<p>The IKEA isn’t all that close - we made several trips there last summer when son was furnishing his off campus house (so our advice would be sure to not forget anything when you are there - it’s a pain to have to drive there again!). There is a Bed Bath & Beyond about 10 minutes away (I think in Wilmette?). I think there is a Target within 10 minutes of campus too - I remember going to one with my son his freshman year.</p>
<p>The Target isn’t too big a problem unless you’re picking up something that is unwieldy in a shuttle (I believe there is a Sunday shuttle that goes from NU to Target).</p>
<p>I compiled a quick list of the Yelp pages of the stores mentioned (based on closest driving time from NU Evanston campus):</p>
<p>Costco - [Costco</a> Wholesale - Niles, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/costco-wholesale-niles]Costco”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/costco-wholesale-niles)
IKEA - [IKEA</a> - Schaumburg, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/ikea-schaumburg]IKEA”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/ikea-schaumburg)
Trader Joe’s - [Trader</a> Joe’s - Glenview, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/trader-joes-glenview]Trader”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/trader-joes-glenview)
Bed Bath & Beyond - [Bed</a> Bath & Beyond - Lakeview - Chicago, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/bed-bath-and-beyond-chicago-3]Bed”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/bed-bath-and-beyond-chicago-3)
Target - [Target</a> - Evanston, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/target-evanston]Target”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/target-evanston)</p>
<p>Hope that makes the parents’ back to school shopping a bit easier.</p>
<p>Also, don’t underestimate Amazon Student Prime to those of you not aware of it (or that don’t have email addresses yet):</p>
<p>[Amazon</a> Student](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info]Amazon”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info)</p>
<p>You can buy a lot of non-produce grocery items with free 2-day shipping that should take care of a lot of shopping needs, especially in the winter when the last thing you want to do is walk to Whole Foods or dig your car out of the snow to go driving.</p>
<p>@Oyama – Thanks so much for all of these tips! I had never heard of the Amazon Student Prime service and am betting D hadn’t either!</p>
<p>Yeah. Best part of that is there is no minimum purchase required for free 2-day delivery (versus their standard $25 minimum for free shipping).</p>
<p>I’ve bought so many things that are under $5 for the entire order and I don’t know how Amazon is making any kind of profit on that. The $3.99/item for overnight shipping is ridiculous as well.</p>
<p>Oyama, sorry to quibble, but the Wilmette and Skokie Bed Bath & Beyonds are both closer to campus than the Chicago/Lakeview store. But maybe you are going by the stores convenient to mass transit?</p>
<p>Oh no idea. I totally just Google Mapped the locations and sorted by driving time central to NU.</p>
<p>I’m an entering grad student, so I’m still doing all remote research on the subject.</p>
<p>I recently had a student at another school say that she and several friends share a storage space near campus to keep extra stuff (winter clothes come to mind offhand). Does anyone know if NU students do this, and if so where the storage location is that’s nearest to south campus?</p>
<p>I wanted to add some current Evanston hotel reviews for the record. </p>
<p>At Wildcat Welcome this weekend we stayed first at the Evanston Best Western and moved to the Orrington Hilton for the final night.</p>
<p>They were surprisingly close in price, but as others have said the Orrington is MUCH nicer, so if you ever have a choice, go with door number 2! The Best Western felt a little seedy and didn’t even have a bellman on duty, which was a HUGE pain during move-in weekend. The BW room was fine, but the Hilton was so much nicer for the price.</p>
<p>We’ll be at the other Hilton (Garden Inn) for Family Weekend, so I’ll add an update on that afterwards.</p>
<p>There aren’t any walkable storage spaces. There’s a Public Storage on McCormick that I shared with some fraternity brothers one summer to keep some junk and the UHaul on Dempster but you need a car. </p>
<p>But that was for the summer, when i need to keep my fridge, futon, etc. somewhere. If you need a storage space during the year, you’ve brought too much stuff to college.</p>
<p>@suppasonic - agree with your “too much stuff” comment, and amazingly all of D’s things fit into her shoebox-sized dorm room. But she doesn’t have winter clothes there yet, so we may have to reposition seasonal clothing (i.e. bring summer stuff home with us) during Family Weekend.</p>
<p>I also forgot to add that after spending time there, I’d easily rate Evanston on par with Ann Arbor as a fabulous college town. Evanston seemed a bit more upscale overall, and is probably less school-centric since NU is so much smaller than UMich plus it’s got such great proximity to Chicago, but both towns seem like they’d be awesome places to live during college years!</p>
<p>Living now in Ithaca, I can safely say Evanston is an incredible college town- albeit still wanting of certain amenities.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor is too reliant on cars, in my opinion. I just visited a friend starting grad school there a few weekends ago (she doesn’t have a car), and we were extremely limited in where we could go.</p>
<p>And arbiter, what program are you starting at Cornell?</p>
<p>Law .</p>
<p>Congrats into getting into a T14, man! Just try not to get lonely in Ithaca!</p>
<p>MomCares, I was at the Best Western last Friday/Saturday pm, after roadtripping to Evanston with my S for his senior year. It was the first time I’ve stayed there, we usually stay at either the Orrington or most recently the Garden Inn. I agree, the BW lobby is pretty seedy. The room was fine though - it had been recently renovated. It was the only hotel I could get in to in Evanston last minute. I would stay there again if I couldn’t get in the other hotels. The Other Brother coffee shop a block away was a nice find - highly recommended for great coffee.</p>
<p>The big brother (lame pun – I know) to The Other Brother is ‘Brothers K Coffehouse’ down on Main. I’ve been to both and the menu (especially the food offerings) is more complete in the original.</p>
<p>Great tips on the coffee shops!</p>
<p>@jrpar - We probably crossed paths! How does the Orrington compare to the Garden Inn? Based on reviews of the Orrington on TripAdvisor, I gather that I got lucky in getting a room with a huge walk-in closet and a very large bathroom. My room there was quite nice.</p>
<p>Has anyone stayed at the Hampton Inn in Skokie near the large Westfield mall?</p>
<p>Everyone should stay in the Margarita European Hotel at least once in their kids 4 years at NU. It’s a wonderful little place that is a throwback to another era and very kitschy.</p>