How do you define "local" in terms of round trip miles?

[Ned Bulken]

Local for me in va is:
Do it best .10 mile, Ace is about .5 mile,
Lowes & home despot are About 20 miles round trip better wal mart is next to home depot,
good grocery store is another mile down from home depot, closest is next to ace hardware.
lumber, there is a good local mill about 20 miles round trip, next closest is about an hour round trip.
I have 4 woodcraft to choose from; three are about 120 miles one way, the fourth is 180 miles (but that one is near va beach...)
luckily I am semi frequently near both Richmond & Roanoke if I need toyls.

[Rob Keeble]

Local to me is less than 3 miles for some things and 5 miles for others but even up to 40 miles for others. All depends on what it is and how much i need it at the time. But i am generally thinking the very local guys when i think local. My nearest harware store is 1.7 miles from my house but they stock no lumber at all. My nearest decent lumber yard for woodworking is exactly 10 miles from my home to thier doorway.I got two Home Depots to go to one 5.8 miles and one 8.5 miles. Lee Valley is 17.5 miles from my door to theirs. Tandy leather store is 39 miles away.

[Frank Fusco]

Interesting question.
Local will vary by location. The western states can present challenges for folks who live a long way from anything. Ten, 20, 50 miles is not unusual for many. I once had some friends in a tiny-tiny town in Oregon that was 65 miles via gravel road from a gas station or anything that resembled a real town.
For me, I'm 5 to 10 miles from most stores. Grizzly is about 150 miles away as is the first real shopping mall.

[Ken Cook]

The mom & pop hardware is about a mile one way, I/we have a HD & Lowes side by side not a 1/4 mile from my driveway, rockler about 4 miles & woodcraft about 8.
Lumber yard 5 miles and the bank is about 3 miles....and the wife says I'm local for whatever that's worth

[Jim C Bradley]

Within a six-mile radius we have:
Two Home Depots
Two Lowe's
One Harbor Freight
Six or Eight Grocery stores
Two Walmarts
Several gas stations
Three Libraries
One ocean
About 10 Starbucks plus other coffee houses.
One airport (another at 10 miles)
One Ace Hardware
Etc.

It is getting crowded around here. It is like China; we have people all over the place. We also have a bazillion electric stop-signs. We have major highways where there were no streets at all when we moved here. But here we will stay. Myrna says that if I move again it is going to be with someone else---she is not going.

We have wonderful neighbors. We are in a virtually crime free area. In the 28.5 years we have lived in this area there has been one garden hose taken from a front yard. There is a home about a mile away that had computers stolen. The guy runs a computer business from his home and he had a yard sale. The home was open to anyone coming to the garage sale---in fact most of the stuff for sale was inside of the home. I think he asked for his problem.

As usual, I babble too much. Enjoy,

JimB

ps. Excellent hardwood lumber yard---maybe 8 miles. Actually there are two and they both carry good furniture quality wood. However, one of the places sort of ignores you and the other "Saroyan" is VERY friendly and helpful. Guess which one Glenn and I use. We have a neighbor about 3 blocks away that builds cabinets for multi-million dollar homes. Guess which one he uses also.

[Chuck Beland]

For us in RI anything 15 minutes or under. More than that we have to pack a lunch & maybe overnight case. Don't forget this State is only about 45 miles wide by 75 miles long.