My city has such a dearth of basic commercial services, it's pathetic.

[iwakura43]

New Brunswick, New Jersey. Home to the major state university as well as two large hospitals and the global headquarters of Johnson and Johnson. How does a city of 55,000 like this get away with not having basic commercial services like dry cleaning, shoe repair, or a non-ghettoized grocery store? One could perfectly well live and work or go to school here, or easily commute by train to New York, yet need to drive miles out of town just to buy food or get clothes cleaned. Or, with the aforementioned "second places" right here, you could try to get away without a car, but yet not be able to take care of basic chores.

Since this is IMHO, is your city lacking something obvious and necessary?

[WhyNot]

Since this is IMHO, is your city lacking something obvious and necessary?
Mmmm....room to safely teach a teenager how to drive a car? Peace and quiet? Fried pork chop sandwiches? (It's an Indiana specialty I crave sometimes.)

That's all I got. I live in Chicago. We have pretty much everything here. Although it is a 15 minute car ride to the nearest Taco Bell...

[BlueKangaroo]

I have not seen a single Taco Bell the entire six months I've been here. And only one Wendy's.

This is, probably, best for me on the whole, but it's weird.

[Beware of Doug]

My hometown of Ames, IA, pop. ±50,000, has exactly one shoe repair, a shop the size of a large walk-in closet that's open about half the time. It's a notoriously casual community, anyway; most live and die in molded sole shoes.

I don't really live in a city now, more of a suburban sprawl, but there is nothing resembling a fabric or notions store for about 30 minutes in any direction. (Distance hereabouts is measured in units of time, a prized commodity - which explains the lack of interest in home sewing.)

[CalMeacham]

New Brunswick is the only city I've seen that was essentially bulldozed and rebuilt, back in the 1970s.


I grew up near there. My uncle used to run a gas station at the foot of George Street. The city used to look completely different, with a very active main street filled with all sorts of stores.

Three things happened in the 1970s. They rerouted Route 18, got rid of a lot of Urban Blight, and Jand J decided to build a brand new World Headquarters building. In the process, they tore down several big brick factories near the river, moved Route 18 over by quite a bit, and J&J bought up a huge chunk of downtown and flattened it. For a long time the only thing not J&J that remained was a Gino's fast food restaurant, selling burgers and KFC. Appliance Stores, two or three movie theaters, and lots of small commercial services bit the dust. An old tavern, whose core was pre-Revolutionary, got bodily lifted and carted off to East Jersey Old Town.

Even things that weren't in the area owned by J&J died. Carroll's hamburgers, J.J Newbury's , lots of small shops.


The new gentrified main drag has restaurants and hotels and things, but no shoe repair places. Lots of residents, I think, went out to the suburbs. If you get in a car and drive, you can find plenty of the things you're talking about south on Rt. 18, or across the Raritan in Highland Park.

[elmwood]

As a planner, here's what I've often come across:

1) A community is too small to support many basic commercial services, but wants them anyhow.

2) Real estate prices and commercial lease rates are too high. Small entrepreneurs -- the type that usually own businesses like shoe repair stores, dry cleaners, and the like -- can't afford to set up shop.

3) Real estate prices and commercial lease rates are too low. This makes very low-end businesses with low profit margins economically viable, so commercial districts begin to fill up with used car lots, auto repair shops, bulk mulch sales, "redneck hobby" businesses like combination trampoline and truck cap dealers, and so on, to the exclusion of commercial uses that serve the day-to-day needs of area residents.

[AuntiePam]

I don't really live in a city now, more of a suburban sprawl, but there is nothing resembling a fabric or notions store for about 30 minutes in any direction. (Distance hereabouts is measured in units of time, a prized commodity - which explains the lack of interest in home sewing.)

Ahem. (http://www.iaquilts.com/)

By "home sewing", I hope you're not including quilting, because there are scads of quilters in central Iowa. There are quilt shops in Goldfield, Webster City, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Lake City, Algona, Pocahontas, Humboldt, and Fort Dodge -- just to list the ones I've been to.

My little town has nothing, which is to be expected, but I'm amazed that a city of 55,000 doesn't have a dry cleaner.

