People can wade past all those stylishly retro second-hand clothes to the back of the store and find a treasure trove of unwanted interior furnishings.
"We have a little bit of everything," said Becky Ammerman (senior-public relations), who works at the State College location.
Students come in search of things to fill their living space all the time, she added.
Prices range anywhere from about $3 to $60, depending on the size and quality of the items.
However, once students finalize their thrift-store transactions, there's the question of delivery — a service Goodwill doesn't provide.
Buyers need to make other arrangements, some of which end up being rather spur-of-the-moment.
Ammerman said she's seen people buy a couch, pick it up, and just carry it off down the street.
"They find any way to get it out of here," she added.
Shoppers willing to pay a little more for things that might be in somewhat better condition can go to the Furniture Exchange, 522 E. College Ave., which buys and sells new and used items.
Milt Kober, owner of the store, said he sees students throughout the year, but the biggest rush period is in August around the beginning of the Fall Semester.
And for $10, Furniture Exchange will take on the job of delivering new purchases, Kober said.
They've been known to go as far as Altoona and Lewistown, he added, therefore covering almost all of the area from which students commute to University Park.
If nothing but unused furniture will do and the wallet is willing, students can check out the selection at either of the two Wal-Mart stores around State College, which only stock new items from the manufacturer.
Bill Donatelli, manager trainee for the Wal-mart located at 1665 N. Atherton St., said it can be a challenge to anticipate what items will fly off the shelves most quickly each semester.
"We try to pick what they need," Donatelli said, but added that sometimes his store needs to reorder especially popular pieces of furniture.
Delivery is not offered year-round, however.
"Normally, we cannot (deliver) because we don't have a delivery vehicle," he said. "In August, we actually do provide delivery service."
Students without access to a car even try to bring home chairs, futons, or other smaller purchases on Center Area Transportation Authority buses, if the vehicle isn't too crowded. Usually, they're successful.
Living spaces aren't the only places that need furnishings for students.
In search of a couch for the Society of Physics Students lounge, Chaz Shapiro (junior-physics) looked to a locally run Web site.
Nittanyauction.com (www.nittanyauction.com), which came online two years ago, seeks to bring the success of eBay to Penn State and Centre County.
Shapiro found a couch for $200. But when he contacted the person who was selling it, he found out that the highest bid had not exceeded the "reserve price" of $600. Unfortunately, the vender wouldn't settle for anything less, and Shapiro came up empty-handed.
Despite such potential disputes, about 24 home furnishings — as of last weekend — were being placed on the virtual auction block at the Web site.
They included a bed frame, a few beds, some tables and several chairs. Some more unusual items such a portable spa, a coat rack and a Ping-Pong table were also on sale in this category.
There are, of course, last-resort methods of locating things with which to fill your space.
At the end of a semester, or after an especially intense party, some items of furniture appear on the sidewalk in front of houses and apartment buildings. Soon after, enterprising or otherwise desperate students will go out and pick them up before the trash truck does.
And if all else fails, there's always dumpster shopping.
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