Rural area retirement - is it really a young person's game? (benefits, best)
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In many small towns and rural areas, small, community shops would now be dead anyway because of internet commerce, even if Walmart never existed.
Walmart has been blamed as the primary reason for the demise of mom-and-pop storefronts in small towns and rural communities, but I've also wondered how much impact internet commerce has had on those small independent local retailers.
I'm in a large urban area, but I don't frequent Walmart, even though they have stores all over the place here. I think we've seen pretty much the same thing happen to small local shops here as has happened in many of those small towns and rural communities.
One thing I've noticed when shopping a brick-and-mortar Walmart, as well as just about any retail store that has an online presence, is that the physical store only stocks a fraction of what is available on their website, so it almost forces customers to do at least some of their shopping online, even in big-city USA. To me, that would make good internet service a critical concern in a rural area, and unfortunately that may often not be the case. It could be whatever is delivered over copper phone lines, like maybe DSL. The only other alternative may be satellite internet, as there are often no cable TV/broadband services in these areas, and no fiber optics, as the ROI just isn't there in these sparsely-populated areas. Cell service may also be spotty, as well.
In many small towns and rural areas, small, community shops would now be dead anyway because of internet commerce, even if Walmart never existed. Kingsport has one local hardware store that I know of these days - Colonial Heights Hardware. Customer reviews on Facebook are far from favorable.
We have a significant level of business along our interstate exits. A former suburb, Colonial Heights, sits along an exit ramp, but it has since been annexed by Kingsport. There are a few chain restaurants and several local joints there. A Walmart is down the road a couple miles, still in Colonial Heights.
Kingsport strip annexed a stretch of interstate for four miles up to what was a Sam's Club.
Walmart is the lifeline of rural and small town America to the wider world, almost as crucial as the Internet.
That hardware store only has 5 "reviews" on Facebook and more positive (3) than negative (2). LOL Their score is 3.5 because two dopes were mad about a guy. One guy wanted to return a USED FLAPPER LOL. And same on Google reviews - 8 five star.
All that means is that people in your area don't bother to review Walmart. Imagine the carnage.
They're independent but they're member-owners in the Do it Best international retailers coop. Sales 3.2 Billion FY 2017.
Nice to see they're hanging in there. We have ten in Florida and you guys seem to have 5 which is good, per capita.
Yes Walmart is the backbone of MANY places not even necessarily traditional rural America. In Florida, I GUARANTEE you that's the first place every individual RUNS when there's even an inkling of a storm. Including all the Walmart haters LOL. Walmart is an amazing story. Even I can admit it and I'm a staunch Anti-Globalist.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 02-17-2018 at 08:01 AM..
I like semi-rural with access to amenities within a 30 minute drive.
I suspect we will retire and be healthier than living this rat race life.
The problem with semi-rural is that if it's close enough to the outer burbs of a city it will become that city eventually. It's what has happen in our small unknown town where we are now.
We will just build so that we have doorways and halls and bathrooms that will accommodate wheelchairs and walkers so that we can stay there as long as possible.
We will cross the bridge of when to leave for assisted living - when we come to it.
I like semi-rural with access to amenities within a 30 minute drive.
I suspect we will retire and be healthier than living this rat race life.
The problem with semi-rural is that if it's close enough to the outer burbs of a city it will become that city eventually. It's what has happen in our small unknown town where we are now.
We will just build so that we have doorways and halls and bathrooms that will accommodate wheelchairs and walkers so that we can stay there as long as possible.
We will cross the bridge of when to leave for assisted living - when we come to it.
I am amazed at all these only 30 mile drives to XYZ. I hate having to go 8 miles to a bigger grocery store.
I'm fine with our small store since I don't need much.
Y'all really think 30 miles is nothing? Maybe I am getting old? I used to drive more than that to get to work every day
I rather drive 20 miles in mostly empty rural roads to get to grocery than having to drive 5 miles in bumper to bumper city traffic that takes 30 minutes to get there and stress you out with the honking and drivers cutting you off.
At the end there are positives and negatives on both sides one has to weigh the pros and cons and choose the one that for that individual will bring a better quality of life.
In many small towns and rural areas, small, community shops would now be dead anyway because of internet commerce, even if Walmart never existed.<>
Friends had a successful business selling exercise equipment online 15 years ago. The gap they couldn't fill was teaching people to use them.
I've been a camera and radio control enthusiast for years. People bought equipment out of NYC for years and expected support from local businesses for stuff they got from out of town.
It's even worse now.
Walmart has been blamed as the primary reason for the demise of mom-and-pop storefronts in small towns and rural communities, but I've also wondered how much impact internet commerce has had on those small independent local retailers.
Yet another factor, is that said communities are/were dying in the first place. Walmart, and internet-shopping, allow retired-people (or those willing to tolerate long commutes) to continue residing in said town without the further inconvenience of loss of staple-goods shopping. These newfangled options might be deleterious for mom-and-pop commerce, but perhaps they slow down (even if helpless to entirely stave off) the town’s overall decline. What they do unfortunately produce, is a transformation from the old-timey, folksy, hand-built/personal-attention vibe of a Normal Rockwell small-town, towards a faceless and anodyne suburbia… which of course raises the question, as to whether one ought to remain in said town, if the whole essence of living there was to enjoy the folksiness and neighborly rapport. Did I just contradict myself?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mlb
...The problem with semi-rural is that if it's close enough to the outer burbs of a city it will become that city eventually. It's what has happen in our small unknown town where we are now.
...
This is only true in the more affluent metropolitan regions. Exhibit A, is what happened in Northern Virginia over the past 40 years. I arrived there in the early 1980s, and even then, the western reaches of Fairfax County were rural, dotted with farms. Today they're all condos. But in the Midwest, with the exception of Chicago, I'd suspect no such thing. If the anchor-city is dying, not merely through suburban-flight but in the overall metro area, then there's no impetus for builders to buy up the surrounding farms.
Indeed, one of the advantages of retiring in the semi-rural ring around a thriving metro area, is that one's land is going to appreciate, as development moves outwards. So, just as one is approaching the final stretch of life's race, there's excellent opportunity to cash-in on price-appreciation of one's acreage. Try to replicate that in Rustberg or Rustoria or Rustville, and you may find that the acreage that you bought at age 60, has become worth less (in numerical dollar terms, let alone accounting for inflation) than when one's ready to move on, at 85.
I rather drive 20 miles in mostly empty rural roads to get to grocery than having to drive 5 miles in bumper to bumper city traffic that takes 30 minutes to get there and stress you out with the honking and drivers cutting you off.
At the end there are positives and negatives on both sides one has to weigh the pros and cons and choose the one that for that individual will bring a better quality of life.
If you lived in a town or city, you could just have your groceries delivered, after ordering them online.
Grocery delivery services are popping up all over, and some have existed for at least 14 years.
No "having to drive 5 miles in bumper to bumper city traffic that takes 30 minutes to get there and stress you out with the honking and drivers cutting you off."
Last edited by matisse12; 02-17-2018 at 12:49 PM..
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