[Tustin714]

My wife and I did our lifestyle visit late last year (had a great time) and are thinking about a 1-2 month rental in October/November. I checked the cost of renting a car for the duration and it's pretty outrageous, so in looking at general locations in TV I'm trying to get a sense the best for location to food shopping, and general (e.g., Target or its equivalent). We'd like to be generally closer to Lake Sumter than Brownwood or Spanish Springs, but closer to the Springs wouldn't be a huge problem.

Is there a resource that pinpoints the shopping areas accessible by golf cart (and is it "car" or "cart" ).

Thanks.

[Bogie Shooter]

Some store info here.
Shopping Plazas - The Villages Commercial Property Management

[Cupcake57]

Originally Posted by Tustin714

My wife and I did our lifestyle visit late last year (had a great time) and are thinking about a 1-2 month rental in October/November. I checked the cost of renting a car for the duration and it's pretty outrageous, so in looking at general locations in TV I'm trying to get a sense the best for location to food shopping, and general (e.g., Target or its equivalent). We'd like to be generally closer to Lake Sumter than Brownwood or Spanish Springs, but closer to the Springs wouldn't be a huge problem.

Is there a resource that pinpoints the shopping areas accessible by golf cart (and is it "car" or "cart" ).

Thanks.

Welcome. Its Cart; the Villages tries to call them Car but it never really caught on.

You can easily do 2 months without a car. The Villages app has a section for Business and Shopping that lists all the stores; about the only thing I have found hard to reach (at least from a southern area) is a real hardware store-but you are in a rental so you won't be buying that stuff!. Hopefully you will be too tired from having fun exploring to shop; there is a Publix and a Walgreens in every shopping area and Winn-Dixie and CVS here and there. Bealls (pronounced Bells-don't know why) is a big store for clothes/assessories and there are 4 or more locations next to the Publix here and there.

You most likely will have to rent a postal box from a place like the UPS store or Safe Ship; I did when I rented for 3 months in Dunedin.

[Papa_lecki]

You can live for 2 months without a car. If a car is needed, do a one way to/ft the airport from enterprise in LSL.

Best source is google maps.
You’ll have access to Winn Dixie or Publix and most pharmacies via golf cart

Anything else is a non emergency and can be a longer drive or amazon.

[Tustin714]

Thank you everyone for both the information, and confirmation that we don't need to rent a car for the entire time. That makes the possibility of a trip much more likely.

[Bay Kid]

I only use the car once a month to keep the car in shape. Cars are totally unneeded for me. Carts for everything. Liberty Park area is easy for shopping, golf, church, etc.

[justjim]

Most of TV residents have a car and a golf cart. There may be days when you might want to explore and go outside the bubble on a visit to The Villages.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by justjim

Most of TV residents have a car and a golf cart. There may be days when you might want to explore and go outside the bubble on a visit to The Villages.

Do not forget about those days when it rains. Pain in the you know what dealing with curtains and no wind shield wipers.

[JGibson]

Go see David Becker at Lake Sumter golf cars. Most upfront honest guy, you can try going outside the villages and say a few bucks.
Sometimes you get what your pay for. Good Luck.

[Tustin714]

Thanks to everyone for help with my initial question. I've spent some time looking at various locations that would have golf cart access to food shopping, mostly, but...am I correct that you can't access Trailwinds shopping plaza by golf cart? It certainly looks that way from Google maps, etc., but it is a little hard to tell whether at Trailwinds Blvd. there is a crossing from a cart path that borders the golf course south of 466A.

Thanks.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Tustin714

Thanks to everyone for help with my initial question. I've spent some time looking at various locations that would have golf cart access to food shopping, mostly, but...am I correct that you can't access Trailwinds shopping plaza by golf cart? It certainly looks that way from Google maps, etc., but it is a little hard to tell whether at Trailwinds Blvd. there is a crossing from a cart path that borders the golf course south of 466A.

Thanks.

Correct, there is no golf cart access from the Villages to Trailwinds (Aldi, Publix).

However, Winn Dixie is accessible across the street and there are two Publix and a Walmart Market not too far away.

[Tustin714]

Thanks for the response. I've hopefully (successfully) uploaded the image from Google Maps which shows, at Trialwinds Blvd., both an entry from 466A onto the cart path and lights at the intersection -- does anyone have knowledge about this? It certainly looks like carts at one time were set up to go across 466A, or am I misreading this photo?
Thanks.

[Ah, quick update -- I forgot to check "street view", and now see that there is a fence there. But it sure looks like the original plan was for access. Oh well.]

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Tustin714

Thanks for the response. I've hopefully (successfully) uploaded the image from Google Maps which shows, at Trialwinds Blvd., both an entry from 466A onto the cart path and lights at the intersection -- does anyone have knowledge about this? It certainly looks like carts at one time were set up to go across 466A, or am I misreading this photo?
Thanks.

[Ah, quick update -- I forgot to check "street view", and now see that there is a fence there. But it sure looks like the original plan was for access. Oh well.]

Golf carts are not allowed to be on the pavement of 466A (or 466 or 44) because those roads have sped limits greater than 30mph. To cross a road with a speed limit greater than 30mph requires the crossing to be specially designated for golf carts. There is one such crossing up on 441 but I believe that is for another develop!ent.

[LuvtheVillages]

The driveway in your photo is for maintenance vehicles going to the maintenance facility, which is just outside your photo.

There is NO golf cart access to Trailwinds there.

[smurphy]

Originally Posted by Tustin714

Thanks for the response. I've hopefully (successfully) uploaded the image from Google Maps which shows, at Trialwinds Blvd., both an entry from 466A onto the cart path and lights at the intersection -- does anyone have knowledge about this? It certainly looks like carts at one time were set up to go across 466A, or am I misreading this photo?
Thanks.

[Ah, quick update -- I forgot to check "street view", and now see that there is a fence there. But it sure looks like the original plan was for access. Oh well.]

Across the street from Trailwinds Blvd. is a golf course and the path you see in the image is the golf path on the course and not a multi-modal cart path. There is a fence/locked gate which I think is an emergency access point. Even without the gate, you are not allowed to cross a major street like 466a with a golf cart.