Harleyq

After living in Shepparton for several years before moving on to another country town I can't say I miss it. On the plus side it does have some nice new housing developments, particularly near the Boulevard area, which encompasses walking tracks along the river/bush. Also, near the township of Kialla, which is the standout of the region with Kialla Lakes, Kialla Green and Seven Creeks being very popular for couples, families and retirees. However, the remainder of Shepparton's housing is quite undesirable, particularly since the local council prefers to tear down beautiful old historic homes and trees in favor of paid parking areas and boxy units.
In terms of shopping, the mall shopping strip has been relatively unchanged over the past two decades with people preferring to go to the 'Market Place' on the outskirts of town for shops including Big W, Safeway, chemists etc. This convenient all-in-one shopping location is great as it has free parking and a busy atmosphere. Unfortunately, since it's inception it has led to the relatively low commercial shopping growth in central Shepparton and the deterioration of smaller plaza locales, such as the K mart area located on the other side of town.
Shepparton has always been a migrant hub with a mixture of different cultures living within it. Over the past ten years this has increased with many new people choosing to settle in the region, particularly from Africa and the Middle East. Unfortunately, except for some small specialised supermarkets and deli's no new restaurants have been created. Hopefully, this will change in the future as this new group of people becomes a larger part of the community. Overall the main restaurants tend to be local pubs, Chinese, Thai, Taco Bill and of course take away joints such as KFC and McDonalds.
Schools in the area are mainly public, but a couple of private ones, notably Goulburn Valley Grammar exist. For higher education purposes a newly revamped La Trobe university is in the CBD area.
Overall, Shepparton caters well for the basics, but does little in terms of art, culture, entertainment, night life, restaurants, shopping, and higher education. Unless you have friends and family in the area this is not a place that will excite you.