<p>Since your student is likely to be at Oberlin for 4 or 5 years, I recommend you not simply restrict your exploration to whatever is within a 3 or 4 mile radius of campus. That would be boring, don’t you think? The closest large enclosed mall to Oberlin is probably the Midway Mall in Elyria. I think they changed their name to Westfield Shopping Center (don’t ask). It’s only 11 miles from campus. We never go there because my wife thinks the neighborhood across from the mall is a bit sketchy. But it has a ton of conventional mall type stores. My Oberlin daughter never goes there either, even though we gave her a car at the beginning of last year, her sophomore year. Here’s a link: [Midway</a> Mall :: A Property of Centro](<a href=“http://www.midwaymallshopping.com/index.asp]Midway”>http://www.midwaymallshopping.com/index.asp)</p>
<p>Not far from Midway Mall/Westfield Shopping Center is a smaller mall area called Cobblestone Square. It is located on Ebbe Road in Sheffield Village, Ohio. We’ve gone to the movie theaters at Cobblestone Square. The place is okay.</p>
<p>About 19 miles from campus in another direction is the Great Northern Mall (what most people call it) in North Olmsted. This is definitely a step up, in my opinion, and has a ton of strip mall shopping and hotels within a mile radius. A lot of Obie families stay in North Olmsted. I usually stay at the Marriott Courtyard here, and almost always run into Oberlin people (ask for the “Oberlin rate”!). It’s a nice area with more places to eat and shop than you can shake a leg at, and an easy 20 minute cruise down the road to Oberlin. We consider it worth it because the drive is so easy (almost no traffic except in the mall area) and you can’t beat the variety and quantity of choices. Nothing closer to Oberlin can match it. But some people can’t get deal with driving an extra ten minutes, so they miss out. To each his own, I suppose. Here’s a link to the mall which is legally called “Westfield Great Northern Shopping Center”: [Westfield</a> - Great Northern Shopping Mall](<a href=“http://www.westfield.com/greatnorthern/]Westfield”>http://www.westfield.com/greatnorthern/)</p>
<p>Literally in back of the Great Northern Mall is the Great Northern Plaza with even more stores: [Great</a> Northern Plazas :: 4954 Great Northern Mall, OH, 44070 :: 440-734-3721](<a href=“http://www.greatnorthernplaza.com/]Great”>http://www.greatnorthernplaza.com/)</p>
<p>To go upscale, you want to find Crocker Park in Westlake, Ohio. I can’t figure out whether Westlake or North Olmsted is closer to Oberlin. If you’re staying in North Olmsted, Crocker Park in Westlake is about 6 miles away, but I don’t know if that means further away or closer to Oberlin. I haven’t checked a map. It doesn’t seem to take any longer to drive directly to Crocker Park from Oberlin than it does to drive directly to North Olmsted from Oberlin, but it is a different route. Anyway, here’s a link to Crocker Park: [It’s</a> All Happening Here ? Westlake, Ohio || Crocker Park](<a href=“http://www.crockerpark.com/]It’s”>http://www.crockerpark.com/) </p>
<p>Whenever we visit Oberlin, we always make time to go to Crocker Park. The shopping is a little too pricey for my taste, but there are some cool places to eat like Liquid Planet, Vieng’s Asian Bistro, and First Watch, and the movie theaters are plush.</p>
<p>When you’re tired of shopping and eating, there are two other huge attractions in the area: the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and the spectacular Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I think you can get to either one in about an hour.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>