[Beware of Doug]

Ahem. (http://www.iaquilts.com/)

By "home sewing", I hope you're not including quilting, because there are scads of quilters in central Iowa. There are quilt shops in Goldfield, Webster City, Iowa Falls, Jewell, Lake City, Algona, Pocahontas, Humboldt, and Fort Dodge -- just to list the ones I've been to.Forgive me, I segued a little too quickly from Ames to Westchester, NY, where I live now. Ames has fabric stores, Hobby Lobby, all kinda stuff like that.

[WhyNot]

Forgive me, I segued a little too quickly from Ames to Westchester, NY, where I live now. Ames has fabric stores, Hobby Lobby, all kinda stuff like that.
Oh, whew! I might be moving to Ames in the fall. (Not sure yet, hubby's applying for a job at ISU.) I don't think I could survive without a fabric store! :D

[meow meow]

a non-ghettoized grocery store?
No love for C-Town, huh?

Easton Ave. a little further down towards Somerset has most of the things you mentioned. I know there used to be a taylor and a cobbler on George Street, but that was ages ago.

Princeton has everything walkable but at 2x the price. Maybe more. I rarely use the services here.

[AuntiePam]

Forgive me, I segued a little too quickly from Ames to Westchester, NY, where I live now. Ames has fabric stores, Hobby Lobby, all kinda stuff like that.

I haven't been paying attention! :) I thought "sesquicoastal" in your location meant the Midwest.

WhyNot, Ames is pretty cool. It's big enough to have lots of variety but small enough so that it's easy to get around.

[olivesmarch4th]

I am moving to New Brunswick in two months! I will be there several years. How wonderful to hear from a native!

I was meaning to ask, do they even have, like, a Hillers, or Whole Foods, or some kind of farmer's market equivalent? If I have to go to WalMart or some kind of big-brand supermarket I'm going to have to slit my wrists. :mad:

[gigi]

No love for C-Town, huh?
Oh, C-Town! ::mind wanders back to the good old days in the Bronx::

Is there Bravo out there too?

[Green Bean]

I am moving to New Brunswick in two months! I will be there several years. How wonderful to hear from a native!

I was meaning to ask, do they even have, like, a Hillers, or Whole Foods, or some kind of farmer's market equivalent? If I have to go to WalMart or some kind of big-brand supermarket I'm going to have to slit my wrists. :mad:
Nice knowing ya, olive!

Whole Foods? Ha! There isn't even a big-brand supermarket in New Brumfus. (Unless you count C-Town as a "big brand." :p )

Seriously, I'm laughing my ass off here. You're in for some BIG culture shock. New Brunswick is a great town in a lot of ways, but iwakura is not exaggerating. Yeah, I'm sure there is a dry cleaner or two within the city limits, but just barely.

[astro]

As a planner, here's what I've often come across:

1) A community is too small to support many basic commercial services, but wants them anyhow.

2) Real estate prices and commercial lease rates are too high. Small entrepreneurs -- the type that usually own businesses like shoe repair stores, dry cleaners, and the like -- can't afford to set up shop.

3) Real estate prices and commercial lease rates are too low. This makes very low-end businesses with low profit margins economically viable, so commercial districts begin to fill up with used car lots, auto repair shops, bulk mulch sales, "redneck hobby" businesses like combination trampoline and truck cap dealers, and so on, to the exclusion of commercial uses that serve the day-to-day needs of area residents.

Say "bulk mulch" 5 times in a row quickly. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya.

[MLS]

Try a Yahoo or Google local search. There are 9 dry cleaners in New Brunswick. Also two shoe repair shops, and another across the bridge in Highland Park. There is the New Brunswick Farmers' Market on French Street. Besides the aforementioned C-Town, there's a Foodtown at 20 Elizabeth St.

