Some retailers in the Valley expect shoppers to spend at least as much as they did last year on new clothes and school supplies. But sales, price-matching and coupons are playing a key role in getting parents and kids out to stores this summer.
“Last year, we waited until two weeks before (school started), and they were almost out” of school supplies at Walmart, said Johanna Hallenberger of Meridian, whose two children attend Chief Joseph Elementary, an arts-focused school.
Hallenberger did her shopping at Walmart in Meridian this year, not because the store has a price-matching policy but because its inventory is so big, she said. After spending $120 for school supplies, though, Hallenberger said price-matching or coupons might have helped.
“My first-grader had to (have) two boxes of 65-count crayons,” Hallenberger said, incredulous. She also had to buy dry-erase markers and other office supplies this year, which she attributed to teachers having their budgets cut.
Across the country, there has been a slight uptick in consumer spending, according to U.S. Census Bureau data and a Gallup poll. But that doesn’t necessarily mean people are spending more on back-to-school staples — clothes, shoes, office supplies, backpacks and electronics. Not counting car sales, retail sales were flat in June, the bureau said.
Walmart expects most parents to spend no more than last year.
“We know our customers need to stretch their dollars as far as they can,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, Walmart’s chief merchandising officer.
Parents and teens will use up leftover school supplies and wear last year’s clothes this fall, the National Retail Federation predicts. The trade group surveyed thousands of people in early July. About two in five planned to buy more generics and use more coupons, and almost all said the economy shaped their back-to-school shopping plans.
“College students and their parents, who are likely also spending thousands of dollars on tuition, will be looking for ways to stretch their budgets and find good deals this year,” said Matthew Shay, the retail group’s president and CEO. “To compensate, retailers will ... use every resource they can to prominently promote everything from bedding to mini refrigerators and, of course, laptops and smartphones.”
The penny-pinching may not be as severe at the mall. The largest shopping mall in Idaho is optimistic about this year’s back-to-school season.
“We are expecting it to be as strong, if not a bit stronger” than last year, said Tina Kierce, spokeswoman for Boise Towne Square.
That prediction is based on spending at the mall in the past 12 months, she said.
“We’ve added so many new shops that we’re doing really well,” Kierce said. “And we’ve noticed that the back-to-school season is starting to expand, meaning it’s starting earlier and lasting longer.”
Hoping to draw parents and children, the mall is holding events Aug. 12 and 13, including a School of Rock performance and a fashion show. It’s also offering a cash-back promotion. Shoppers who bring in receipts showing they spent $150 or more at Boise Towne Square stores that Friday and Saturday will get a $20 gift card.
In the past, promotions like that have been “so successful that we run out” of cards, Kierce said.
Shoppers at the Macy’s store in the mall seem to be buying the same kinds of clothes — jeans are a mainstay — and got started in July this year, according to manager Janet Larsen.
One recent trend is that parents are sending children to the mall with Macy’s gift cards instead of cash. That way, Larsen said, “there’s a firm limit on how much they can spend.”
Audrey Dutton: 377-6448
