Stressed-out parents navigate back-to-school shopping, unsure if kids will be in the classroom or on the couch.
Stressed-out, unsure if kids are learning in the classroom or on couch
Jocelyn Lopez, a rising senior at Round Lake High School, usually gets an early start on back-toschool shopping. This year, she’s made just one purchase: a planner for tracking her schedule and assignments.
Classmates told her she was crazy, she said, “because what is there to plan?”
After switching to virtual learning this spring as the coronavirus pandemic spread, many schools still are figuring out what classes will look like this fall. On Thursday,
Lopez’s school said it would only offer remote learning to start, a week after sharing a draft plan that gave students the option to attend class in person one day a week.
Her mother, Monica Lopez, said the family still isn’t sure when school will start, or what supplies and clothing her three kids will need. Jocelyn Lopez had hoped to buy a laptop that would make her online work easier than the iPad her school provided in the spring, but isn’t sure she can afford it after getting laid off from her job scooping ice cream at a pizza restaurant.
“I’m a person who loves to shop for school supplies, but it’s hard to look at them,” Jocelyn Lopez said. “Should I spend my money to buy supplies I won’t use? I don’t know what to do.”
Families still figuring out whether their kids will be learning in classrooms or on couches likely will get a late start on back-toschool shopping, the retail industry’s second-biggest shopping period after the holidays. Shopping lists, too, will look different: Children learning at home may not need lunchboxes and uniforms, but could require tech tools and
desks.
And everyone is worried about tracking down enough disinfecting wipes.
Last year, Angie Gazdziak’s daughter’s school asked for two packages of wipes. This year, the fourth grader needs five packages, along with a couple bottles of hand sanitizer, plus more for her preschool-age brother.
“We were joking, can I sell them my right arm instead?” said Gazdziak, of Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood.
The National Retail Federation expects families with children in elementary school through college will spend $101.6 billion this year, up from $80.7 billion last year. Other forecasts were less optimistic, predicting spending to be relatively consistent with prior years.
Parents estimated overall back-to-school shopping bills would be similar to last year’s, according to Deloitte’s annual survey, with a 28% jump in expected spending on technology products helping balance out a 17% reduction in spending on clothing and traditional supplies.
Many families are facing new financial pressure as a result of the pandemic and economic downturn and may limit discretionary purchases, like apparel, said Diana Smith, associate director at market research firm Mintel.
Still, families that haven’t already invested in technology needed for virtual learning may do so if schools extend remote instruction into the fall, she said.
Sales of notebook computers were up 40% over the past three months compared with the same period last year, said Steve Baker, technology industry analyst at market research firm The NPD Group. People also have been buying more monitors, routers, keyboards and other electronics that can make online learning easier.
Gazdziak is considering buying her fourth-grade daughter a laptop. The school didn’t have enough devices for every student in the spring, which meant Gazdziak had to work from her phone when her daughter logged on to video sessions.
She also is considering buying other hands-on items kids might see in a classroom, like an easel and arts and crafts supplies.
“It can’t be all worksheets and workbooks,” she said.
Other parents are investing in furniture to keep online school from taking over the kitchen table.
Chicago-based Rooms4kids was “slammed” with orders for desks once the pandemic hit, said owner Brad Moriarty. Now that kids’ bedrooms double as classrooms and play areas, he is selling furniture designed to give kids more space, like loft beds with a desk underneath.
“We’re making a lot of units that will be all-in-ones versus the typical dresser, desk, bed and nightstand, which takes up the whole room,” he said.
Even with the changes, some of the basics remain the same.
When schools went virtual this spring, sales of composition books, notebooks and loose-leaf paper rose, said Grace Szabo, brand manager at Lake Zurich-based Acco Brands, parent company of brands like Mead, Five Star and Trapper Keeper.
“Teachers are still telling us they firmly believe paper enhances retention,” she said.
Retailers, meanwhile, are trying to cater to both classroom and virtual learners.
Lands’ End reassured parents backpacks are “the ideal way to store all of your children’s school essentials both at home and on the bus.”
Target’s website lists face masks under school supplies and has a dedicated page for at-home learning, with items like desk organizers, whiteboards and laptops in addition to standard supplies. Walmart stores are carrying educational workbooks and the retailer’s website has activity ideas and worksheets.
More than half of families surveyed by Deloitte said they plan to spend more on digital learning tools, as many weren’t satisfied with the online options schools provided this spring, said Matt Adams, principal at Deloitte Consulting.
“Consumers are trying to figure out how to fill the gaps,” he said.
The Chicago Teacher Store, which gets most of its business from teachers, has been seeing more parents come in to shop for materials to supplement schools’ virtual curriculum, said manager Hannah Mazzie.
Still, the store has been “crazy slow” thanks to uncertainty about schools’ fall plans, she said. To supplement sales of classroom décor, the store has started selling masks and cleaning materials to local schools.
“People are starting to come in on the assumption they will go back, but no one’s buying the way they normally would,” she said. “Teachers would come in and spend hundreds to get their classrooms ready. Now, they’re just not sure.”
Where parents purchase school items may change, too.
With all the uncertainty about plans for the fall, some schools decided against selling prepackaged supply kits in the spring, said Jennifer Thompson, owner of DeKalb-based school supply kit vendor The Write Stuff, which works with schools in 32 states.
Some have since asked if they could sell kits after all, for parents trying to avoid trips to the store. They missed the deadline for customized kits, but The Write Stuff has started selling a version with many basics, including hand sanitizer, that parents can purchase online.
Lorna Swan, 45, of Mount Greenwood, said she will probably skip the backto-school tradition of taking her son to pick out notebooks and folders — she hasn’t been letting him shop in stores during the pandemic.
In a typical year, she starts back-to-school shopping in July, but by midmonth she still had not received a list. The only item she purchased was a backpack her son, a fifth grader, insisted he would use even if he ended up learning from home.
She’s still figuring out how to handle the rest of the shopping, but has considered doing a video chat with her son from the store so he can still be involved.
“They don’t want you to choose, they want what they want,” she said.