For freshman Kimber Riley, going to Wal-Mart for Midnight Madness this past Friday was a no-brainer.
“I needed stuff from here,” Riley said. “I heard you could get things for free. I also heard it’s one of those things you shouldn’t miss.”
Midnight Madness was an event hosted by the University. It provided transportation for freshmen students to go to either Meijer or Wal-Mart after the end of move-in day.
“The biggest thing is just making sure we have the items they need,” Tom Kehres, store manager for Wal-Mart in Bowling Green. “It’s making sure we got the wide mix of everything.”
Midnight Madness is also a way to help students get familiar with the town.
“We are open 24 hours a day anyway, so for us it’s to let the students know where we are,” Kehres said. “They might not even know where we are located, so to have the opportunity for them to come over on the bus and see where we’re at, it’s a big advantage for us.”
Midnight Madness for Wal-Mart is geared toward providing students with what they forget from home, Kehres said.
Maya Rothman, freshman, was one of the students who needed to find things she forgot at Wal-Mart.
“I forgot a lot of stuff at home,” Rothman said. “I wanted to come and get what I needed.”
Midnight Madness was scheduled to last from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday night. However, the buses arrived to Wal-Mart much later than expected.
“They came much later than we had thought they would,” said Kehres. “I asked around at 11:30 and nobody was there. They didn’t show up until about 12 and it didn’t end until about 1:30.”
Meijer was the other stop for Midnight Madness and it has hosted back to school shopping for other colleges before trying it at the University.
“It started out where we did some of the major colleges,” said Rod Unsinger, second-shift store director for Meijer in Bowling Green. “It’s worked out for the whole company to wherever there is a major college we do a back to college night.”
Like Wal-Mart, Meijer participates in Midnight Madness to advertise its location to the student body.
“It’s a chance for people who might not know Meijer, whether they come from out of state or don’t know were our stores are, to see what we provide to them,” Unsinger said.
Freshman Tyler Porter came to Meijer because he heard a lot about the event.
“It was advertised a lot,” Porter said. “I wanted to go to be with my friends and to be a part of everything.”
Already familiar with Meijer, freshman Brooke Heuerman came for the deals to save.
“I came to Meijer for the discounts and the free stuff,” Heuerman said. “It’s something to do. I shop at Meijer a lot anyways.”
The event bussed students to both Meijer and Wal-Mart. Sophomore Quiana Douglas took advantage of the drive.
“I came because the school was offering a free ride,” Douglas said. “It’s a way to stock up for stuff I forgot.”