[Beware of Doug]

I haven't been paying attention! :) I thought "sesquicoastal" in your location meant the Midwest.It's back a notch from bicoastal, which means dividing your time between NY and CA. I go back and forth between NY and IA.

b]WhyNot[/b], Ames is pretty cool. It's big enough to have lots of variety but small enough so that it's easy to get around.I characterize it this way: a nice place to live, but you wouldn't wanna visit. :D

[iwakura43]

Try a Yahoo or Google local search. There are 9 dry cleaners in New Brunswick. Also two shoe repair shops, and another across the bridge in Highland Park. There is the New Brunswick Farmers' Market on French Street. Besides the aforementioned C-Town, there's a Foodtown at 20 Elizabeth St.

My post was actually brought on by my failure in finding a shoe repair shop in walking distance from Rutgers. Can you link to the two that you found, please? Note that the one called "Nathans" does not exist--I called.

[MLS]

Brunswick Shoemaker
(732) 828-1126
363 George St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Cross Streets: Between Paterson St and Bayard St

[Yorikke]

I have not seen a single Taco Bell the entire six months I've been here. And only one Wendy's.

This is, probably, best for me on the whole, but it's weird.

Do you live in San Francisco? Because, as much as I love and appreciate the good, authentic Mexican cuisine here, sometimes I want fucking Taco Bell, And it isn't here, or at least, not that I've found (haven't looked THAT hard)

Joe

[Omniscient]

That's all I got. I live in Chicago. We have pretty much everything here. Although it is a 15 minute car ride to the nearest Taco Bell...

There is a very strange dearth of Taco Bell's in Chicago. We're a city that doesn't seem to reject crappy fast food, but Taco Bell is really under represented (thankfully one of the few is about a mile form my place). Even worse is the total lack of Papa John's here. Not a single one, and they advertise on TV all the damn time! I know we're the home of great pizza, but every once in a while I want some crappy pizza with garlic sauce. Can I trade in a couple Subway's, Quiznos and Potbelly's for a Bell and PJs please?

[CalMeacham]

There's a Taco Bell at 1120 Somerset Street:


Taco Bell
(732) 435-1300 See reviews on Local 1120 Somerset St
New Brunswick, NJ Map


and one on Ryders Lane in Milltown (you could get bthere if you had a bike -- I know, I used to ride from South River to New Brunswick all the time):

Taco Bell
(732) 418-1212 See reviews on Local 200 Ryders Ln
Milltown, NJ Map

There's a Wendy's near Buccleuch Park:

Wendy's
Address: 126 College Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: (732) 545-5545


and a shoe repair shop right on George St:

Brunswick Shoemaker
Address: 363 George St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: (732) 828-1126

[Wheeljack]

Shoe repair?

What the hell is shoe repair? Don't shoes cost like 20, 30 bucks tops?

[BlueKangaroo]

Do you live in San Francisco? Because, as much as I love and appreciate the good, authentic Mexican cuisine here, sometimes I want fucking Taco Bell, And it isn't here, or at least, not that I've found (haven't looked THAT hard)

Joe

No, I live in the aforementioned Chicago.

Though I originally hail from New Mexico, where there are plenty of Taco Bells, so I know what you mean by, "Want good, authentic Mexican food tonight" vs "Want Taco Bell style universal food product tonight".

[Green Bean]

Shoe repair?

What the hell is shoe repair? Don't shoes cost like 20, 30 bucks tops?
Depends. I have shoes that cost that much, and shoes that cost quite a bit more. I certainly wouldn't bring my Converse All-Stars in to be repaired, but I have shoes like my good leather flats and my cowboy boots repaired when they need it. It's not just about the cost of getting a new pair.

Anyway, I'm sure the OP was exaggerating a little for effect. I doubt he really believed that there were no dry cleaners at all in New Brunswick. But his point still stands, and it's a pretty interesting phenomenon.

Thanks so much to CalMeacham for the history lesson. I lived in Highland Park from 1994-1996 and attended Rutgers until 1998, so I know the city pretty well. I always considered New Brunswick a pretty bad place to live--not because it was dangerous or unpleasant--just the opposite! I spent a ton of time there, and I loved it. But I wouldn't have wanted to live there for a lot of the reasons the OP mentions. Living in Highland Park, I was right withing walking distance of New Brunswick, but I was also right within walking distance of all the things I needed on a day-to-day basis.

