With classes having started or just about to begin at schools around the Aurora area, parents and students have hit the stores in full-force recently seeking the necessary school supplies.
Kendall York of West Chicago and her younger brother Brandon, 12, were shopping at a Walmart in St. Charles recently where Kendall said she was preparing to shop “from off of a long list.”
“My mother is busy at work, so I said I’d bring my brother over and help her out,” Kendall said as she and her brother looked at an array of notebooks. “My mom didn’t give me a budget – pretty much whatever it takes, just to get all the stuff off the list. I’d say it’s going to cost more than last year even though my mom watches the sales.”
Buying school supplies is something parents don’t put off, studies show. The National Retail Federation noted in a recent online article that 62% of shoppers “started shopping for the school year by early July.”
The group also said affordability, in light of increased food and gas prices, remains a concern for families as they have shopped.
Lindsay Ireland of Geneva, who was shopping recently at a Target store in Batavia, said she expected to spend more this year as her youngster is moving from kindergarten into first grade.
“The pleasure of that is that I don’t have to buy 18 glue sticks. It’s only eight glue sticks this year, but I will say this year that because my daughter’s school supply list is assigned rather than a shared pot like they were in kindergarten it’s going to be more,” Ireland said. “What’s interesting is they are spending more on writing utensils as opposed to coloring utensils for kindergarten. It’s is more money on pencils and sharpeners and erasers and all that as they are learning to write. I think I’m spending about 20% more for all of that as opposed to buying crayons or whatever.”
Ireland said she did start back-to-school shopping earlier than normal after noting that “that the school supply list came out in July and I probably had all of my supplies by the second or third week of the month.”
“I’m just filling out a few last-minute things now,” she said.
Elaine Perez was shopping recently at a Walmart in Batavia with a rather large list.
“I’m trying to spend less, but I have five children in school and I try to aim around $100 a kid. I’m hoping to do less and get generic instead of the fancy, cutesy stuff,” Elaine Perez said. “I feel like the cost of things is up.”
Deborah Nordan of Oswego was shopping for her grandchildren recently in St. Charles and said that in regards to school supplies she thinks the schools “have high expectations regarding the things children need for classes these days.”
“The prices, to me, are also a little bit higher,” she said. “But I like shopping for the kids because I know I’m connected to what they’re doing.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.