GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After June’s inflation report, experts say this year’s back-to-school shopping most likely comes with a heavy price tag and some possible shortages.
New numbers from the National Retail Federation says the total amount of back-to-school spending is expected to match the record high in 2021 of $37 billion.
The new report from the NRF says families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $864 on school items — about $15 more than in 2021.
Tom Sieber, owner of School House, a teacher store in Green Bay, says families in Northeast Wisconsin will feel the price hike.
“We haven’t been immune to the inflation that’s been going on across the country. So, we’ve had to raise some prices, depending on how much our vendors have raised their prices.”
Sixty-eight percent of the National Retail Federation survey respondents say they have seen higher prices on school items.
One-third of consumers say they are reducing spending in other areas to cover the cost of items. Alisha Seefeldt, a Manitowoc mom, has other ideas. Seefeldt says she recycles and re-uses her kids’ school supplies.
“The folders — they usually use the hard plastic ones — so, those are pretty easy to clean. I take whatever they have left, I clean it up, then put it back in my stock.”
She says without reusing school supplies, the high prices would hit her hard.
“You look at some of those three-ringed binders, and you’re looking at $8, sometimes even more, for just one of those.”
Anna Burnette with the Service League of Green Bay is the co-chair of the Back-to-School Store. The event provides students the opportunity to pick out essentials needed for school.
“We’re providing 3,000 backpacks,” said Burnette,”[with] 1,500 to middle schoolers, and then elementary kids get to come in and do the shopping.”
She says the pandemic and supply shortages have affected the Back-to-School Store more, rather than inflation.
“With our struggles of finding things — of course Shopko was a huge supplier for us — so, that’s changed a lot in the last couple of years with their stores closing.”
Sieber says the shopping for the upcoming school year starts about now.
“Normally, though, everybody is out of at least one to two supplies by the time back-to-school shopping rolls around before the last week or so before school starts,” said Sieber. “Definitely shop early.”
The survey of almost 8,000 consumers, the most comprehensive back-to-class annual survey, was done June 30 through July 7.