[norinew]

Well, we don't have a Target (or anything that could be considered a more-or-less direct competitor to Wally World). We don't have a Whole Food's, Trader Joe's or Aldi. Oh, we don't have a warehouse store, either. Hubby and I belong to Costco, but we have to drive a good hour to get to one.

We have to drive to the next town west of here to get to Wal-Mart, in fact, but I still think of the Wal-Mart as "ours" because it's less than a ten-minute drive.

Oh, and we only have one supermarket (well, two, if you count the one in the next town, but it's the same chain). We have some of those "ghetto markets" the OP talks about (More For Less and Save A Lot), but full-service supermarkets, it's Martin's or nothing. Fortunately for me, I like Martin's. I do wish we had a TJ's, though.

[iwakura43]

Re: New Brunswick shoemaker, that place on George St. is in the yellow pages but is closed. Gotta find someone to fix these shoes before my new job starts next week. The insoles have little tags permanently(?) attached to them, which rub on my feet. Can't fathom why they're there.

[WhyNot]

I have not seen a single Taco Bell the entire six months I've been here. And only one Wendy's.
There is a very strange dearth of Taco Bell's in Chicago.
Oh, good, I thought I was just going crazy. "Surely there have to be local Taco Bells!" I thought, "Little 20 house "towns" in Indiana have Taco Bells, how can there not be Taco Bells in Chicago?"

Luckily, I'm close enough to Skokie (oh dear, I see an unintentional word play coming ahead - do you see it coming?) that I can run for the border (sorry!) when the craving for a chalupa hits.(what the hell IS a chalupa, anyway? Tasty, that's all I know.)

Likewise, we utilize Evanston's Papa John's when the desire for garlic butter gets too great to resist. They won't deliver here, but we're so hooked, we'll go pick it up. I tried once to get them to deliver to the intersection of Howard and Ridge (which on one corner is Evanston and the other Chicago) so I could walk there and meet them, but they wouldn't do it! :D

[CalMeacham]

Here's what Yahoo Yellow Pages generates when you type in "Shoe Repair:

Brunswick Shoemaker
(732) 828-1126 See reviews on Local 363 George St
New Brunswick, NJ Map 0.7

North Brunswick Cobbler Shop
(732) 545-1141 See reviews on Local 918 Livingston Ave
North Brunswick, NJ Map 1.4

G & S Custom Molded Shoes
(732) 339-1926 See reviews on Local 50 Woodbridge Ave
Highland Park, NJ Map 1.9

Fama's Shoes
(732) 828-1153 See reviews on Local 97 S Main St
Milltown, NJ Map 2.7

Country Cobbler
(732) 297-0991 See reviews on Local 3035 State Route 27
Franklin Park, NJ Map 5.5

Park's Dry Cleaners & Shoe
(732) 549-5082 See reviews on Local 287 Main St
Metuchen, NJ Map 6.0

Vaticano Shoe Repair
(732) 635-2002 See reviews on Local 7 1/2 Pennsylvania Ave
Metuchen, NJ Map 6.1

Access Multiservice Express
(908) 756-2222 See reviews on Local 2317 Plainfield Ave
South Plainfield, NJ Map 7.2

Ace Instant Shoe Repair
(732) 906-0079 See reviews on Local 9 Lincoln Hwy
Edison, NJ Map 7.3

R & R Shoe Repair
(732) 679-2654 See reviews on Local 2641 County Road 516
Old Bridge, NJ Map 8.9

Ace Shoe Repair
(732) 727-6363 See reviews on Local 121 N Broadway
South Amboy, NJ Map 9.0

Cherensky's Correct Shoe
(732) 826-5124 See reviews on Local
Perth Amboy, NJ Map 9.5

Collantes Shoe Repair
(732) 442-9469 See reviews on Local 196 New Brunswick Ave
Perth Amboy, NJ Map 9.7

Distefano's Quality Foot Wear
(908) 359-7463 See reviews on Local 381 Triangle Rd
Hillsborough, NJ Map 9.8

P N Vaticano & Son Inc
(732) 750-8833 See reviews on Local 118 Main St
Woodbridge, NJ Map 10.1

Palace Shoe Repair
(908) 541-1244 See reviews on Local 56 W Somerset St
Raritan, NJ Map 11.2

Rocco Express Shoe Repairing
(732) 499-0404 See reviews on Local 148 State Highway 27
Rahway, NJ Map 11.3

Park Ave Shoe Repair Shop
(908) 322-3954 See reviews on Local 509 Park Ave
Scotch Plains, NJ Map 11.7

Luigi's Shoe Apparel & Repair
(609) 924-0771 See reviews on Local 1325 US Highway 206
Skillman, NJ Map 11.8




So it looks as if there might be places in North Brunswick or Highland Park close by.

