Help me, LJ-obi-wan, you're my only hope.

[valis2]

I NEED YOUR HELP.

I apologize for posting this without a cut. I hope you'll bear with me. During April/May I will be traveling across the country, stopping at many cities along the way, trying to sell some wares. I am already biting my nails about this because it will be a serious drain on my resources and a huge amount of driving and hard work.

What do I need? How can you help? Well, if you could just give me a moment of your time...

Please look at this list of states/cities and, if you live in or near one of them, or have lived in or near any of them, if you could list some affluent cities/suburbs/towns within the area I would be incredibly grateful. How does this help me? Well, I am going to be attempting to arrange shows in the meeting rooms of hotels, and if I can schedule it in an area that is more receptive to spending money, then this would be a good thing. Specifically I am looking for areas with populations of affluent women aged 25-55. Don't worry, I'm not cold-calling or selling vacuums door to door or annoying people (much). And if you can suggest any areas to avoid that would be helpful too.

Ohio: Toledo, Columbus, Lancaster, Athens
West Virginia: Charleston, Oak Hill, Beckley, Princeton
Virginia: Wytheville
North Carolina: Winston-Salem, Hickory, Statesville, Morganton, Asheville
Tennessee: Knoxville, Harriman, Oak Ridge, Cookeville, Lebanon, Nashville, Clarksville
Kentucky: Hopkinsville, Nortonville
Indiana: Evansville, Vincennes, Terre Haute, Indianapolis
Illinois: Danville, Urbana, Champaign, Bloomington/Normal, Peoria, Chillicothe, Rochelle, De Kalb, Wheaton, Chicago
Iowa: Davenport, Iowa City, Newton, Des Moines, Osceola
Missouri: Bethany, St. Joseph, Kansas City
Kansas: Kansas City, Topeka, El Dorado, Wichita, Wellington
Oklahoma: Blackwell, Perry, Guthrie, Edmond, Oklahoma City, El Reno, Weatherford, Clinton, Elk City
Texas: Amarillo, Vega
New Mexico: Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Moriarty, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Grants, Gallup
Arizona: Chambers, Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, Ash Fork, Kingman, Bullhead City
California: Apple Valley, San Bernandino, San Diego, Escondido, Santa Clarita, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Woodland, Redding, Yreka
Oregon: Medford, Roseburg, Cottage Grove, Eugene, Salem, Portland, Pendleton, La Grande, Baker
Washington: Longview, Chehalis, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Cle Elum, Yakima, Toppenish, Grandview, Richland, Kennewick
Idaho: Nampa, Boise, Mountain Home, Bliss, Rupert, Pocatello
Utah: Howell, Brigham City, Ogden, Layton, Bountiful, Salt Lake City, American Fork, Provo, Payson, Nephi, Scipio, Aurora, Richfield, Emery, Cisco
Colorado: Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Eagle, Vail, Frisco, Denver, Boulder, Loveland, Fort Collins
Wyoming: Cheyenne
Nebraska: Sidney, Ogallala, North Platte, Lexington, Kearney, Grand Island, Columbus, Norfolk
South Dakota: Freeman, Sioux Falls
Minnesota: Worthington, Jackson, Blue Earth, Albert Lea, Owatonna, Faribault, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Wisconsin: Eau Claire

I would appreciate your help tremendously. I make my living as a salesperson, and I'm used to taking a bit of a risk, but this is the riskiest thing I have ever done in my entire life, and I'm really hoping that I can plan it out well enough to make it worth that risk. If you would rather email me, then please go right ahead, email me at valis2 (at) livejournal (dot) com.

*giant hugs* Thank you so very much, flist of joy.

Comments

[mysduende.livejournal.com]

Ooooh a salesperson aye. Do you mind if I ask what it is you're selling?

I live around Oakland and San Francisco. The most affluent towns around Oakland would be: Piedmont and Montclair. Around SF would be San Rafael, Corte Medera, Burlingame. Further inland would be Orinda, Moraga, Danville and San Ramon.

Hope that helps. :)

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I know this one! Or one of them, anyway! In the Toledo, Ohio area, you want Sylvania and Ottawa Hills...Ottawa Hills is the "old" money so that might not be exactly what you want, but it is still a desirable place to live. Sylvania is the yuppie capital of the Northwest Ohio world. I understand Perrysburg is getting there as well, and some parts of Maumee (like the downtown, right on the river parts) are wealthy. But I think Sylvania is still the best place to start. I was a poor kid in a rich town, which sucked...didn't have the right address, didn't have the right clothes or connections. Go take 'em for everything they own, and I'll be rooting for you. :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow, terrific! This was so quick, too!

