Small Town Life?

[ZachnElli]

My dh is looking at buying a busines in a small town, very small, less than 2000 people. I've never lived in that small of a town and I'm very nervous! So I'd like to hear from those that live in a small town! How long have you been there, are they pretty accepting to new people, how far do you have to drive to do things (shop, see a movie, catch a flight to WDW, etc.)? This is in our home state, so we aren't far from family, just a 2 hour drive. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[lovemygoofy]

I grew up in a small town, less than 2k people. My high school graduating class had 32 people in it. I think in general small towns are great but you have to be prepared for everyone to know what is going on in your life, whether you want them to or not. I think in general that small town are very nice on the outside but from my personal experience it's hard to get "inside" for the lack of better word. Small towns see people come and go and usually its the people who have had families there for many years are the ones that stick around.

As for the traveling for good stuff. We had to travel about an hour and half to get any good shopping(big malls, not wal-mart), any "nice" places to eat(my friends and family flipped when they saw a chili's and olive garden just down from my place here LOL), and the same for any cultural entertainment or big concerts.

I don't know if you have kids or not but that is usally the big problem is when the teenage years come about. There isn't a lot for teenagers to do in a small town. You might have to be creative in entertaining them. My parents were friends with my friends parents so it was a bit harder to pull things over them lol but we still managed.

Good luck and hope you enjoy the move and change.

 

[tiff13]

I have lived here my whole life(17 yrs).I'm not sure how many people live here. To give you an idea, I commute to another town along with 7 other towns to go to school. We've had a few unfriendly people move into the area, but besides that everyone else waves.

We don't have a grocery store on anything along that line, so on average it takes 15 minutes to get to shopping areas. The county airport is 5 minutes from here so thats pretty nice, otherwise we drive 2.5 hours to Milwaukee to catch a flight.

All in all, I like it. You'll learn to entertain yourself.

 

[bananiem]

I think lovemygoofy said it very well. We moved to a town of 17,000 for 6 years. We never felt we belonged because the people that have always lived there didn't know what it was like to be "new". They never bothered to get to know us. IT could have just been that twon though.
As for the business....How sure are you that it will last? I mean that a town of 2,000 people could be dying or just a suburb of a larger area so people might travel the 15 minutes to the town to get whatever it is your business does. Does that make sense?
The town we lived in was an hour from the nearest decent shopping, restaurants and concerts/theater. The school district could not come close to offering the high schoolers what the bigger districts can offer.
Like I said, if we'd been a "suburb" of a bigger area our experience would have been much different.

 

[corie161]

I live in a town of almost 1200 people. I grew up here and stayed here. Our school district is consolidated with 4 other towns, prior to that the towns were each consolidated with another, so 2 districts. Each town has it's own elementary and middle school is in one of the "larger towns" and high school in our town. We may not have all the opportunities of the larger towns, but I think they are sufficient.

As far as shopping, It really depends on your area. For us it's a quick 15-20 minutes to the closest town with Wal-mart. The closest decent mall is 40 minutes. We are circled by larger towns with shopping and jobs. We have a small 6 aisle grocery store, a library, hardware store, drug store, bakery, dentist, post office, hair salons, bank, 2 restaurants, a convenience store/gas station, repair shops, etc. I do think that some of them struggle, but some of them do really well. It most likely depends on the business.

The MSP airport is probably 1 1/2 hours away, 2 hours max.

As far as people being "friendly" another poster was correct in saying that everyone knows your business, but in the same respect they are there to support you in the bad times too.

I was just speaking with my nieghbor who moved here probably less than 10 years ago about the friendliness of people. She said it's hard to get accepted, but I also think that you have to take some responsibility and get involved, not sit back and wait for people to knock on your door. We also decided that a lot of the people she was trying to get "in" with were people with high school age kids, that have grown up together. Most likely finding your niche in the town will be surrounded by the parents of your kids, and those that have the same interests as you.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do...

 

[ZachnElli]

You guys aren't helping! LOL! The business has been there 37 years, that's why I don't think it's dying. The owner's health is not good and so he wants out and he's not asking for much, he just wants someone to take over and keep what he built from the ground up going. It's been very profittable, he's made millions (in 37 years though). Bananiem, it's the same state as your avatar!

 

[ZachnElli]

Oh, we have 3 kids, 11, 7, and 15 months, I worry the most about the 11 year old as he starts middle school this year.

