Technology tops shopping lists
Parents spending more on computers, not clothes, this year
Computers are in, and clothes are out.
In simpler times, back-toschool shopping trips were a frenzy of finding the right-colored shoes and leggings and accessories. Now, with most Houston-area districts launching virtually, parents and teachers face choices around buying costly electronics for an uncertain school year.
Debates rage on over how best to educate the city’s children during the pandemic. Most will start with some sort of online learning program, with many split over when to return for inperson schooling. That uncertainty will reveal itself in back-toschool shopping patterns, analysts predict. Some districts started school this week, others will start next week and some delayed their school start until after Labor Day.
Virtual starts to the school year mean many families will save on clothing costs, said Jeff Buhr, a retail analyst and partner with accounting and consulting firm Deloitte’s Houston office. But the cost for new electronics and other home learning needs
are expected to displace that savings.
Deloitte predicts a 17 percent year-over-year drop in spending for clothing and traditional school supplies, and a 28 percent increase in sales of computers and electronics needed for virtual learning. The firm’s annual survey found that 51 percent of parents surveyed will spend money in new ways that supplement their children’s education, such as tutors and online tools.
Parents weren’t pleased with the coronavirus-era impacts on the classroom, he said, and “it doesn’t seem like they’re impacting all children equally.”
Households that had computers provided to them will likely see less spending on school supplies this year than earlier years, given savings on back-to-school clothes. Others, like Meagan Clanahan, who has twin 10-yearolds at Katy ISD, sprung for laptops for multiple children and watched the family’s annual back-to-school budget double.
“Before COVID we were mainly concerned about, what will we wear for back to school,” she said, noting back-to-school shopping cost her and her husband around $1,000 this year. “I’d probably spend less than half of what I just spent.”
The National Retail Federation, a trade group, predicts families with children will spend an average of about $789 for back-toschool supplies this year, up from $697 last year. Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership, said the figure is likely to be $100 to $200 lower in Houston, where prices tend to be cheaper.
With jobless rates soaring, virtual learning’s cost stokes fear for low-income families that may not be able to meet the rising costs of virtual learning.
A similar shift may be in store for teachers.
Rachel Wadler, a music teacher at Travis Elementary School just north of downtown, shopped for a faster laptop last week at Best Buy to ease her virtual start to the school year. Her choice: an HP Pavilion.
She considered a more expensive computer, but her budget is restricted to the $1,000 her mother gave her for the purpose, and she wanted to save funds for a desk.
In earlier years, she’d simply shop for some new clothes — items she felt comfortable sitting on the floor and moving around the classroom in. This year, she said she’ll be spending much more to set up a home office where her kitchen table used to be.
“It used to be clothes, and now it’s a desk,” she said with a shrug.
“Across the board, both rural and city customers have shown interest in devices like laptops, tablets and routers, to name a few,” said Matthew Smith, a spokesman for Best Buy. “Additionally, more rural customers have shown an interest in cell phone boosters, as some rural customers are in ‘dead zones’ without strong service.”
A Spring Branch mom, Andrea Junkin, said she works in information technology and so was able to get electronics for her kids to use in virtual classrooms. Since she was spared the tech expenses, shopping this year has been less costly than normal, especially given last year’s leftovers, she said.
“The uniforms is the biggest difference, because they didn’t get to use their clothes,” she said. “Their uniforms are still intact.”
Many families reported plans to order online and pick up in-store — a shopping trend accelerated by the pandemic. Big-box stores like Walmart, Best Buy and even department stores like Macy’s are ramping up their curbside pickup services to meet shifting demands.
Vicky Yip, who has three children in Houston ISD, said she did all of her shopping online this year, which was new for her. She’s already spent several hundred more than usual and may need to buy another computer for her two younger children to share, so she’s cutting corners where she can.
She said it feels this year that her back-to-school shopping is never done. Learning at home is still so new for her family, she said, so she finds herself buying items she never knew she’d need. Like an electric pencil sharpener.
“I did not realize children went through so many pencils,” she said.