that's my biggest pet peeve with the area I live in. We have this huge shopping mall (http://www.castlepointshopping.com/) on our doorstep - five minutes' walk from my front door - but no "real" shops whatever. No charity shops, no second-hand bookshops, no independent shops at all. If I want anything like that I need to take a bus into town, and I hardly ever do 'cause I'm a lazy bitch and Castlepoint sells everything I need to live. But I do find it depressing.