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Community Corner

Cranberry Needs Soap, Secrets and a Guy Named Joe

The township has something for everyone, but we could use a few more specialty stores and restaurants.

I have a vague memory from when I was 9 years old. I remember being quite anxious to turn 10 and enter into the mysterious age of double digits. I have no idea what I hoped to accomplish when I turned this magical age, just that it had been a very long time in coming, and I was excited about it.

Now that I am well into my double-digit years, a decade seems to pass in the blink of an eye.

Much has changed around Cranberry in the past 10 years. Businesses, restaurants, neighbors and stores have come and gone. Land that once was open field now has been developed into housing, commercial and retail space.

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Many longtime residents bemoan the loss of those wide-open spaces and two-lane roads. I probably would, too, if I’d been born and raised here.

I’m from the Midwest, however, and my husband and I moved to Cranberry just 10 years ago. In Cranberry terms that makes me 10 years old again.

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I like this Cranberry math.

As a newly licensed member of the Cranberry double-digit club, I would like to make a few suggestions.

First of all, we need soap here in Cranberry. And lotion, and body spray, and hand sanitizer, and lovely little gift sets packaged with bows. All of this smelly stuff should come housed in a Bath & Body Works store. Not sure where to put it? The Streets of Cranberry seems like the perfect location to me.

We also need a little help from Vickie. She has a secret that she’s happy to share.Her secrets come in a wide variety of colors, sizes, styles and shapes to suit just about any woman. Sure, you can drive down to Ross Park Mall to visit the store there, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a Victoria’s Secret in Cranberry?

I doubt that Vickie is friends with a guy named Joe, but he’s someone with whom I would love to get better acquainted. I’ve visited his store in Pittsburgh a few times and can’t get enough of his wonderful stuff. Trader Joe’s is a specialty grocery store that carries a wonderful assortment of hard-to-find and unique food items. There’s a little bit of just about everything at this store, and we need it all up here in the 'Berry.

Finally, with apologies to Olive Garden fans everywhere, we really need a few more non-chain restaurants in the area. Please. With sugar on top.

My vision of a perfect Cranberry includes a Thai restaurant that delivers, a coffee house that serves vegetarian fare and big bowls of homemade soup, and a pizza place that offers homemade pies hot off the grill with goat cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.

I know I lost you on the vegetarian fare and goat cheese pizza, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

There are a few more stores and businesses on my wish list, but I don’t want to be greedy. Besides, I need something to wish for when I turn 16, 18 and even 21.

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