Students looking for spring wardrobes at a low price have a variety of places to explore.
The arrival of spring means saying goodbye to winter coats and scarves and saying hello to a new spring wardrobe — something easier said than done on a college student’s budget.
Despite April rolling around, some retailers haven’t seen an uptick in spring clothing sales, simply because it hasn’t gotten warm enough.
However, with fests still taking place, people are buying fest-themed items in order to stay in style, although it might be chilly.
Uptown Dog T-Shirts, which moved to its new location at 9 W. Union St. after the Union Street fire, offers a selection of Ohio University apparel, as well as special spring fest items.
OU T-shirts are offered at prices lower than $10, while fest tank tops range from around $10 to $15.
Mary Cheadle, the owner of Uptown Dog, said the fest tanks and fanny packs are some of the most popular items during the spring. They were also her recommendations for fest apparel.
“We hope that it warms up and people are able to enjoy the tanks,” Cheadle said.
For women who are looking for clothing to wear outside of the muddy and hectic fest environment, The Other Place at 43 S. Court St. offers lightweight tops ranging from $20 to $40, as well as T-shirts from $10 to $20 and sunglasses for $14.99, among other spring-appropriate options.
“Once warmer weather arrives we do very well with tops and casual shoes (such as) Sperry sandals,” said Doug Baker, the manager of The Other Place.
Baker said it has been hard to tell what is most in style this season, as the weather hasn’t been quite warm enough yet for women to start updating their spring wardrobe.
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Those who have a car on campus and make the hour-and-20-minute trip to Easton Mall in Columbus, can receive 15 percent student discounts at stores such as J. Crew, or Banana Republic with their student ID.
For students who wish to broaden their choices to outside of Athens, online retailers provide a wider variety than what is immediately available locally. About 198 million U.S. customers bought something online in the first financial quarter of 2014, according to comScore’s State of Retail report.
Students can sign up for 6 free months of Amazon Prime with a .edu email address, which allows free two-day shipping for many clothing retailers not found in Athens, including Levi’s Jeans and Clark’s Boots. After that free trial, a student membership is $49.99 a year.
Becca Cain, a freshman studying journalism, said she shops online at Express and Tobi.
“It’s nice here when you’re in college because we don’t really have a lot of stores around here,” Cain said. “It’s bad sometimes because you just shop too much.”
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