The lowdown on where to go to get the goods

Use this guide to painlessly find everything that you might need at Yale, from beanbags to fresh fish.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Elm City sprots plenty of places to spend some dough. Chapel Street(above) houses the Co-op, along with the Gap and several boutiques. Broadway(below) is home to the Bookstore, Cutler's and other stores.

By Brian Levinson and Jason Heller

Remember this: when your parents come to help you make the big move into a new home and new city, it is because they love you and want to make sure you will be blissfully happy at Yale--or because they are really excited to get rid of you after 18 long years of agony. So, for one week and one week only, they will buy you anything you want. Anything. So milk them for all they're worth.

In order to get maximum milkage, you must come up with a plan. There are three major commercial areas in downtown New Haven: Chapel Street, Whitney Avenue. and Broadway, all of which are right near campus.

Between the Yale Bookstore (77 Broadway) and the Yale Co-op (in the Chapel Square Mall), all your random needs--from toothbrushes to Arabian dictionaries to picture frames--will be met. However, it's probably a good idea to start your shopping elsewhere while your parents are still here to help you, because these two stores will be easily accessible year-round.

Furniture

Your common room will have to be ready--ready for days and nights of parties, movies, and, of course, couch duty. Naturally, you will need a couch. And some chairs too, because that hardwood, beer-stained floor gets mighty uncomfortable.

For furniture with history, make your way to the Salvation Army (274 Crown Street) just east of York. And while you're there looking for cheap and strange-smelling furniture, don't forget to check out their 8-track tape collection. Remember those? Neither do we. But they're there, and they probably smell better than the furniture. For cheap-o, relatively stain-free couches, you can't beat the Army.

Bargains aplenty can also be found at Goodwill Industries (887 Grand Avenue). Make sure to get there early because the best buys disappear fast. Or you could take a long, strange trip up Whalley to The Rubber Match (101 Whalley Avenue), where they sell futons, waterbeds, and drug paraphernalia. Really. Don't bring your parents.

There are also a few furniture stores on Chapel, but many are pricey, and their selection varies. Be wary of them, and also of upperclassmen on Old Campus. Some are trying to sucker you into buying the couch that their sophomore year roommate set on fire, but some have good deals to offer. And for the sake of convenience, there's no better place to buy furniture than on Old Campus, although a little haggling might be necessary.

Food

The places you will go all the time are Krauszer's (264 York Street) and Store 24 (25 Broadway). Trust us. Although the prices are a tad steep, the service a tad brusque, and the selection a tad interesting, they've got a monopoly on the whole damn town and there's nothing you can do about it. After all, where else are you gonna go when it's 3 a.m., that paper's not going too well, and you need a couple of Twinkies to get you started again? At Krauszer's, be sure to sample the delectable French Vanilla coffee, which contains enough sugar to turn you into Beavis for 20 minutes, and the sandwiches, which the bleary-eyed staff will gladly make with a variety of luncheon meats and condiments. At Store 24, check out the microwaveable burritos (even though you aren't allowed to have a microwave) and the bags full of those gross orange circus peanuts.

If you're in Silliman or TD, you'll wind up dropping more than a few bucks at Wall Food (82 Wall Street). It's exactly like Krauszer's and Store 24, except it closes at midnight and sells really tasty Dutch Mill brand donuts.

After subsisting on dining hall mozzarella bricks and M&M cookies for a few months, you might find yourself with a nasty case of scurvy or rickets. If this happens, head down to Jong's Produce (1147 Chapel St.), the only place near campus where you'll actually be able to find fresh fruits and vegetables. The staff is friendly, you can buy Asian specialty groceries, and the salad bar is very nice.

If you like looking at giant squids in ice in buckets, go to Great Wall of China (67 Whitney Avenue), which is only a few blocks from campus. It sells fresh fish, Chinese groceries, and assorted sundries and dry goods. Great Wall also offers a small eating area in the back--a bustling, hectic place to enjoy your General Tso's Chicken.

If you're feeling corporate, hop in your Saturn and visit Super Stop 'n' Shop in Hamden on Dixwell Avenue. As of now, it is the closest store to Yale that compares to the suburban mega-marts some of you may know from home, but it will seem huge to New Yorkers accustomed to the narrow aisles (and selections) of, say, Food Emporium or D'Agostino's. In addition, Shaw's supermarket will be opening sometime soon on Whalley Avenue.

