 7 years now, but it's getting to be too busy and too expensive. We are considering a move to Oregon, and could use some help coming up with a list of towns/neighborhoods that best fit our needs.

We have previously lived in Estes Park CO, London, and Budapest, and would like something closer in size to Boulder (100-200k). It would be nice to be within a few hours of the coast, but not essential. Willamette Valley would be our first choice, followed by the coast, with anything east of the mountains lower on our list but definitely still an option. We love our sunny Colorado weather, but we can handle gloomy winters and heavy snow just fine.

We love to walk and hike, so local trails and/or safe neighborhood walking are a must.

Local public transportation is important.

We keep to ourselves, and we don't care about nightlife or being close to downtown.

We love to cook and value quality food, ... Thanks to anyone who reads this and can offer some advice!

Advice! (during your 'earning years' ... look 5 min north of OR...(No income tax, similar climate, better state funding of schools / diverse economy, better wages, more opportunities, much more diversity (of people and activities)).

Bellingham sounds about right for you (Vancouver BC is only 1 hr away, coast is 5 min, great skiing and mtns nearby, lots of great local food!, Olympia is a possibility, as is Bremerton / Silverdale.

~30 yrs in CO (in and around Estes Park +~ 30 Yrs in PNW living in WA, working and teaching in OR and WA) 4 international assignments.

Clark County (Vancouver, WA) gets 200 Oregon transplants per month for the last 20 yrs... there are many reasons for that. +/-. few go back +/-

[Oregon Bill]

StealthRabbit makes some good points. If you consider Clark County, beware of being in the zone of the Gorge winds.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Oregon Bill

Warning: December in the Willamette Valley is often gray, cold and wet. You may get very discouraged. Early fall is the time to see these towns in their prime.

But remember, the OP lives in Boulder. By Colorado standards, a Willamette Valley December wouldn't qualify as cold... wet, yes. Cold, no.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by NW4me

But remember, the OP lives in Boulder. By Colorado standards, a Willamette Valley December wouldn't qualify as cold... wet, yes. Cold, no.

London and Budapest as well, so the short dark winter days won't be much of a surprise to the OP. Although the tech company I worked for in Portland had a plant in England and a lot of the English engineers thought Portland was MUCH wetter and colder than London. The rain in that part of England is spread out over the year a bit more evenly and I think the avg rainfall in London in January is right at 2" and it is 5" in Portland.

[NW4me]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Oregon also has Market of Choice, which, in my opinion, is much better that Whole Foods.

I wonder why Market of Choice doesn't have a Salem location?

[Oregon Bill]

NW4me, my brother in Boulder says they'll have snow for a few days every few weeks in winter, but then the sun comes out, it melts, and folks are out jogging. It is not the relentless November-February gloom of the Willamette Valley.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by NW4me

I wonder why Market of Choice doesn't have a Salem location?

Same reason it doesn't have a Whole Foods - retailer perception that there is not a big enough "upmarket" shopping base willing to pay higher prices for (perceived) higher quality.

Added: that is why Ashland (pop 20,000) has a Market of Choice and 10-15 miles away Medford (pop 81,000) doesn't. Retailers know that Ashland, which has a roughly $200,000 "surcharge" on housing over Medford (Medford median house $260,000, Ashland median house price $485,000), will pay the higher prices. And the people in Medford who want to shop will likely drive. Ashland doesn't have a Whole Foods because it isn't a large enough city.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Same reason it doesn't have a Whole Foods - retailer perception that there is not a big enough "upmarket" shopping base willing to pay higher prices for (perceived) higher quality.

Added: that is why Ashland (pop 20,000) has a Market of Choice and 10-15 miles away Medford (pop 81,000) doesn't. Retailers know that Ashland, which has a roughly $200,000 "surcharge" on housing over Medford (Medford median house $260,000, Ashland median house price $485,000), will pay the higher prices. And the people in Medford who want to shop will likely drive. Ashland doesn't have a Whole Foods because it isn't a large enough city.

Yes and No. We have Roth's here which offers a lot of organic food items as well. They have 7-8 locations and so I think it would be hard for a Market of Choice to enter our market when Roth's dominates the higher end food shopping market here.