Students spending more on dorm-room decor

updated 2:40 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2005

NEW YORK - Denim fashions may be all the rage this fall, but Erica Green cares more about dressing up her dorm room than dressing up herself. Green, an incoming junior at Goucher College in Baltimore, Md., plans to spend more than $500 on furnishings, from bright blue butterfly chairs and rugs to a TV-DVD combo unit.

“I can envision the room. I have been thinking about it for days,” said the 19-year-old Columbia, Md., resident.

Plenty of college students are joining Green in the fun of dorm room decorating. The trend has been a boon to home furnishings stores and big chains such as Target Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. Inc., who are all expanding their dorm room decor beyond the basic lamps and boring white organizing bins.

Retailers are offering a brightly colored array of products and high-tech furnishings like ottomans that vibrate to music. Even dorm room basics have undergone makeovers — backrests and bean bag chairs now come in lime green faux fur and milk crates have been replaced by aqua blue mesh cubes.

Merchants are also coming out with services to help students and their parents spend their money more easily. This fall, Target will begin offering free roundtrip bus trips from at least seven university campuses around the country to nearby stores. Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. and Linens ’n Things Inc. even feature dorm registries on their Web sites.

These merchants are all catering to a sophisticated generation, youngsters who grew up with high-tech gadgets and decorating shows, are used to having personalized items, and want to create a haven that shows their personality.

“They are used to having a lot of their own stuff, and they kind of expect to bring that personalization to college,” said Susan Schulz, editor-in-chief of teen magazine CosmoGIRL! College students have grown up customizing their cell phones and web pages and are used to having furniture collections designed for them, she said.

“These kids really have the tools to express themselves and create their own style,” said Schulz.

According to National Retail Federation, college students spent $2.6 billion in dorm room furnishings in 2004, not including $7.5 billion on consumer electronics like computers and TVs. Students spent on average $260.09 on dorm decor, and another $509.14 on consumer electronics, according to NRF.

“College students have money to spend, and stores are going all out. They have wandered into a gold mine,” said Ellen Tolley Davis, a spokeswoman at the NRF.

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