<p>My son will be attending Amherst in a few weeks. We are flying from GA into Boston and then renting a car to travel to Amherst. Obviously we will only have suitcases, so we plan to purchase most of the dorm room / supplies when we get to Amherst / North Hampton. Can anyone please let me know what stores are nearby…Wal-Mart, Target, Bed, Bath Beyond etc? We will have time to shop late Friday and Saturday.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hey! When I went to Amherst for an open house, I remember driving past a whole bunch of shopping centers with Target and Wal-Mart and others. I don’t remember exactly where they were, but they were only 10 minutes max from campus. Why don’t you try searching for the individual stores online - I’m sure you can locate them in the area really easily. Or, if you’re staying in a hotel, search around there.</p>
<p>The Wal-mart and Target are about 1.2 miles from campus. You will see them on your right hand side as you drive into Amherst. The BB&B is a few exits back towards Boston, I think about a 10 minute drive if I remember correctly. You can go to your local BB&B and choose everything, and they will have it all waiting for you at the MA location. Make sure to take a stack of the 20% off coupons. They will take one for every item you have. </p>
<p>There is also a JC Penney, an Old Navy and other misc. stores. If he will be needing to get winter wear in a few months, there is also one of those outdoor type stores for coats, gloves, etc.</p>
<p>rjm1120, I’ll be doing the same thing. I’m buying everything on the 29th and 30th. I don’t know exactly what I need for the dorm room. I’ve read the site’s list of recommendations, but they don’t seem like anything essential. </p>
<p>GA2012MOM, where can I get those 20% off coupons?</p>
<p>When my son went last year we pre-ordered a number of things from BB&B here, and picked them up at the BB&B at the Holyoke Mall. Like GAMOM2012 said, it’s not far. I would say more like 15-20 minutes, but still not far. The other big box stores are really close, just down the road. We flew, too, and my son and I each checked one suitcase on the flight, and took our carry-stuff. I left him with the suitcases and flew back with just a large nylon tote bag. We got all his clothes and lots of other stuff to Amherst that way.</p>
<p>We also flew in on a Friday night, had Saturday to pick-up the stuff from BB&B and do a Target run and some other misc. shopping. Sunday morning was check-in for the dorms. It worked out great.</p>
<p>And, sad to say, the summer is swiftly passing by and in a month he’ll be leaving us once again… but he’ll be flying, checking in to his dorm and doing his shopping on his own this time. We’ll miss him. :(</p>
<p>OCCtransfer, the coupons come in the mail every week, a large post card type. They also are usually on the back page of their insert in the Sunday paper (if they have one). I think another parent said you can download off their website. Ask your family, friends and neighbors to save them for you for the next few weeks. I’m not sure how much we saved total last year using them, but just the comforter alone was a $50 savings!</p>
<p>I would advise you to order everything at your local BB&B, and then pick it up. The have everything you might need there. I suggest this, because This is a college town with UMass almost next door. The stores are picked over very quickly at the beginning of the year. Check with Target and see if they do the same thing. I thought they started that, as did Wal-Mart. They are all located within a 2 block area about 10 minutes from campus. As for necessities, you will need XL twin sheets, and any other bedding, such as pillows, blankets, comforters, etc. and then there are towels. BTW - you know those hospital hard plastic covered mattresses? That’s what you will get. So you might want something to soften it. I would get a power strip, as well. It’s up to you if you want a fridge but realize that if you store it over the summer it might be gone when you get back next year. FYI. You will get a desk, bed, chair and dresser and closet. What you do with it is up to you. Overhead lighting, no desk lamps, so get one. I would definitely stop on the way for cleaning supplies, though. The rooms were cleaned by the students and maintenance crew after the underclassmen left and then the senior rooms after graduation and then rooms used for Reunion were cleaned, but the school cut back on the hours the kids could work and they cut back on the numbers they hired. They have been standing gathering dust for 2 months. We used a disinfectant cleaner on the mattress and when it dried (just a few minutes), we put on a zippered mattress anti-bacterial cover. Everything went over that. It served us well.</p>
<p>Is there a way to rent a mini-fridge? or mini-fridge/microwave combo?</p>
