Posted on 07/31/2009 8:48:00 PM PDT by Steelfish
Back-to-school sales suffer
By M.S. Enkoji Jul. 31, 2009
Jeans for $29, the sign reads.
What's a mother to do if she has two daughters about to go back to school?
"The sales are really enticing," said Janet Weeks, who has a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old. "That's a pretty good deal for jeans."
But she's a teacher who is a little worried about her job at McClatchy High School. So moderation is the theme for this year, said Weeks, who is passing up a lot of the deals and bargains.
"This year, they can probably start the school year with shirts and shorts from summer and we can wait a bit on the jeans and sweat shirts until they really need them," she said. "Instead of Macy's, we'll do H&M."
Traditionally, retailers rely on a midyear wave of back-to-school spending. But consumers like Weeks have signaled belt-tightening this year.
"It will be challenging," said Kathy Grannis, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C.
Retailers also view back-to-school shopping as a traditional prelude to the holiday season, mainly as a measure of consumers' willingness to spend, Grannis said.
The forecast for the holidays is slight optimism tempered by reined-in expectations, according to retail watchers.
Most retailers have already done holiday season ordering and they're not buying a lot, said George Whalin, a long-time retail consultant from Carlsbad.
For back-to-school spending, the NRF predicts an almost 8 percent drop from last July, making it a $47.5 billion season, including shopping for college-bound students. The NRF, in an annual online survey, found families will spend an average of $549, compared to $594 a year ago, to resupply kindergarten through high school students. The priciest category is college freshmen, whose families will spend an average of $821.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Oh crap! Once the ‘RATS read this, the taxpayers will be buying school clothes for “the children.” This “hope and change” crap is sure knocking the hell out of my wallet. Well, the Marxist pig told “Joe the Plumber” he was going to do this so we really can’t be surprised.
My kids are reusing binders from last year and clothes aren’t even on the radar. Each got one new pair of jeans on sale at Walmart for $10 and they still have shirts left over from summer and some jeans from last year that they haven’t outgrown.
Paper and pencils are about all I’m doing this year. And I intend on buying a huge stack of both while they are like a dime a pack or something and use it all year long.
Smart mom.
Costco jeans are a lot less than $29. Where is this mom shopping? Or...Try Goodwill. Jeans there will be 4 to 5 dollars.
What our family saved in school clothes more than paid for curriculum and other expenses.
Yep. I bought $50 worth of clothes for my three girls today. I told them they have to wait until it starts to get cold for anything else.
I’m worried about the school supplies though. I spent over $200 last year for four children. The teachers are NOT getting everything they demand this year.
Check out thrift stores and yard sales. Cheaper, and better quality, and more variety than WalMart.
Next weekend is also 'tax free' shopping in Missouri, a yearly occurrence for back to school shopping.
I know, I had a discussion and I usually get everything on the ‘wish list’, but they would have to be satisfied one item for each kid (3).
I was happy to notice that they stopped the crazy demands this year with “3 ring binder 1 1/4 with pocket and 7 tab dividers”, etc...
It made me regress to my younger days to see a school supply list that said “Folder. Paper. Pencils. Pens (or crayons for the youngest)” Oh yeah, and graph paper for my soon to be highschooler.
Christmas is going to be rough if you’re a retailer.
HA! I thought I was the only one thought “$29 is a good deal for jeans that a kid will outgrow in months?? I must really be a cheapskate”.
Wait till you hear the details about the great Christmas Present Bailout of 09’...
Teachers have no business handing out supply lists that go beyond absolute essentials, and I can’t imagine what’s absolutely essential beyond paper, pencils, and pens. Maybe a binder, but those can be found at thrift shops and yard sales for a quarter and can be reused year after year. It really would make a lot more sense for those supplies to be bought in bulk by the school and resold to parents/students at cost.
What I don’t understand is why, when so much is spent per child on taxes for education, why the parents have to buy paper, pens and binders? You’d think almost $10,000 per child would include paper and pencils.
Oh I DEFINITELY hit the yard sales. And never frown at a friend’s offer of hand me downs.
I have a linen closet in my hall that is a ‘clothes closet’. That’s where last seasons clothes go that might fit next season or the season after that for the youngest. That’s the blessing of all girls, hand me downs. But I try to keep an eye on sales for her too so she gets some new stuff too.
Oh oh oh, this past weekend I was at Walmart and the lady had just put a sign on a table of girls shirts for ONE DOLLAR! I bought 15 shirts and we are talking Disney Princess, Pink Panther (that apparently is the all the rage again) and Tinkerbell! Some other ones my middle school girls like too. So I guess I did buy more than the one pair of jeans. But heck, I couldn’t pass up nice shirts for a dollar! I had totally forgot about those. Cool, now I only have to worry about pants!
I don’t know, the budgets usually don’t allow for nonessentials like germx and tissues. Of course we survived childhood without all that too.
The problem with Walmart jeans is that they fray at the bottom shortly after purchase... at least that has been my experience.
I agree, the Walmart jeans are pretty lousy. The Sam’s Club jeans, from the same company, at the same price (within a buck or so) are tough, with good pockets, and sewn to last. I’d go with Sam’s Club before Costco before Walmart.
This is another area we saved as homeschoolers. My husband would bring home the discarded computer print outs for us to use. We never bought paper. The kids never had a back pack, and had almost no need for binders.
Quit being so rational!
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