[Little Nemo]

The city I live in, with a population of 16,000 people, has exactly two fast food franchises - a Dunkin' Donuts and a Subway. We do not have a McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Arbys, A&W, Jack in the Box, Dominos, White Castle, Dairy Queen, Sonic, Papa John's, Long John Silver's, Chick-fil-A, or Carl's Jr. I know some people would not consider this more of a blessing than a dearth but I have found it unusual that for some reason nobody wants to start up any franchises here.

[minor7flat5]

I am moving to New Brunswick in two months! I will be there several years. How wonderful to hear from a native!

I was meaning to ask, do they even have, like, a Hillers, or Whole Foods, or some kind of farmer's market equivalent? If I have to go to WalMart or some kind of big-brand supermarket I'm going to have to slit my wrists. :mad:You'll do fine. Though you won't find those things in the center of town, you can drive a bit out of town (10-20min) and find a Whole Foods easily.

In addition, one of the best things about NJ is that you can find *anything* within not so far a drive. For example, when I needed my special felt-fur Indiana Jones fedora, I was able to hop over to Philly to "Hats in the Belfry" and try several on before buying.

Good luck in NJ!

-- minor7flat5, Ann Arbor Pioneer High alumni who moved to Jersey 20 years ago.

[Furious_Marmot]

Here in Oklahoma City we lack a Costco, or for that matter any warehouse store except for some Sam's Clubs that have considerably less selection than in other regions. The supermarket situation is particularly pitiful, though. In the entire metropolitan area, encompassing some 6400 square miles and 1.23 million people, there are approximately a dozen each of the following supermarkets: Albertsons, Buy 4 Less, and Homeland. All that I have been in are run-down and spectacularly out of date (remember those turntable things at the checkout instead of the belt things?), not to mention having bad prices and poor selection. The Albertsons have been bought out by a local company and seem to be going downhill even faster than before. There are also about 5 Crest supermarkets, which are marginally better, but still not up to the standards of any real city, and are more expensive to boot. The rare Super Target and Super Walmart stores are better in every way. The closest Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. are in Dallas.

As for somewhat more than basic services- The only sporting goods stores are Academy, which is a sort of pale imitation of Dick's. There is no camping/hiking store similar to REI. There are two independent music stores and one independent book store. There is no Fry's Electroincs, just the vastly inferior Best Buy and Circuit City. The restaurant situation is so absurdly bad as to require it's own lengthy pitting. None of this would be a problem if there were other cities nearby, but Dallas is a 3 hour drive, close enough for the weekend, but not an after-work trip for groceries. Also, mobile phone reception sucks.

[Magiver]

I've got everything I need in my area. Don't have all of the snootier food chains of larger cities but I'll trade that against the traffic. Would like to have a Cosco though.

[Sattua]

Fried pork chop sandwiches? (It's an Indiana specialty I crave sometimes.)

Try looking for tenderloin sandwiches instead. That's what they're called. But you probably won't find them in Chicago anyway :)

[ivylass]

The closest town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clermont,_Florida) to me only has about 22,000, but it's growing. We have a Target, several pharmacies, UPS stores, a Belk, an Outback, a Wal-Mart, and soon to get an Olive Garden and a Michael's. We also have several car dealerships.

However, no movie theatre yet. I continually to wait patiently. I read somewhere that if your area gets a Starbucks, that's a place that's poised for growth. Starbucks does extensive research before they build their stores, so they know when an area is about to boom. So, if a Starbucks is coming, that's a good sign you should invest in the area as well.

We have two Starbucks. One in Target, and we just got a stand-alone store, by the Office Depot.