If you are basing you decision on where to go to college on which college/city gives you best access to sneakers, then I personally think that is quite problematic. Rather, your decision should be based on which school is better, especially with regards to your intended major. UGA is a better school than Ga State in various academic aspects, but I am sure there are certain programs at State that are better than UGAs. And then there is Ga Tech that is one of the premiere tech schools in the nation, so again, the best school is very dependent on what your program of study is.
State is a commuter school, and does not have a true college atmosphere in the sense that most cats that go there live all over Atlanta and therefore it does foster the same atmosphere as UGA does. Still, going to State provides you with access to all the wonders of the ATL, which far surpass what we have in Athens. You also have numerous other schools in the metropolitan area (all the HBCs, Ga Tech, etc) so there are a plethora of college age cats in the area. Atlanta has more clubs, more to do, a more varied (demographically) population, etc. But, Athens does have its perks. Athens has a plethora of bars (over 100) in a very small area that is basically 5 or 6 blocks downtown, unlike the ATL where everything is spread out. Drinking is also absurdly cheaper in Athens than the in the ATL. UGA also has pretty good football team, in the SEC nonetheless, and football is basically God up here, and going to games (along with gaming culture such as tailgating) is fun stuff. Sanford Stadium (the UGA football stadium) seats over 90,000 people (that is A LOT, esp. considering that the Georgia Dome only seats around 70,000). UGAs student population is lass varied demographically though. Again, being that Atlanta is only an hour drive away, I still go down pretty often for concerts (such as the recent Nas concert) and to hit certain clubs with my ATL peeps on occasion. There are numerous other perks to both the ATL and the ATH that I do not feel like listing because it would take forever. I suggest visiting both schools and talking to students as well as seeing for yourself what they are like.
As for getting sneakers in Athens, you can still get the regular stuff like GR Jordans and whatnot, but you are not going to find any spot up here that have a LS account or any place that has the newest Forces and Dunks. Atlanta is only an hour drive away, so if there is some sneaker that I am fiending for then I will just make the drive and cop or get some of my peoples in the A to buy it for me. I am down in the ATL a good bit on the weekends anyhow, so its not that big of a deal for me. Also, I personally for the most part only mess with older/vintage kicks, so my main sources for those types of shoes are Ebay or forums like NT.
I hope that helps.
Indeed.
Satyameva Jayate