Short Pump second most boring place in Virginia, real estate site says

It may not have the character and charm of the city proper, but I can think of many more boring places.

January 22, 2015; 1:15 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

It’s anything but a scientific survey, not to mention it’s fairly obvious the author has little knowledge of the area, but real estate brokerage website Movoto.com named Short Pump the second most boring place in Virginia in a recent listicle.

Using the most recent U.S. Census data available, editors ranked “the most mind-numbing places in Virginia,” as author Natalie Grigson put it, based on data points like number of non-fast food restaurants per capita (the more, the less boring), fast food restaurants per capita (the more, the more boring), number of nightlife venues, and average age of residents, among other benchmarks.

Says Grigson of Short Pump:

No offense, but when a shopping mall is your community’s big claim to fame, well, that’s a pretty good indicator of its level of excitement.

No, we’re kidding. Short Pump has all sorts of things besides the Short Pump Town Center! You could go to a bar—though Short Pump does have some of the fewest per person… Or you could hit up some live music—again, good luck finding any. How about some fine arts or delicious dining, with the fifth and sixth fewest per capita in the state…?

Ah, well. At least it has a bowling alley.

Well, here’s my take.

While Short Pump certainly isn’t the first place most Richmond (city proper) dwellers want to take a trip to, and the Far West End’s suburban sprawl may lack the character and charm of neighborhoods like The Fan, I can think of plenty other places far more boring than Short Pump.

That’s coming from someone who grew up there when there really was nothing to do in the immediate area. No mall, no movie theater; we hung out at SkateNation and a few other places that existed back then. West Broad Street was a mere two lane road, and farms and trees dotted the landscape–now mowed over in favor of strip centers and the mall, almost completely unrecognizable.

For the record, another Richmond area suburb, Mechanicsville, came in at number 9 on the list.

See the full list and read more about the ranking criteria on Movoto.

103.7 Play interview

I shared my views on Short Pump’s ranking in an interview with Melissa Chase and Jack Lauterback on ‘Play Mornings with Melissa and Jack’ Friday morning.