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knobbly t1_j2hvwoa wrote

Assuming that you're going to Smith? Typically the students eat at the dining hall, but State Street deli and market is going to be the closest place for you to get dorm snacks and light groceries! Walkable from campus.

If you need a real grocery haul, the Big Y in Northampton is a dang delight and is a bike ride away (there is a bike path running past it!) Stop & Shop in Northampton is a little closer of a bike ride but the produce section is somewhat disappointing tbh.

You'll probably be 99% set for food with the dining hall, but it's so worth it to get into town if you can (drag your floor mates along for some bonding!) Shelburne Falls and Haymarket in town are great cafes, there's some cute clothing stores, and if you take the B43 bus (free with your student ID, leaves from campus), you can get to the bigger mall the next town over if you need to do a target/trader joes run or pick up some winter gear.

Welcome to western mass! Best part of mass - don't tell the Bostonians 😉

EDITING TO ADD: can't believe I forgot about deals and steals!! It's a little overstock store in Northampton with close to expiration canned and dried foods. They have the best prices on most things for sure and have a weirdly good selection of gluten free or other specific diet stuff like Bob's red mill products. Also a weird amount of discount Dansko clogs. It's an experience.

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teenytinyvoid t1_j2i4r4a wrote

This sketches some people out but Big Lots also carries a ton of random, quality and interesting foods for cheap. There’s one in Northampton, as well, but I haven’t been in close to a decade. So I can’t speak to the selection/prices anymore.

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UniWheel t1_j2llxq4 wrote

>Assuming that you're going to Smith? Typically the students eat at the dining hall

Indeed, even compared to many other schools Smith seems to be very self contained with students rarely seen much beyond the immediate area of the campus

>If you need a real grocery haul, the Big Y in Northampton is a dang delight and is a bike ride away

Yes, but it's worth checking Stop and Shop, too. Some things are better at one, some at the other. And watch the sales each week, lots of stuff is a ripoff at its usual price and should only ever be bought on sale.

>(there is a bike path running past it!)

No, there's no bike path near Big Y. That's Stop and Shop.

To get to Big Y from Smith one could take State and get on the bike path behind Stop and Shop which then intersects Jackson Street, but that leaves Jackson Street itself and the goofy intersection with Cooke. Or one could just go up Elm to Woodlawn to Jackson, though technically turning left onto Elm on the return is not allowed.

There is technically bike lane (not "path") on the portion of King Street between Big Y and Damon/Bridge, but King Street is not a very sensible way to get there on a bike.

Ironically there is more or less "bike path" to the Big Y way over in Amherst but while Trader Joe's, etc that one would go past in Hadley are probably worth it (and until Northampton's opens late spring, Aldi) there'd be little reason to go to the Amherst Big Y rather than the Northampton one.

But the whole area is great to bike around - there are a tiny handful of roads to avoid but most of the ordinary ones are great.

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