<p>I have not heard of renting a frig, and microwaves are not allowed in rooms. I have heard as well what ejr1 has said about coming back in the fall and your frig being gone, but that is leaving it in basement storage in the dorms. D got a storage unit with 6 other kids from her sport, and they left everything in there. I’m sure your D’s team might do the same shesonherway.</p>
<p>Thanks GAmom! I knew I could count on you to point me in the right direction. DS and I hit the BB&B today and nearly completed his list of dorm room items. The only thing not in stock was the comforter set, so we’ll just pack that in suitcase.</p>
<p>It seems real now that we’ve done some shopping. Next onto winter clothes. Need a winter coat. I think we’ll be looking on line for that since heavy winter clothing won’t be on sale here until September.</p>
<p>Any other suugestions for essentials that we may be overlooking (dorm room or otherwise)? Of course we are waiting on the fridge, rug, TV until DS finds out his roommate.</p>
<p>I just checked the Walmart website. They have a function called “site to store”. It’s just like the BBBY option to send the linens to the nearest store.</p>
<p>So D2 and I are headed to Walmart to pick out a refrigerator, hangers, small blender, dustbuster, etc. Yay, something else to get done ahead of time!</p>
<p>Be careful of what kind of frig you buy. You can find old threads on here about them with the search engine. There are two kinds, and I can’t remember what they are called. Not brand names, but how they cool. One kind (don’t get) only cools to 20% below what room temp. is. The other kind cools normal. The “normal” one is slightly more expensive, but who wants a frig @ 50 degrees, if your room is 70?</p>
<p>D2 will want to make smoothies in the morning. That needs a fridge with a freezer. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I don’t know about the freezer in the smaller ones. I had bought D one for a 6 week Gov. Honors program in HS that had one. We got it at wal-mart for a little over $100 I think, but it was 4.6 cubic feet. Amherst says 4.0 is the max, but D says they don’t fuss about it, lots of people have the larger ones. I drove her to school, and we just bought her a smaller one up there at the Target. I don’t think it has a freezer though.</p>
<p>Your D will be the hit of the dorm with a blender! 
(and not for smoothies)</p>
<p>GaMom,
I realize the temptation for non-smoothie drinks, but I’m sure D2 will handle it OK. I just read the Amherst website and it says fridges of 5.0 is max. Also, it says bed has only 6" clearance. Can you tell me, are the students allowed to “loft” their beds? I’m trying to gauge the clearance under the bed with bed lifts or with lofting in order to fit a plastic 3 drawers for additional storage.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Wow, 5.0 huh. Then the 4.6 would be nice. D is at work right now so I can’t ask her, but I will have her respond later tonight if no other students answer this. I’m not sure about the full lofting, but I do know the bed frames have different settings to raise the mattress MUCH higher than 6". Not high enough for those 3 drawer plastic sets however. D has something similar to this in her room.</p>
<p>[Bed</a> Bath & Beyond - 6-Tier Tower Shelf](<a href=“http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16467847&RN=370]Bed”>http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16467847&RN=370)</p>
<p>Hers has one small drawer in it, and hooks on the side to hang her wet bath towels. She keeps linens on it, and stacks jeans on another shelf, and sweaters on one too. It is very narrow so it doesn’t take up much wall room.</p>
<p>I bought risers for my son’s bed, but returned them to Target because they weren’t needed. In his dorm, at least, there was a structure for the beds that allowed you to set them at various heights. Not sure if that’s true in all dorms, but the risers were useless for him.</p>
<p>He didn’t have a fridge or a TV. Unfortunately next year he’ll have both since his roommate is into having all that stuff. It isn’t the roommate he was originally going to have, so things are not quite as he’d hoped they’d be, but… sigh. College life.</p>
<p>The beds do go up higher than 6" in all the freshman dorms. (I was able to loft my high enough to keep my fridge underneath. Additionally, all the beds can be lofted. I believe the RCs have the equipment for that (and to bunk the beds as well). </p>
<p>-AC c/o 2012</p>
<p>So I haven’t found any online coupons, but I guess I’ll look in the papers when I get there</p>
<p>The small fridges have a small freezer. I wouldn’t rent one, since the dorm sized ones are under $100.00. You can spend more, but not really a need for it. D used the bed lifts for $10.00 at BB&B and that gasve her more than enough storage space under her bed. Last year, her bed had built in storage drawers. Don’t think the freshman dorms have those.</p>