 

[sulleyfan]

My dh is looking at buying a busines in a small town, very small, less than 2000 people. I've never lived in that small of a town and I'm very nervous! So I'd like to hear from those that live in a small town! How long have you been there, are they pretty accepting to new people, how far do you have to drive to do things (shop, see a movie, catch a flight to WDW, etc.)? This is in our home state, so we aren't far from family, just a 2 hour drive. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Hi ZachnElli

I actually live in a small town w/ less than 500 people. I've been here 10 years now, moved when I was 11. The town I live in is accepting of new people. Of course there's a lot of curiousity at first.

As far as to drive to get somewhere:
Shop: 15 min to a Wal-Mart just down the highway, 20 min to a mall, if it's just quick grocery's less than 1 min. We have a small grocery store in town.
Movie: 20 min. Have to go a bit further into town.
Flight to WDW: 60 min. I fly out of Omaha.

I also preferred going to school in a small town much more than large cities. I moved in the middle of sixth grade going from a middle school w/ close to 2250 students to a school district where K-12 was approx 500 students. Our district actually serves 4 towns, though the longest anyone had to be on a bus was about 35 minutes. I graduated with a class of 46 which was the biggest class in something like 15 years. But you get the option to participate a lot more activities. Everyone gets the opportunity to play sports, or be in plays, or do music. I also got to know teachers really well because ours was setup K-6 in on building and 7-12 in another, I had the same teachers for English/Math/etc from 7th on, which I think is really great.

I guess if nothing else, the fact that I just (a year ago) bought my first home in the same town speaks for how well I like it.

 

[OhMari]

I live in a small town, and I would say new people are more accepted than people that have been living in one there whole lives. I feel if I want to join something-someone has some kind of like or dislike opinion right off the bat.
(Example., Our town's president wife just got a job at our local bank, they had to lay her off because they lost so many customers because people didn't want her knowing their banking business. Now that is small town.)

If you are willing to get involved and join things, you will be like the new kid that everyone wants to be friends with. If your husband is opening a new business, be sure to join the "Commerce right away", that way you will meet people right off the bat.

I live in WI too, are you moving to the Midwest somewhere? About the only transportation in the Midwest is your own vehicles, unless you live in the Chicago suburbs.

We drive 15 miles one way, for movies, dentists, doctors and sometimes we make the trip 4, 5 times a day.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

ZachnElli - I am not far from you... and I'm even closer to Sulleyfan! Small world!

Anyhow, I grew up in a larger city - my grad class had over 500 in it. I now live in a town of 1600 with an average of about 50 kids in a class.

Small towns have their good and bad points... I guess it just depends on you. I definitely prefer the larger city (like Omaha) but that is just me. DH wouldn't live anywhere BUT in a small town which is how we ended up where we are.

Your kids will be fine - just know that you might have fewer class choices in high school. We have turned to online courses for the majority of our sons' courses which has worked out very well for them. Again it just depends on the child. Athletics (as well as academics IMO) are somewhat watered down - at least where we are. If your kids are top students and/or top athletes they will be in the minority - just as a function of the lower number of total students. Kids and families have moved here and fit in fine - we have been here 17 years, own our own business, and built our dream home. But I still hate being an hour to two hours away from civilization.

Good luck with your decision!!!

 

[kimmikayb]

You guys aren't helping! LOL! The business has been there 37 years, that's why I don't think it's dying. The owner's health is not good and so he wants out and he's not asking for much, he just wants someone to take over and keep what he built from the ground up going. It's been very profittable, he's made millions (in 37 years though). Bananiem, it's the same state as your avatar!

IOWA??!!! You're coming to my state?? Yipee!! I've always lived in a small town and I love it. It's not for everyone tho. We drive 30 minutes to get to a larger town but we have a great grocery store and of course Wal Mart in town. Plus various other smaller stores. You can be snubbed but if you jump right in and join in on the small town happenings....you can be readily accepted. If you turn your nose to their way of doing things you'll probably be talked about. Well, you'll probably be talked about anyways,

I graduated in a class of 24 kids. That's a little small. There are 60 kids in my kid's classes. It's just right. They get individual attention and don't get lost in the crowd. You don't have to lock your doors, you know everyone. When you're down there is always someone there for you. Yep, I love small (Iowa) town living.

PM me and tell me where....maybe you'll be close to me!

