Portsmouth Ave, Exeter

While locals might find the emphatic historical charm (and inflated touristic prices) of the city's main street a bit twee, they often flock to the attractions along this busy highway. While the strip-mall feel is decidedly less charming than the atmosphere city's colonial centre, it's nevertheless a very useful street - one of the town's few local grocery stores, the organic take-out venture Off the Vine, provides excellent soup, salad, sushi, and groceries, while the enormous Stop and Shop is home to the town's only Starbucks. While this area is functional more than aesthetic, it's nevertheless a good place to shop at "local" rather than "proud Academy parent" prices. Plenty of chain restaurants, including Denny's, have outlets here, as do a number of the town's delivery pizzerias. There's also a Staples, a sport shop, and plenty of similarly useful stores. Pad Thai, just at the beginning of Portsmouth Avenue, is very popular with students and locals