by Savoera
(Abbotsford, BC)
High Street Mall
January 31, 2015
Someone approached me through my Facebook page to ask for information about Abbotsford, and I realized that in the four years since I've been here, I've learned a lot more. So I decided to post all the information I provided to that person, as an update to my Abbotsford page here:
It's beautiful here, scenery-wise, with all the surrounding mountains; but the city itself is a little boring. It's a mixture of farmland and urban development (hence the slogan "City in the Country"), but depending on what you like, this might not bother you. I like the farmlands, but what is a thorn in my eyes is the downtown area. It's not really much of a downtown, it's more a historic downtown with older buildings and lots of homeless people. Montrose Ave looks nice though, with its quaint little shops. They often film here for TV movies (mostly Christmas movies: The Christmas Secret (2014); On Strike for Christmas (2010) and more).
I don't like shopping here that much, but I'm happy with the new big mall that opened in 2013 on the west side (High Street Mall), which also has a Cineplex theatre. Abbotsford is growing gradually (which is a good thing, because rapid growth would probably bring over-development). Thanks to the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) development is being kept in check. I like the smaller city size, although there are the few things I mentioned that bug me (infrastructure is another one of them), but I certainly wouldn't want this city to become another Vancouver. It is nice though, to have such a metropolitan city in just an hour's drive away from here for occasions when you want more big city amenities than what's available here.
Jobs in Abbotsford are not that easy to find (I'm still jobless). Housing here is reasonable I suppose, compared to bigger cities, but they're not that cheap either, especially if you're looking for newer homes. People are generally nice here.