There is a lot of different places to shop for a lot of
different things in Clark County. With Vancouver being the largest City of
course most of the stores and the only covered mall are located here. The
outlying cities and towns have the basic grocery stores nearby, but you
generally migrate towards Vancouver and even Portland for some items. Below is a
quick look at what you can find in the area.
-
Amboy Stores
& Shopping Amboy is not what you'd call your one stop shopping town,
but it does have the an adequate grocery store and a few little shops. These
service people of the more rural North Clark County, including Yacolt and
those living out towards Cougar. Len's Amboy Market is also a popular stop
during the summer for many that head up to the lakes in this area.
-
Battle Ground
Stores & Shopping Battle Ground continues to grow and with the new
502 interchange from Interstate 5 seems as though it will comparably continue to
grow fairly rapidly. One of the larger local chains, Fred Meyer is already here
and Home Base has already announced a new store here. Additionally there is an
Old Town Merchants Group that is active and continually trying to enhance
shoppers experience.
-
Brush
Prairie Brush Prairie doesn't have much in the way of retail shopping.
The main reason is that Battle Ground is just to the north and Vancouver and
Camas are both relatively close.
-
Camas / Washougal
Camas & Washougal at the eastern edge of the Vancouver Metropolitan area does
have a considerable shopping presence. It also includes a nicely renovated
downtown core area.
-
La Center
La Center is a cute little town that somewhat oddly does not yet have a full
service grocery store. I don't know where the residents of this town do their
regular grocery shopping.
-
Ridgefield
Ridgefield is another little town that seems to exist primarily do to the fact
it is on the Columbia River. Being just north of Vancouver, I assume most people
head to Vancouver for their groceries.
-
Vancouver
Vancouver is of course the Big City in Southwest Washington. No it's not full of
high rises or even very big mid rises, but it is a significant part of the
Portland Vancouver Metropolitan area. Just about anything you would find in a
significant Metropolitan area can be found for sale here with the exception of
furniture and major appliance stores.
Vancouver has the only indoor
mall in Southwest Washington and a number of
new car auto dealers. The reason Vancouver has very few furniture or major
appliance dealers is simple, Portland Oregon has no sales tax.
Sales tax in SW Washington is 8.2%. If a
purchase is going to be $300, many take off just across the river with the
intent of saving the almost $25 in sales tax. (Portland
Oregon Shopping)
-
Woodland
Woodland is an interesting City that lies partially in Clark County and
partially in Cowlitz County. It is a full service Little City or Big Town with a
chain Grocery Store numerous types of stores and shops and even a car
dealership.
-
Yacolt
Yacolt is tiny, very tiny and somewhat confusing. It has a smaller general store
and even has a bank, although it's beyond me how the bank is justified. I
suppose there are people from close by Amboy that would choose to go the bank in
Yacolt, but I really suspect that most people up in this part of Clark County go
into Battle Ground on occasion to do some more serious shopping.
