COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
For some like Amy Stonecipher from College Station, Texas, it's taken weeks of planning.
"About two weeks, we packed a week before and then we shipped everything," said Stonescipher.
Everything she thinks she'll need for her freshman year apart from her twin sister.
"Jewelry holders, mattress pads, bedding, clothes, yeah, pretty much anything you can think of," she said.
She wasn't the only one hoping to beat the rush of moving into the USC residence halls. So were the Ways, who's daughter is on the 11th floor.
"Earlier in the day the weather would be a little cooler," said Charlie Way. "Hopefully the crowds would be a little less, hope to avoid some of the rush."
While students and parents cringe at the lines, local business owners are smiling. Hotels like the Clarion Hotel's 160 rooms are sold out.
"June, July, and August are typically the slowest times of the year," said Managing Partner Bill Ellen.
At the Blue Marlin on Gervais St., they're expecting crowds famished after moving boxes all weekend.
"The more customers you serve the more food you need to have," said Blue Marlin General Manager Brian Dukes. "So we've been gearing up this week, making a bunch of she-crab soup and crab cakes."
Move-in weekend is a huge economic boost with the opportunity to make a good impression drawing parents back for another weekend this fall.
"I tell our staff 'This is a way we can make a great impression so folks will come back, the students will come back to eat,'" said Dukes.
Because with plenty of good match-ups on the football schedule, businesses know this weekend is just the first of many busy weekends to come.
You'll need a little patience this weekend downtown because there will be 7,000 more cars than there are parking spaces available.
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USC students move into Capstone House