 

[Shaymojack]

I'm in a small town right now, and I love it! Don't have to worry too much about all the sounds at night (except for Memorial weekend and such), don't even really have to worry about burglary (although you don't have to too often anyways), and the people are usually very accepting to new people. Although you can have much sillier problems, like calling 911 because someone was burning trash to close to their trees and you think it's not controlled... My mom did that, not me! And we have to drive about 15-20 miles for groceries, so not too bad. And there are about 18 people in my class right now, although school is out. They split classes in half when it reaches about 20 kids out here. Yay small towns!

 

[RadioNate]

Ok, Iowa. I went to college there. And dated a guy from a really small town.

I think we'd have to know more about where it is. Your options for flights would be Omaha, where I always found the lowest prices, Des Moines, when I lived there sky high prices, people also went to Minnapolis or Kansas City to get better fares. Souix City is also an option.

 

[kimmikayb]

Ok, Iowa. I went to college there. And dated a guy from a really small town.

I think we'd have to know more about where it is. Your options for flights would be Omaha, where I always found the lowest prices, Des Moines, when I lived there sky high prices, people also went to Minnapolis or Kansas City to get better fares. Souix City is also an option.

Depending on where your town is....if it's east Moline IL has a great airport. For those who don't know, it's part of the Quad Cities and is just across the river. I'm flying out of there to Disney in September!

 

[bobcat]

I moved back to the small town I grew up in to raise my kids, roughly 2500 in the main town where the high school/jr high is and 250 in the village where I live. For me the pros outweight the cons. I love that my kids teachers really know my kids, they are not just a face in the crowd. I love that I also know their teachers, many times on a more friendly basis, ok so I went to school with many of them LOL. I know what my kids are up to at all times. There's no place to hide in a small town. Not that small towns are without crime and bad people but since everyone knows everyone else there are eyes on the kids always. I tell my teen DD that there is nothing that she will do that I won't find out about. Small towns pull together in tough times. If someone is having difficulties small towns do whatever it takes to pull each other through.

There are cons, such as everyone knowing everyone's business. Sometimes that can be a pain. As a teen I hated knowing everyone in my school, most since kindergarten. It's hard to date the boy you remember that ate glue in elementary or that picked on you. Now I love the fact that I have so many friends in one place.

We are fairly close to the state capitol and only 10 minutes away from a larger community with all the shopping/theater etc. we could want. I don't know if I could live in an isolated small town. I love it just where I am.

 

[ZachnElli]

It's in Iowa, but I don't want to say exactly where or what business on the board. The owner has not made it known yet, he just told his wife over the weekend (I knew before she did!). I know that we will be about 2 hours from Des Moines and I know it's 2 1/2 hours from my house now in Omaha. Dh and I are both from Iowa, but not as small town as this. My parents are both from smaller towns than this town in Iowa. It'll be hard going from what we are use to now to such a small town, like going out to eat and catching a movie. The closest shopping is probably Des Moines for like Christmas and such. We are in beginning phases still. Dh met the owner last week and then he called first thing Monday and told dh that he wanted to take the next step with him. Others have been interested in this business, very interested, but the owner wasn't as interested in them.

 

[Micca]

I vote no. 2+ hours to get to some decent shopping, services, and entertainment is going to get old real fast. Unless the business is going to make your family a big bundle, keep looking.

 

[Kahana-ri]

I grew up in a small town in Northern CA. We had about 2,000 people, very rural, stops signs-no lights, the grocery store was in the next town, and our volunteer fire station used to have its siren go off when there were fires before the days of pagers or cell phones. My family and I grew up on a small farm with animals. At the time, it wasn't cool to be the only girl in school that had to go home to milk the goats , but I would give anything to be able to give my children the same lifestyle.
Now that I live in RI, I feel this state being as small as it is provides such a benefit. People seem to never leave this state and everyone knows everyone . I enjoy the small community feel. We still get our city moments by going downtown or to Boston, but overall its a very comfortable setting.

 

[ZachnElli]

I vote no. 2+ hours to get to some decent shopping, services, and entertainment is going to get old real fast. Unless the business is going to make your family a big bundle, keep looking.

Well, I meant the big malls for Christmas shopping and stuff like that and airports are 2 hours away. But there is a town just a 20 min drive away with fast food, restaurants, Walmart, Kmart, grocery stores, Sears, and a 5 screen theater. That's still a small town too, but not as bad as the town the business is in.