National Book Store’s Xandra Ramos-Padilla on her best back-to-school shopping tips

When’s the best time to go back-to-school shopping for you — the middle of summer or toward the end of it?

It varies for everyone, but we made sure we're ready for all of our customers throughout the entire back-to-school season. We started the season earlier this year to cater to the needs of early shoppers. Our back-to-school zones, premium items like the Backpack to School, and special offers like the lunch bags, drawstring bags, and tote bags will be available in all of our branches nationwide until the end of June.

I personally try to shop early based on my kids' school checklists, and then I shop again for any other school essentials they might need.

How do you and your kids use back-to-school shopping as a form of bonding? What are their favorite school materials right now?

We go through their checklists first and make sure to talk about what supplies they will be needing for the new school year, and if they have special requests. My daughter always prefers something else from what I picked. I tend to select products that are designdriven and colorful but she has a simple and clean aesthetic. She likes personalizing her belongings. She loves paper and pens, and pouches. That’s something she probably got from me. My son loves character designs from his pencil cases to his school bag. We love going through each aisle and spend time discovering new items in National Book Store. Everything for back to school really is at National Book Store.

Which school materials do you see at NBS now that you wish you had when you were a student?

I love having lots of pens as well as pouches to store them. There are also desk accessories and other organization products. There are so many stylish and functional options to choose from in National Book Store today that make me want to go back to school myself!

National Book Store came up with a brilliant idea to have Grab & Go packs and other easy-to-get school packs. As a very convenient option, what can parents expect in each pack?

We made sure that each of these packs have items that have great value for money, but also good quality. For the Grab & Go packs, we offer four kinds — one for Grades 1 to 3, another for Grades 4 to 6, a writing set, and a drawing set — so that parents can easily get whichever ones their kids need.

And for our Backpacks to School, there's one for Grades 1 to 3 and another for Grades 4 to 6. We filled these stylish bags with the basic supplies young learners need, like notebooks and pens. It's like getting a 10-percent discount on all of the items included, and you also get the bag itself, of course. It’s really good value for money.

"I personally try to shop early based on my kids' school checklists, and then I shop again for any other school essentials they might need."