Does your child need school supplies? We compared prices at 5 metro-east stores
Back-to-school spending is expected to reach record levels this year as families with kids in K-12 are planning to spend an average of about $890, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey. This amount includes school supplies, electronics, clothes and shoes.
The federation’s survey also found that 67% of respondents have seen higher prices for school supplies. While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices for all major categories of goods increased 3% from June 2022 to 2023, prices for educational books and supplies specifically decreased 2.7% over the same period, providing some reprieve during the back-to-school season.
To help you navigate the sometimes chaotic school supply aisles this year, the BND went shopping at five different stores in the metro-east and compared the price of a sample basket of school supplies. Keep reading to learn how we did it and what we found.
How we did this price comparison
We looked at the school supply lists for several local schools and compiled a sample basket of 10 items from the elementary, middle and high school lists.
The basket consisted of:
1 box of #2 pencils (18-24 count)
1 box of colored pencils (24 count)
1 pack of highlighters (5 count)
1 pack of erasers (2-3 count)
1 12” wood ruler
1 pack of 3” x 5” ruled index cards (100 count)
1 1” durable binder (with view cover)
1 plastic folder (with pockets and prongs)
1 spiral notebook (wide- or college-ruled, 70 sheets)
1 pack of loose leaf paper (wide- or college-ruled, 150-175 sheets)
We chose five stores that sell school supplies during the back-to-school season: two big-box stores (Target and Walmart), one office supply store (OfficeMax), one discount store (Dollar General) and one drugstore (Walgreens). We shopped at locations in Belleville and Fairview Heights on Aug. 4.
For each item in the basket, we documented the in-store price, before sales tax, of the cheapest available version. When an item was on sale, we took that price, since most stores have consistent sales during the back-to-school season.
The results
We found that for our 10-item sample school supply basket, Walmart had the lowest total basket price, followed by Target, Dollar General, OfficeMax and Walgreens, which had the highest total basket price. The price difference between Walgreens and Walmart was $10.
The three stores with the lowest basket price — Walmart, Target and Dollar General — had fewer items on sale but low prices nonetheless. OfficeMax and Walgreens had more items on sale, but the sale prices were often still higher than the regular price of items at the other stores.
Walmart, Target and OfficeMax had the widest selection of products and brand availability, while Dollar General and Walgreens were more limited.
One item we saw on many school supply lists was a calculator, specifically from the brand Texas Instruments. We didn’t include this brand-specific item in the basket because it wasn’t available at Dollar General or Walgreens.
As of Tuesday, a Texas Instruments 30X IIS Scientific Calculator was on sale for $9.88 at both Target (regularly priced $16.99) and Walmart (regularly priced $11.00). At OfficeMax, the same calculator was on sale for $14.99 (regularly priced $18.89).
A Texas Instruments 84 Plus Graphing Calculator was on sale for $96.99 at Target (regularly priced $139.99), $96 at Walmart (regularly priced $139) and $105.99 at OfficeMax (regularly priced $133.69). Another option which could save you some money on this high-ticket item is Facebook Marketplace, where many people are selling their used graphing calculators at a fraction of the store price.
More money-saving tips
In future years, you may be able to take advantage of back-to-school tax holidays. The sales tax holiday for school supplies that Illinois had last August is not returning this year. State Rep. Kevin Schmidt has introduced new legislation to establish a tax holiday for certain school supplies from Aug. 2-11, 2024. If passed, the bill would reduce the sales tax on school supplies from 6.25 to 1.25%. (Missouri still had its back-to-school tax-free weekend this year from Aug. 4-6.)
Shopping during sales is another way to save, but as our comparison found, the sale price at one store may still be higher than the regular price at another store. Many stores have price-matching policies that can be advantageous though, including Walmart and Target.
Store-brand products are often cheaper than their name-brand equivalents, but not always. Sometimes, a sale or coupon can bring the price of the name-brand product down to compete with the store-brand product.
You can usually find physical coupons in an insert in the Sunday newspaper, or you can print them on coupons.com. Many stores’ apps also have digital coupons you can clip to your account that will be automatically applied at checkout. You can often use coupons on sale items and in conjunction with a store’s rewards programs to increase your savings (but read the fine print in ads and on coupons to be sure).
The Krazy Coupon Lady website has several resources available to help you with back-to-school savings. They do the leg work of tracking sales and coupons, posting when they find a good deal. They also have back-to-school sales guides for many stores and a school supply stock-up price list, which lets you know the lowest price you can find for items this year.
If your budget is really tight this year, there are plenty of giveaways happening in the community. We’re compiling a list of them here.
