Back to School Shopping Begins at Meijer July 30, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
HOWARD WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Back-to-school shopping is in full swing, just weeks before the first bell rings.
“Get it before it’s all picked over. That’s the biggest thing, because you go too late and everything is too picked over, and you’re kind of like, ‘Eh, don’t have it’,” says back-to-school shopper Karen Plautz, who was shopping at Meijer in Howard.
The National Retail Federation says consumers are shopping earlier than ever this year. Four in five shoppers planned around July sales, just like Plautz.
“Biggest thing is grabbing it while it’s on sale. Then it’s not a big hit to your wallet,” she says. Plautz is shopping for four students.
“Now it’s just folders, Kleenex and some miscellaneous stuff — and tennis shoes. Well, tennis shoes will wait until Monday when I get paid, because shoes are expensive,” says Plautz.
Josephine Mann, a mom of two high schoolers, says, “Prices are definitely higher for everything, I think. I mean, some things stay the same. Pencils maybe are relatively [the same], but yeah, even notebooks [are higher].”
Mann says shopping for back-to-school costs more each year.
“Tariffs make a difference. It does cost more because of that, because so many things, I hate to say it, are made in China, and if they are having to put tariffs on that, and then the stores… I think everybody is adding, and it’s rough,” says Mann.
Parents say that as their students get older, they get more picky about their back-to-school wardrobe.
Mann says, “They care more. When they’re little, they don’t care as much about the brand or the name of shoes that they’re wearing, as opposed to what teenagers are all about. Must have the Adidas, the real ones.”
Plautz adds, “I’m sure clothes will be a little expensive, depending on what kind they want. If they want name brand or something… Maybe I will get one outfit and budget-shop for the rest of it.
While many parents are getting a head start on their shopping, data says 84% still have school supplies to cross off their list.
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