77 Kids by American Eagle

A few weeks ago, I told you about Do Good Day that we participated in to help kick off the grand opening of 77 Kids by American Eagle. I was holding off on posting this follow up post, because I wanted to share the great pictures we took while we were there. However, we are having issues with our camera and rather than postpone it any longer, I have decided to go ahead with the post any way.

77 Kids is the children's line of American Eagle. They have been an online only store for about 1 year, but recently began opening brick and mortar stores in malls around the country. My family and I were able to attend a special grand opening breakfast of the 77 Kids store at Carousel Center in Syracuse, NY. The store is a child's personal playground, with fun activities all through the store for them. The activities help keep the little ones entertained while the parents shop and are designed to help through every step of the shopping process.

One of the first activities the children can participate in is the photo booth/dj station/virtual dressing room. There is a boy's station and a girl's station, but really they can be interchanged if one is busy. My kids favorite part is taking their picture and then drawing on it with virtual spray paint. They can then have the photos printed to pick up at the cash wrap. When you pick up the pictures, two copies are given. You can decide to keep them both or keep one and post one on the wall of the store. While at the photo booth, your child can also use the virtual dressing room where they can choose from several different outfits on the screen and then stand in front of the camera to see how the outfit will look on them. After that, they can look at the dj station to see what songs will be playing on the overhead radio and to rate them. The store will keep the most popular songs and phase out the less popular ones. The sound for the dj station comes through on small speakers behind your child's head so that only those in the very immediate area can hear them. While here, they can also scan their special card to see what treat they will receive that day. The cards are like frequent shopper cards, but the kids just use them to get treats. They can sign up at the cash register.

Then we move on to the dressing rooms. While just like your typical dressing room in function, these are so much more fun for the kids. There are portholes on the door or the wall so the child can call out to their parents for another size or to come see the outfit, without having to open the door, especially nice if they have not gotten completely dressed or if they need help zipping or buttoning up. There is also a doorbell in the dressing room that lights up a bird to alert sales personnel that assistance is needed. The employees also have headsets that tell them when the doorbell has been pressed. Outside the dressing rooms, there is a bean bag toss for siblings to play with as they wait. There are also these lights that project a picture on the floor for little ones to try to step on. The pictures change location every so often (they may be shadow activated, but I am not certain of that) and the little ones loved trying to step on the picture before it moved.

In the toddler section, there is a small easel and crayons for the little ones to draw on and at the cash register, is a large chalkboard and chalk to keep the little ones entertained while mom and dad are cashing out. There is also a candy cart that each child can choose a treat from, during our visits it was full of a variety of candies, but that may change in the future.

The store is set up for boys on side and girls on the other, with the denims in the middle, kind of a meet up place for both genders. School age kids clothing is in the front of the store, toddlers and preschoolers are back near the cash wrap and infants is behind the cash register. There is a women's restroom and a family restroom, both with changing tables.

The quality of the clothes is great and they are guaranteed to last for 77 washes or they will be replaced. Also, if the child wears out of the clothes before they grow out of them, they will also be replaced. This includes not just the stitching, but also any pictures or writing on the clothing. I also liked that the jeans that had the worn through look (holes in the denim), have fabric on the inside so you child will not accidentally put their toe through it and really tear the denim.

I highly recommend that any one who gets the opportunity to visit a 77 Kids do so at least once. Even if you do not actually make a purchase, it is sure to be a fun experience. They put a lot of effort into the details of both their clothing and the store design and it truly makes this a unique and memorable shopping experience.

***Disclaimer***
This was part of a paid project that I participated in. On top of monetary payment, I also received a gift card to the store. Regardless of payment received, my opinions are my own and my post was not influenced by outside sources.

Do Good Day!

Back on July 14th, my family and I had the opportunity to work with some other great mom bloggers and 77 Kids by American Eagle. My family and I joined Clarissa, from the POSHpreneur, Pamela, from the dayton time, and Nichole, from Modern Style Mama, and their children, in Syracuse(NY) for a day of helping others. Our morning started at the North Area YMCA where we hooked up with the YUM mobile to hand out treats to those at the YMCA. After a while, the bloggers and our families headed out for pizza and wings (thank you Clarissa!) for lunch. We then hit Wegmans and picked up some food trays to bring with us to the Ronald McDonald House. Along with the food trays, which were to be dinner for those staying at the Ronald McDonald House, Pamela had bought a bunch of supplies that are always in need at the Ronald McDonald House (paper towels, laundry detergent, etc). Another fun thing we did throughout the day, was to hand out $1 bills to random people, encouraging them to pay it forward. Along with the dollar, there was a pamphlet that listed 7 ways a person could do good with a $1 and 7 ways they could do good for free. It was amazing to see how people reacted when you tried to give them something for free. It is actually a sad commentary on how little people actually help others when people are shocked that someone else would do something nice for them, just because.

The Do Good Day was sponsored by 77kids, American Eagle's store for the little ones. They were preparing for the grand opening of their physical stores in 11 cities. In each city, a blogging team was chosen to participate in Do Good Day and then to come to the store for the grand opening (I will blog about that later). Syracuse was one of the 11 cities that was fortunate to get a 77kids store in their area. The store opened at Carousel Center on July 23rd.

***Disclaimer***
The money we handed out as well as the money used to buy the items given to the Ronald McDonald House were provided by 77kids. As a blogger, I was also paid for participating in this project. While I was paid for this event, my opinions remain my own and are not influenced by anyone else.