Wyoming Has One of the Least Amount of Hoarders of Any State

There is plenty of junk that people like to hold onto for whatever reason. It could have some weird sentimental value, or maybe you just think somewhere down the line you are going to wear that 12-year old shirt that is two sizes too small for you at some point. The point is, lots of people hoard stuff. But apparently, not many of those people are in Wyoming.

According to Turbo Haul, Wyoming residents are not ones to hang on to a lot of things for no good reason. We do a relatively good job of letting things go so we can throw them away, especially when compared with most states in the country. In a recent state-by-state survey, an average of 25.5 percent of residents in each state considered themselves to be hoarders. In Wyoming, that number drops significantly to only 9.8 percent. Look at us! Getting rid of useless stuff seems to be a key characteristic for Wyomingites.

Washington, D.C. was included with the list of the states in the survey and had only 2.8 percent admit to being hoarders. New Jersey, of all states, tied with Wyoming's percentage of self-admitted hoarders for 2nd overall in the nation. The only other states breaking the less than 15 percent barrier were Mississippi and Minnesota.

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In contrast, South Carolina had the most at 50 percent, followed by Ohio with 42 percent, and Alabama with 41.7 percent. Those states may have a problem with letting go of stuff.

The biggest reason for hoarders hanging on to stuff was expectedly sentimental value. But c'mon, does that old box of easy listening tape cassettes really have that much sentimental value? The next highest excuse for holding on to things was the potential need for it in the future. Sure, that Blackberry phone that no longer has service might come in handy when Blackberrys come back in the year 2027 (that is sarcasm, the Blackberry is never making a comeback). It seems that clothing and electronics are the top two items that people hang onto the most as well.

Take it from us in Wyoming, if you are done with it, you're not currently rotating it in your wardrobe, or it is a DVD player that is not currently hooked up and you will never use it again, get rid of it. Stop hoarding all the stuff! The less clutter you have in your life, the better! We're all about dumping useless junk in Wyoming and that is definitely something to be proud of. Everyone else, be more like Wyoming!

CLASSIC CHEYENNE: The Cole Shopping Center

In December of 2020, Blue Federal Credit Union completed its new headquarters at the corner of Converse and Pershing in Cheyenne. Well, it’s not so much a ‘corner’ as it is the smooth edge of a roundabout, but anyway. Before Blue FCU built its new campus, the site was at one time a premier shopping destination for Cheyenne. From the 1950s through 2016 it was Cheyenne's Cole Shopping Center.

Local businessman Frank Cole bought the land that would become a Cheyenne gathering place in the 1950s when the corner of Converse and Pershing was the edge of town. Starting in 1952, three different Safeway grocery stores called the Cole home over its half-century of existence. A plethora of other stores served the neighborhood too. From the movie theater to Blockbuster; there was the Cole Department Store, the fabric store, the East Branch of the Carnegie Library, and so much more.

As Cheyenne grew and changed, the Shopping Center fell into decline. Stores closed and new ones didn't take their places. The anchor of the area, Safeway, closed for good in 2016 with much of the rest following. In 2018 the buildings were demolished and the new construction began.

The Cole was so integral to the neighborhood that when we asked on social media for folks’ memories we were flooded with hundreds of responses.

Check out many of those memories below, along with several pictures of the Cole Shopping Center, mostly from near the end in the twenty-teens.