Page 4-Sunday, January 21, 1979-The Michigan Daily The Michigan Daily-Sunday, Ja When you're alone and lonely you life is can making you always BURLY, OVERCOATED executive exits the tall City Center Building and braves the winter air as he lopes down Main Street, balancing a briefcase in one hand, a Goodyears shopping bag in the other. Detouring momentarily from the wind, he ducks into a small bakery, confident he will be greeted by his first name, and re-emerges with a steaming cinnamon roll in hand. A shoppin A twenty-minute bus ride away, a Bechtel something fo Corporation employee spends his lunch hour town nor a s strolling through a muzak-pervaded Briarwood mall, strictly univ perspiring under his coat. He squints briefly at the people give li infinite watts of synthetic light radiating from the hop a bus o line of shimmering storefronts, and meets the jaded downtownF gaze of a salesgirl propped up against the doorway, participation arms akimbo. The Briar The dizzying, chromeplated expanses of shopping immediate a malls have invaded the country, in hundreds of in the estab cases inducing erosion of the. downtown sections of (AAT), a the cities at whose boundaries they lie. When organization Briarwood opened in 1973, many local merchants, coordinating officials, and residents alike thought the downtown "Our effor area was doomed. Yet Ann Arbor has proven that a restoring cor happy, healthy, and prosperous downtown can exist Executive D alongside an at least equally prosperous regional the rescue of shopping mall of national chain stores. Downtown the steamsho Ann Arbor has stubbornly refused to die: rather, it attitudes tov has pulled-itself up by the bootstraps and enjoys a Liberty Stre vitality and viability the city has not seen for years. Shop and Ri It is a venture such as this struggle for survival that demolition in illuminates Ann Arbor's unique status, a town extension. T boasting the diversity and open-mindedness that District Comi makes possible the support of both the traditional prompted th downtown and an ultra-modern mall. the relics up go ...Downtown! t By Elisa Isaacson g area here must essentially have r everybody. Ann Arbor is not a small uburb; neither is it an industrial nor ersity town. The conglomeration of fe to the city: some habitually drive or out to Briarwood, while the staunch patriotism of others has spurred in its renovation. wood scare generated only partial ction. A 1973 consultant study resulted blishment of Ann Arbor Tomorrow non-profit. contribution-funded dedicated to encouraging and g the downtown's renaissance. t for the first two years involved just nfidence in downtown," recalls AAT irector Carol Sullivan. Sullivan cited f three Victorian brick buildings from ovel as the "turning point" in peoples' ward aiding the area. The block of et that now houses the West Side Book ders' Hobby Shop had been slotted for order to make way for a parking lot 'he indignant cries of the Historic mission and many concerned citizens e city to reconsider and eventually put for auction, where they were quickly d leased for commercial use. ence, according to Sullivan inspired purchased an The experi Elisa Isaacson is a Daily night editor other merchants to consider upgrading their own storefronts. This storefront face-lifting was made eed'nomically feasible for most businesses by the Facade Loan Program, administered by AAT's financial companion, the Ann Arbor Development Council. In 1976, AAT completed a facade study, garnered the participation of six local banks and savings and loan institutions, and set up a low- interest loan fund to be used solely for the exterior restoration of downtown buildings. By spring of 1977, according to Sullivan, the program was flooded with "applications galore." " EOPLE JUST got on the bandwagon and said, 'Gee, that looks a lot better-why didn't I think about that when the paint started peeling six months ago,"' Sullivan explains. Photos by Andy Freeberg surveying many of the newly-renovated structures from her office windows above the Pretzel Bell on Liberty. And the fever certainly caught on; fresh paint and perhaps a new storefront logo brightened many of the seedier-looking buildings. But the primary trend was a return to the architecture of the past, an attempt to restore the structure's original appearance. Many of the landmark Victorian buildings, for years corroded with dirt, tacky paint jobs, or mere neglect, have once again bared their beautiful brick. "In Ann Arbor, we make the most of what we've got," insists Sullivan. "We're not trying to copy-cat anybody or duplicate Briarwood, and that's why we're a success. A lot of what people treasure about Ann Arbor is the downtown; when they say it's different from the Detroit suburbs, they're talking about downtown." Indeed, many people in the Ann Arbor community-the lifelong residents in particular-feel a special patriotism for their downtown. There is no denying the great variety one finds in.downtow.n shops, restaurants, and entertainment, and most regard this diversity as the very essence of the community. Customers seem to agree that downtown's selection of specialty shops is more stimulating than Briarwood's assembly line of franchise facsimiles. And a greater variety of stores and services will, of course, attract a greater variety of shoppers. "Diversification makes the downtown," declares Sandi Cooper, co-owner of the gourmet and kitchenware shop Complete Cuisine: Cooper says she feels such unusual businesses as the Tae Kwon Do studio are vital to attracting all sorts of people. Along with the individual specialty shops, sometimes run by entire families, comes personalized service. Hilda Maeder, an Ann Arbor shopper for forty years, claims that downtown, "you get-personal attention-the merchants know you and treat you like you're a friend, not just a customer." T HAT FRIENDLY, individualized service seems to be lacking at a great many of the Birarwood stores, according to shoppers and merchants alike. Discussing her recent Christ- mas shopping spree, Briarwood Singer's employee Phyllis Splitt declares, "I accomplished more in two hours at Jacobson's downtown than I did in my entire shopping here at the mall." Splitt complans that, rather than offering the customer courteous service, many of the Briarwood salespeople "just stand around chatting with each other. You can't find anyone to do anything for you. If you come from a small town, you know it used to be a different thing-you would go downtown where people knew you. But according to Imogene Hasley, assistant manager of Briarwood's Natural Chocolate Chip Cookie Company, the antagonism is also generated by the mall's customers: "During Christmas you'd expect people to have the Christmas spirit, but they don't-they are downright hateful and they take it out on the workers." Halsey also says the long hours at the mall breed the customers' insolence. The mall is open until 9:30, and the customers who remain until closing are tired, hungry, and cranky. Hasley claims that "my night hours are nothing but people harassing me," although she adds that she has many regular customers whom she finds quite friendly. Prices are another reason offered by customers to shop in the Main Street district. "I think the overall prices are lower," claims one downtown shopper. And though merchandizing is by definition intended to be lucrative, downtown merchants seem to enjoy telling folks they are not in the business for the money. Gary Wheat, a former employee of the Briarwood Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor now working See DOWNTOWN, Page 8.