Shelves filled up to the high ceilings and overflowing with pillows, sheets, towels and blankets, all in deliciously fresh colors. Racks and rows stacked with cutlery, dishes, pots and pans, all in bright plastics and shiny ceramics. Garbage pails, storage bins, bathroom supplies and outdoor equipment. Even if you just go in for one item, it’s a good bet you’ll come out with more after the home-decorating bug bites.

From freshmen buying brand-new bedding to upperclassmen replacing worn out items, many students from Boston University and Boston College say they make an annual trip to the mammoth Bed, Bath ‘ Beyond in Landmark Center near Fenway Park. This year was no different.

On move-in weekend, BC sophomores Stephanie Harcrow and Ellen Giles said they came to Bed Bath ‘ Beyond to replace the storage bins they threw out at the end of last year.

But although they came just to buy storage bins, they got distracted by other items in the store as well – ‘the little stuff that adds up to be a freakin’ lot of money that you waste every year,’ Harcrow said.

For BU College of Arts and Sciences junior Gabriela Bacares, it is easier to buy those little things here in Boston than travel from her home in New York with a ‘hectic, crazy mess in the car,’ she said.

Bacares, who made this year’s pilgrimage to Bed Bath ‘ Beyond to buy new towels and pillows to spruce up her room, said she does not mind spending more money at Bed Bath ‘ Beyond than she might at some stores at home.

But some parents experienced a fair amount of shock when the total rang up at the register. Claudia Montoya, mother of College of Communication freshman Camila Castellanos, said she would rather buy things at a cheaper price after she paid more money than she would have liked to on Castellano’s purchases.

For the mother and daughter who came from Dallas, Texas, however, it was necessary to shop for larger back-to-school items like an iron, lamps, pillows and bedding in Boston.

‘I don’t think this place is inexpensive. It’s just convenient,’ Montoya said, griping that the high prices were unrealistic for student shoppers. ‘This is for students and things are supposed to be affordable, but I don’t think they are.’

But Castellanos, who loaded the trunk of a taxi with bags full of purchases that would make any Warren Towers room shine, said she was satisfied with the cost of her purchases, with one exception.

‘The pillows were expensive, I think. Everything else was OK.’