The information we collected will be useful to not only the Los Alamos Chamber
of Commerce, but also for the upcoming Trinity Site Development Project. The
information may also help other local businesses find ways to improve the obstacles we
found in the way of teenagers spending money in Los Alamos. For example; merchants
may want to consider extended store hours with the knowledge that many teens are
committed to other activities until 6 p.m.
Some of the questions that arise are whether or not we could have changed
something in our process to receive better data. One problem we faced at the middle
school was the students thought that we wanted them to describe the spending habits of
their parents and families, but after clearing that up, the information we received was still
helpful. Questions that arose with us that are more on the topic of teen spending were
along the lines of students not being direct enough in answering some of the questions,
such as store names and brands. We hoped to have more stores and brand names to work
with and present in this report. Some suggestions of retailers that Los Alamos teens
would like to see here are Target, Gamestop, Hollister, Trader Joe’s, and a larger variety
of fast food.
The survey information is important because it represents a broad range of
teenagers throughout the County. We would like to extend a special thank you to Grace
Brown and Gerry Washburn and other administrators for letting us distribute the survey
through the schools, and to the teenagers who completed the surveys and helped us get
the information we needed to show the power of the teen's dollar. We would also like to
thank Barb Marcille for suggesting the spending survey as a first project and Joanna
Davis for her guidance and expertise