The Hobby Lobby and Costco is 6 miles from Spanish Springs, 4.1 miles to LSL, and 8 miles from Brownwood. It's certainly not "near" Spanish Springs.

Do you really think that "Big Box Stores" will commit to that much capital, just to satisfy the boomers who will soon be "aging out" of The Villages?

You’re probably right - I was just throwing out a question as to what demographics retailers look at before investing in a storefront. There’s been some talk here on TOTV about the lack of retail south of 44 (though I expect that to continue to slowly change in the years ahead), but in my interactions with the new residents south of 44, most don’t bring up or seem to care about the sparse retail down here. It appears to be a bigger issue for the older residents up North. That’s all fine, but there appears to me anyway, to be a bit of generational split on this issue.

My wife and I have different shopping habits at home vs The Villages.
At home, we do MUCH more online shopping, in TV, we get in golf cart more often and hit the Brick and Mortar.

They tell you they don't care, so they don't have to admit that they really want it, but don't yet have it...

Same with us. Up north it’s about a 50 mile round trip to get to most brick and mortar retailers, so we get just about everything, except food, delivered to our northern home via Amazon et all. From our Villages home, we love being able to jump in a golf cart and take a short ride to pick up just about anything we need. I just wish we could get to the Lighthouse Seafood store on 466 via golf cart, but the seafood at Fresh Market is a good alternative.

Well said. Those that continue to point out the 'disadvantage' of being farther away from retail (and golf) simply don't understand what is important to some, is not to others.

The restaurants that recently closed in SS committed suicide. If you stop cleaning, provide poor service, and cold food. Guess what.

Now Katie Bell's was a different story. Never heard why it closed. Happening place. The most fun inside venue in TV. Music and dancing on a real dance floor.
Who, why, was it killed ?

I still like SS. Americano's is my favorite restaurant in TV, unless I want to spend over $100 on a meal. Not so often.
Talking about over $100; and it seems every FMK has a fatal flaw - if not just attitude, , ,

I like Americanos too but the water tastes horrible there.

Much closer than south of the turnpike. I can get there pretty easy in my golf cart.

Easy answer it was a moneypit with zero profit. KB’s was developer owned. Our lifestyle package included, 2 rounds of golf on any championship for two, tennis, classes, dinner at Palmer for two, anything on the menu, and lastly dinner at KBs for two which we were served salad, Lobster, steak, sides, and dessert, soft drinks and coffee. This was all included with our $50 night stay.

KB’s was highlighted as upscale dining, for residents only. Food was excellent. Once the developer no longer needed to give out free food things started to change. KB’s food started on a downward slope, tumbling into you didn’t want to embarrass yourself by taking guests.
There was free entertainment and dancing, which residents would take up a table for hours, order water and a drink, and sit for hours spending under $10.
Developer decided to make a two drink minimum, which also failed, then a time limit on tables, which basically angered people. When KBs was no longer profitable, after all the changes, it was closed.

How’s the gin?

I like gin less than their water. Brown liquor please.

Quite a bit of locals hanging out at Margarita Republic did it wonders.

Why is it so hard to believe that we actually don't care about making an occasional drive in our cars? Stores bring traffic. A common complaint in the areas near retail.