Corrected: City Residents, Where Do You Shop?

[Achbek1]

Oops, I submitted the fist poll the wrong way. Moderators, could you delete?

[Achbek1]

For those of you who live within the City of Buffalo, or who have lived in the City of Buffalo previously.

Where do you or did you:

Buy groceries?

Buy clothing?

Buy housewares?

Fill your prescriptions:

And BE HONEST. Do or did you often find yourself travelling out of your way for any or most of these things?

[Achbek1]

Originally posted by Achbek1
For those of you who live within the City of Buffalo, or who have lived in the City of Buffalo previously.

Where do you or did you:

Buy groceries?

Buy clothing?

Buy housewares?

Fill your prescriptions:

And BE HONEST. Do or did you often find yourself travelling out of your way for any or most of these things?

When I lived in the city I:

Bought groceries at Tops or Wegmans in North Buffalo.

Bought clothing at Target or the other stores in the Delaware Plaza in North Buffalo or would travel out to Amherst.

Bought housewares, such as coffee makers or clock radios, in North Buffalo or Amherst.

Filled my prescriptions at a drug store in Kenmore.

I did patronize restaurants and gift shops within the city.

[steven]

North Buffalo isnt in the city of buffalo?

[Linda_D]

When I lived in the Grant-Amherst area I shopped primarily in North Buffalo.

Steven, I think that Achbek separated out North Buffalo because while the area is within the city limits, its shopping areas between Delaware and Elmwood from Great Arrow north to Kenmore were, and continue to be, filled with the national chains that are usually found in the suburbs. The local merchants on Hertel Avenue east of Delaware owe a lot of the success of their businesses to the traffic brought into the area by the chains on Delaware.

It's one of the few areas of the city that consistently attracts significant numbers of shoppers from the suburbs. One reason is its proxmity to Kenmore and Tonawanda, but having a reputation for being a safe area is at least as important, particularly to the people who do most shopping: women. Most women, even those with husbands, don't shop with their men, so having open, well-lit parking lots is more important to us, particularly those of us who are "grown ups", than it is to men. That's why suburban shopping malls have their security SUVs prowling the parking lots.

[Chris in Parkside]

Where do you or did you:

Buy groceries? - Wegmans, Lexington Co-Op, Scimes, Terra Nova, Dash's on Hertel..pretty much anywhere and everywhere. I like different products from different stores.

Buy clothing? - I mostly shop for clothes online. I loathe shopping in retail stores and absolutely hate the mall.

Buy housewares? - I buy a lot of stuff online. If I need stuff for home improvement, I shop at Valu or drive out to the Lowe's on NF Blvd.

Fill your prescriptions: - Wegmans. I refuse to shop at Walgreens or Rite Aid.

And BE HONEST. Do or did you often find yourself travelling out of your way for any or most of these things? - No, I think we're pretty average city dwellers, we prefer to buy at smaller stores and do. We also shop at some of the big box stores but generally stay away from Target, Wal Mart, etc.

[300miles]

I didn't answer the poll because it would be a mixed answer (not just one)

Buy groceries? The City - Wegmans, Tops, Latina's

Buy clothing? Suburbs - Galleria, Boulevard, Kohls (I love Kohls)

Buy housewares? The City - all over

Fill your prescriptions: The City - no shortage of drug stores. They're everywhere

And BE HONEST. Do or did you often find yourself travelling out of your way for any or most of these things?
There are two things I go out of my way for: Clothing as I mentioned above and for electronics I usually try the city stores first (Target or Radio Shack) but if it's for computer stuff I have to drive out to Amherst for BestBuy or CircuitCity.

If they opened a Khols and a Best Buy in those dead zones around Target my life would be complete.

[Shovel ready]

I try to do as much as my shopping as possible in the city.

Buy groceries? Wegmans on Amherst st., Dash's on Hertel

Buy clothing? NYC, Toronto, online

Buy housewares? Target on Delaware

Fill your prescriptions: CVS

And BE HONEST. Do or did you often find yourself travelling out of your way for any or most of these things? For electronics i'll drive out to Best Buy or Circuit City in Amherst if there is a really good deal that week.

[300miles]

Question on the poll choices...

If you live in South Buffalo and like to shop at a small independent store in North Buffalo, wouldn't you want to choose all 4 selections?

[Michele J]

I shop for as much as I can in the city
Broadway Market for fruits and vegetables ( Garlic 3 for $1 and Oranges 4 for $1)
Some meats at the Market too
Also one of my favorite little grocery stores GDS Super Saver on Broadway
Great prices & Free delivery!
Clothing I buy online mostly
If I have to shop big box stores I shop the city locations

[Achbek1]

I"m noticing a trend with city residents doing a lot of CLOTHING shopping ONLINE.

There has also been a lot of mention that city residents travel to the SUBURBS to shop for clothing.

Could that reinforce the notion that the city needs more clothing stores?

City residents, WOULD ANY OF YOU LIKE TO VOLUNTEER THE NAMES OF THE WEBSITES FROM WHICH YOU ORDER CLOTHING? Are they national chain companies such as jcrew.com, eddiebauer.com, jcpenney.com, etc. or do you seek out more specialty online clothing retailers?

[Michele J]

I like ullapopken,silhouettes,roamans,finishline is really great for sneakers, boots etc...$10 off coupons and if you go on the WWW you can find free shipping codes etc...

[Shovel ready]

Achbek, I hardly ever buy clothes in Buffalo. When I visit Toronto and NYC, I usually get clothes there. Those cities have stores like H&M, and American Apparel which offer tighter, hipper, more classy options than dorky baggy clothes sold at most of the typical chains around here.

With that said, I think a Gap, Banana Republic, and American Apparel would do well locating on Elmwood. Those stores would give the street more retail credibility and attract throngs of people who would love to shop in the city but won't until there are stores they are more familar with.

[300miles]

If there were decent casual-mens clothing stores in the city of Buffalo I would definitely shop there and avoid the suburban malls.

Same with electronics.

I was in San Francisco last year on business and went into a Circuit City downtown. It was interesting to see a true Urban version of the store. It was located on the first floor and basement of a large office building (escalators connected the floors). The building was right up to the sidewalk and had zero surface parking.

[Shovel ready]

I was in San Francisco last year on business and went into a Circuit City downtown. It was interesting to see a true Urban version of the store. It was located on the first floor and basement of a large office building (escalators connected the floors). The building was right up to the sidewalk and had zero surface parking.

Yeah there is a circuit city exactly like that at Union Square, in NYC.