GranCentral, near the medical school at York and George, is a mid-size urban grocery store that boasts a wonderful selection of Krasdale brand groceries. Yeah, it's small, but it's got a deli, bakery, and butcher shop, as well as a closer, more convenient location.

Necessities

A good place to buy necessities like soap and shampoo is Rite-Aid, with locations in the Chapel Square Mall and at 60 Whalley Avenue, just past the Holiday Inn, across the street from Whalley's array of nail salons. Taft Cosmetics (2 Whitney Avenue) is another spot to buy the basics, albeit at slightly higher prices.

If you have a membership at Costco, you're set. You can get both toiletries and food in bulk at the Orange outlet, and you will never have to buy toothpaste again. Stock your fridge with a 24-pack of Snapple.

There are few better opportunities than the Radio Shack in Chapel Square to squeeze Ma and Pa like a Tropicana orange. Also, this is the place to tell them you need a new, more powerful Walkman to drown out the chatter of your roommates, or to warn them they may never get in touch with you again unless they buy you an answering machine. Dads love to poke around in here, and you can find useful items like phone jacks or extension cords that will save you from future fights with your roommates.

In addition to the Chapel Square Mall, the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford contains a number of name-brand shops such as Linens 'n' Things, Pier 1 Imports, and Lechmere. In North Haven, you can find other useful stores like Circuit City.

For Group IV majors who will have to tackle Science Hill, a bicycle is a near-necessity. Zane' s in Branford carries 10-speed and mountain bikes. They also sell accessories and offer repair services. For the crunchy, outdoorsy Yalie, Trailblazer (296 Elm Street) offers hiking and biking equipment, in-line skates, and skateboarding essentials.

For school supplies, you can avoid the inflated prices of the Co-op and the Yale Bookstore by tramping over to Staples on Dixwell. Traveling farther up Dixwell to Hamden, you will find the department stores Bradlees and Caldor. For those of you who don't live in the East, they are like K-Mart and Target.

Tunes

As a result of several business closures, the only real record store in the city is Cutler's Record Shop (33 Broadway). In its charmingly old location with the unforgettable phonograph sign, you can find nearly any CD you desire. As far as independent record stores go, Cutler's is one of the best, despite its slightly hiked prices. In the back room, past the 10-year-old arcade machines, there's a huge selection of CD and LP singles, both new and old. The place smells a bit like your grandmother's basement, but its used CD selection makes you forget the stale smell. It's also a great place to browse while avoiding your work, and one of the staff members is a deadringer for actor Steve Buscemi.

Next door to Cutler's is its classical music counterpart, the only all-classical store in the area. It offers a comprehensive selection of Baroque, contemporary, and avant garde CDs and cassettes.

Clothing

Spirited Yalies can find all kinds of Yale paraphernalia at the Co-op and the Bookstore, Boola Boola (21 Broadway) and Campus Clothing (57 Broadway); the latter two have more reasonable prices.

A variety of small boutiques line Chapel Street. Endleman Two (1020 Chapel Street) and Seychelles (1014 Chapel Streeet) offer dresses and accessories, and the latter is a good place for a formal dress, but both are pricey and best for browsing. The same goes for Raggs for Men (1016 Chapel Street), Seychelles' male counterpart, and the Hello Boutique (1090 Chapel Street).

The Gap stands at the corner of Chapel and Crown, and Ann Taylor is right next door. Archetype, a women's boutique carrying items from stores such as the French Connection of New York, is a few doors down from The Gap on College St.

For vintage clothing, check out Zeitgeist. Located at 25 High Street, it offers everything from taffeta ball gowns to black leather jackets. Casablanca Boutique (1146 Chapel Street) is also on the vintage tip, running the gauntlet of '20s flapper hats, '50s faux-fur-lined car coats, and '70s flares. It also sells African sculptures, string bracelets, beaded jewelry, and tapestry rugs.

And finally, for those long walks to class, you can get a new pair of shoes at Barrie Ltd., at the corner of Elm and York Sts., where they've got styles that range from preppy to wacky.

Jessica Winter and Kenrick Ou contributed to this article.

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