Thank you so very much! This is totally awesome, and helps a lot. *hugs*

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Columbus - you want Dublin, first of all. There's also Upper Arlington and Worthington to round it out, and Hilliard is the up-and-coming area.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

And in Columbus, if you find yourself in Obetz or the Hilltop, stay in your car and keep driving unless you want your ass shot off by paranoid rednecks. :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, fantastic! Thank you so very much, this is a tremendous help to me, honest! *hugs* *files away*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I'm rather attached to my ass, so I think I'll avoid those areas...*laughs even more*

[blackletter]

I used to live in Flagstaff, AZ and I visit friends there often. Overall, the town is pretty affluent, particularly the edges of town (countryclub on the east side and a prosperous downtown on the west). For all that it's a fairly small city, it's the biggest in northern AZ and would probably be a good place to stop. Kingman is the big up-and-coming town of Northern AZ so would also be a good place to stop. Williams has a fairly affluent population but isn't very big.

There is *nothing* in Ashfork. Holbrook and Winslow are also pretty dinky little towns.

Bullhead City is good. People travel there to vacation and gamble. (So they have money to get rid of.)

I've never heard of Chambers.

So I'd say Flagstaff and Kingman definitely good. Williams and Bullhead City pretty good. Ashfork, Holbrook and Winslow not so good. And Chambers *shrug*.

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

Amarillo, Texas? No way! That's where I live! I can definitely tell you anything you need to know - I'll drop you an email in just a sec.

[aphrodeia.livejournal.com]

In the Columbus, OH area, shoot for the suburbs of Dublin, Worthington, and Upper Arlington.

Around the Twin Cities, MN area, look at Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park. Hubby also adds White Bear Lake to this list.

If you pass through Columbus, let me know. :D

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so very very very much! This is exactly the kind of specific information I was looking for. I really, really appreciate it! Thank you!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

You are so sweet!!

Wow, I hope we can get together...I'd love to meet you! I've never met a ringwraith in person, before. ;P

[valis2.livejournal.com]

*smooch* *smooch* *smooch* This is terrific! Thank you so much!!

Seattle area

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Conclaves of the rich yuppies...

Downtown Seattle
Captial Hill
Mercer Island
Edmonds (maybe)
Bainbridge Island

Places where all those computer programmer millionaires reside - 'The East Side'
particularly

Bellevue
Redmond
Sammamish
Issaquah

The less affluent regions of Seattle (where all the honest working people who can barely make their mortgages live) - i.e. places to avoid

West Seattle
South Seattle including Renton, Kent
North Seattle including Lynnwood

What time of the year are you planning to take this road marathon?

Wyoming

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Don't know much about Cheyenne per se, other than it's a college town

The most affluental area in Wyoming by far is Jackson Hole. It's the mountain and ski resort area where starter homes start at $1million +

[cactus-wren.livejournal.com]

Gah! Of those places in Ohio, you just couldn't be coming to the Cleveland area, could you? lol. I'd love to be able to help you out, but I don't know those areas of Ohio - but if you come to Northeast Ohio, I'll not only help you, I'll take you out to dinner!

The eastern side of Washington State

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

I might be mistaken but...

Toppenish
Yakima
Richland
Kennewick
Grandview

These are all towns where the main industry base is still agriculture. Median incomes fall in the low $50

Re: The eastern side of Washington State

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Correction of typo -

I meant to say low $50Ks

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Hey, there's Oregon.

Now, Oregon is a strange pickle. The most affluent suburbs with business hotels are not necessarily the best value for arranging meetings for business. Having said that...

Portland: Portland has an abudance of business hotels located in the downtown or Lloyd Center. There is also Lake Oswego,a very affleunt town next to Portland, that has business hotels along Kruse Way. Other ORegoinans will hate to hear it, but Portland is the largest metro area in the state, and really the center of the state's economic happenings. Most of the state's yuppies are here.

Cottage Grove: Nothing but farmers.

Salem: State Capital. A River City trying to find itself. Nothing doing there.

