While Geneseo may be a small town, it provides students with many places to hang out, buy food and spend their precious few hours of free time. With so many places to go, The Lamron conducted a survey to find out which places are most popular, what students they attract and how those students get there. The study saw 262 responses over the course of three weeks, and students were asked to check off all the places they visited the most on a weekly basis throughout Main Street, Route 20A and on-campus locations.
Students were asked if they had access to a car. Thirty-nine percent said no, and 58 percent said yes, with the others providing no answer. Students were also asked how often they use the bus system at Geneseo, if ever. Thirty-eight percent of students never use the bus, 58 percent use it once a week, and 4 percent replied that they use it drastically more than that.
Mama Mia’s Restaurant and Geneseo Family Restaurant were the most popular places on Main Street, with 159 people visiting Mia’s regularly, and 137 visiting GFR regularly of those surveyed.
Mia’s is popular with all students. Seventy percent of freshman said they attended regularly, along with 59 percent of sophomores, 66 percent of juniors and 52 percent of seniors. While there is weak negative relationship, it is not especially significant.
GFR is not as popular with all students, notably the freshman class. Only 19 percent of freshman respondents claim to visit GFR regularly, in contrast with the rest of the college. Fifty-seven percent of sophomores, 56 percent of juniors and 59 percent seniors visit GFR regularly.
On Route 20A, Walmart and Wegmans are by far the most regularly visited locations. One hundred and seventy one students surveyed claim to visit Walmart regularly, while 222 visit Wegmans. One hundred and fifty three students visit both.
Walmart is most popular among freshman respondents, with 78 percent visiting regularly. Walmart appears to lose its appeal as students get older, as there is a negative relationship between class year and percent of students that visit. Sixty-six percent of sophomores, 63 percent of juniors and 60 percent of seniors visit Walmart regularly.
The opposite is true of Wegmans. Seniors and juniors both had 92 percent of respondents visiting Wegmans regularly, while freshmen and sophomores came in at 73 and 71 percent, respectively. This may reflect students moving off campus, which requires them to do more grocery shopping.
On campus, Milne Library and the MacVittie College Union were the most regularly visited. The Lamron has opted to look at dining halls on campus, and how traffic may have shifted now that Letchworth Dining Hall has been introduced.
Letchworth is apparently the anchor of the dining facilities, as 35 percent of those surveyed claim to visit regularly. This is compared to Fusion Market’s 29 percent, Red Jacket’s 6 percent and Mary Jemison’s 6 percent. Freshmen were the dominant demographic in every dining hall except for Letchworth, which boasted 70 percent of sophomore respondents.
Fusion Market was also the only dining facility that saw high percentages of juniors and seniors, with 22 and 14 percent respectively—this compared to the less than 4 percent for the other facilities. Altogether, the data collected gives some insight into the popularity of varying establishments, but also the students they’re attracting.u