I’ll never forget the year my dad drove me & my buddy, Matt Brickey, to the Pheasant Lane Mall & dropped us off to do some “school shopping”.
He gave me a C-Note and probably expected it would be enough to buy an entire closet full of clothes and a few pairs of shoes, but I proudly walked out with one pair of Levi’s button-fly jeans and a brand new Red Sox jersey.
That’s what $100 would get you back in 1991.
Needless to say, he made me return the jeans & jersey and I ended up going school-clothes shopping with my mom yet again.
This year, getting ready for school to start is obviously very strange, and a recent poll of 1,200 parents & teachers attempted to find out how they’ve handled it this year.
- The hot new back-to-school item is masks. And hand sanitizer is big too. 70% of parents say their back-to-school shopping will include some sort of PPE.
- 1 in 5 parents started shopping earlier this year. Partly because they had more time, but also to make sure they got everything they needed in case stores ran out.
- Fewer parents are taking their kids shopping with them. A lot of it’s being done online, with curbside pickup and home delivery up 550% from last year.
- 3 in 10 teachers are updating their tech to deal with virtual learning. Everything from new computers and routers, to smaller things like keyboards and headphones. And they’re buying a ton of dry erase boards to hold up on Zoom calls.
- Some things parents are spending LESS on this year are backpacks, school clothes, new shoes, and stuff for their kids’ lockers.
Check out the rest of the info from this survey here.