Medford: Now, we're talking. Rogue River Valley, and lots of sunshine. But, the happenings are in Ashland (home of the Shakespeare Festival) and JAskonville- all centered on the arts and outdoors. No yuppies; rather, people who have retired on tech money, faded movie stars, old hippies and very conservative ranchers.

Eugene- a growing city, know for progressive politics. There is some affluence- SPringfield-, but mostly in farming or medicine. There are hotels, but only one major business hotel, and that's small.

PEndleton: Home of the Round Up. Cowboys, cowbopys and more cowboys, with fruit and wheat farmers thrown in the mix.

LaGRande/Baker- Leave these places alone- mostly small rural areas. I would look to Bend, a rather sucessful small city that has excellent resort facilities and an affluent community.

Hope this helps!

[luvboromir24601.livejournal.com]

Bah, email is screwed up so I'll just post here. Amarillo is kind of a rich oil town and probably the best place to sell at in the Texas Panhandle. To my knowledge, Canyon might be a better bet than Vega - I've always been under the impression that the people in Canyon are a bit more well-to-do (and Canyon is almost like a suburb to Amarillo actually, even though it is technically its own city). If you need more info, I'm sure I could get it for you. :)

And I'd love to meet you! :D I'd even forgo my usual Ringwraith attire (too scary for the general public) and we could go out to eat or something. And you could even meet Zeb if you'd like.

And a few other notes...

[dphearson.livejournal.com]

Illinois: Consider Urbana-Champaign one area- the university is there, along with start ups. Leave Peoria alone. Chicago has the Gold Coast, along with Evanston. Bloomington is all affluent.

Washington: Seattle- the Captil Hill section is very affluent- but so is Kirkland and Bellevue, two close in surburbs. Longview is a suburb of Vancouver WA and Portland, but not particularly affluent; I would try Vancouver itself. Yakima is nbot affluent in the least, nor arethe country town around it. Richland is a good city in of itself to try.

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

sylvadin covered the Seattle area nicely.

So, California:

In San Diego area, I'd say Del Mar/Encinitas (where you could easily draw the affluent Rancho Santa Fe/Fairbanks Ranch crowd, as well as the McMansion-dwelling wannabes), Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and maybe Carlsbad. Avoid Santee/Lakeside, El Cajon, and anything south of Downtown. And Escondido isn't upscale, even if the housing prices are.

La Jolla is very upscale, but the demographic may be too old.

Avoid Apple Valley--I've driven through it, and it's a shitty little high-desert town.

You might want to try Pasadena, however--It's not just little old ladies.

Yreka and Redding aren't upscale. Any wealthy people will be farmers, who would rather spend money on new trucks. The same goes for most of the Central Valley and far-northern California.

Woodland was nothing but a little nothing town amid endless fields a decade ago, and now it's wall-to-wall tract-house hell. Don't bother.

Ashland, Oregon might be a good choice, though. Given the choice between Ashland and Medford, I'd pick Ashland.

Maybe Bend, Oregon, too. It's been thoroughly Californicated, and some of them have got to have money.

That's all the firsthand information my post-flu brain can manage to spit up, for now. But one resource you might find useful is Claritas' market segmentation site. You can enter a Zip code and they will provide you with a list of the demographic categories commonly found within that Zip code. They also have a listing of all marketing segments, so you can decide if you want to sell to the "Movers and Shakers," "Money and Brains," or "Big Fish, Small Pond," among others. To look up the Zip codes for a particular city, use the US Postal Service's website. It'll probably be a lot of work looking up a long list of places, but it could help you narrow down which towns or neighborhoods are most likely to be home to your prospective customers.

And if you come to Seattle, I've got an extra bed, and all the cats you can pet. I'll even change the sheets...

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

If I knew what you were selling, I might be able to mull over and refine my suggestions. Email me at julian_black@LJ, if you prefer.

Oh, and welcome back! And thanks for the card! I have a belated V-day bit of weirdness in the works for you, and now that I can breathe again I might just get it done...Yarrr.

[dark-cygnet.livejournal.com]

Hey, Columbus is my hometown! And Chaosdancer is right, these are the places to be. I would also check out Polaris, which is down I-71, about half hour from Columbus and Easton, which is a big shopping area, i don't know if there are any hotels in that direction, though i'm sure there are.

Re: Seattle area

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! Thank you so much!!

I am planning on coming through during April/May. The Seattle area would probably be in the last week, honestly.

This is so very helpful! Thank you!