The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Students survey tourist locales around county
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2008
Have you ever had a free Sunday afternoon and wondered what you and your family could do to spend time together at a place that all can agree upon? Students in Manchester High School's Lifeskills English class, along with instructor Peggy Sepetys, are working on just this problem.
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Over the course of the next several months, students will visit various tourist locales in Washtenaw County and then evaluate them in a joint project with The Manchester Enterprise.
This week, students visited Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor:
Briarwood provides something for everyone
By BJ Emmons
Recently our class went to Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor, not to go shopping but to evaluate things for children ages infant to 9 years old.
The first stop for little kids might be the playground located near JCPenney. It's complete with a soft turtle, ladybug, shoe and other fun things for kids to climb on. Also available for 50 cents are a selection of kiddy rides that both parents and children can enjoy.
There is also another exciting treat for young children — the little car-shaped strollers the children "drive" as you do your shopping. Strollers are located in the main mall entrances near Tricho Salon and Spa. They rent for $5 and receive a 50 cent refund when the stroller is returned.
Reactrix, located just outside Baby Gap, is a fun video game system designed for kids 1 to 9 years old. It is beamed to the floor and the kids can kick around soccer balls and other items.
"Reactrix is like a Nintendo Wii with motion sense. A person interacts with the projected image, the camera tracks his or her movements and feeds that information to the computer; the computer adjusts the image to make it appear to react to the person," the company said on its Web site.
A good place for little kids to eat is the Coney Island. The big tables and high chairs make it accommodating for the entire family.
For those who like to shop, both girls and boys will find lots to love at the Gynboree store where they have a wide assortment of clothes in a variety of colors.
At the end of the day, young and old will enjoy a cold and quick snack at Dippin' Dots, the future of ice cream.
Electronics popular with older crowd
By Roger Soblo
I went to Briarwood Mall to investigate things for children ages 10 to 14.
The most exciting place was the movie store F.Y.E. F.Y.E. has all the movies or music kids might want. The least exciting store (for some people) was the shoe stores because all you see is shoes.
The girls may like to go to Claire's Accessories because they have earrings. They have many earrings that most girls would enjoy buying.
The place many 10- to 14-year-olds might like to eat is Arby's. There is a lot on the menu. Their roast beef sandwiches are very popular. They also have good curly fries; they are crispy, hot and really curly. They have many different kinds of pop and other drinks. The location of Arby's is right next to Tricho Salon and Spa.
One final place younger children might like to visit is the Apple Store because it has I-pods, computers, music and the new iPhone, popular among teenagers.
Young and old find joy at Briarwood Mall
By Kelsey Walker
For a family outing, Briarwood Mall seems to be a big hit. We took a survey about what teenage girls and boys like to do at the mall.
Most girls say their favorite place to go is Claire's Accessories, Vanity or The Icing. They also like to go to the mall just to "hang out."
The boys said Hot Topic, Man Alive and PAC SUN are their favorite places to go. We also asked some adults what stores they like to visit in the mall. They said JCPenney, J. Crew, Macy's and Payless were great places to check out. They all said they enjoy the dollar movies the most.
When it comes to the various eateries in the mall, Arby's, California Pizza Kitchen and Kerby's Koney Island were ranked the highest in popularity.
There are many things to keep families busy with at Briarwood Mall
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