School Supplies Shopping Guide 2016 – It’s the 8th Annual Oakland County Moms School Supplies Shopping Guide! Best prices on school supplies are compared at Meijer, Target, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, and now… Amazon!
I visited Target, Meijer, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, and Amazon (online) to find out which store has the best prices on school supplies for back to school.
School Supplies Shopping Guide 2016 Big Board
I want to make note of a few things in reference to the School Supplies Shopping Guide 2016 chart… the school supplies selected are some of the most commonly requested items to be purchased. This is not a complete list (as we all so painfully know). This school supply list includes some of the basics and is set up to be a gauge to see where the different stores fall in comparison to one another.
This is our 8th year of doing our School Supplies Shopping Guide comparisons. Overall, school supplies prices have stayed about the same compared to last year, with some even decreasing. Additionally, there were some scenarios where we could not make an apples to apples comparison… you’ll see notations/explanations for these. e.g. One of the items that comes in different shapes and sizes is the Elmer’s glue sticks. Most stores carried the 2-pack, except for the office supply stores which sold larger quantity packs. However, there was no cost savings to buying the bulk items. You are better off buying the 2-packs. Another example of difficult comparisons that arose this year was that Office Max no longer carries certain brand name items as they have replaced them with their own brand. So, rather than Fiskars scissors, I had to input the pricing for the Office Max label.
When in a hurry as most of us are while shopping for back to school supplies, how and where a store has the school supplies section set up is key. Staples and Office Max have the school supplies scattered all throughout the store making it a difficult task to get everything on your list. Staples and Office Max also do not have price checkers, which made it frustrating because they were also guilty of missing/confusing prices. I had to bring the items up to the register for a price check. The other stores had most of the supplies contained in one area. Meijer and Walmart conveniently had the school supplies at the front entrance. Target has kept their school supplies display in the back of the store. Meijer, Target and Walmart had all the supplies available in these areas with Meijer being the most organized, Target a close second and Walmart right behind at third. I was surprised to find that Target has some issues with the pricing labels and a couple things varied as I scanned them myself using the price check.
Amazon is in a world all by itself, but in the mix because many have found it to be a good deal. So, how does it stack up with school supplies? I have to say, I was completely shocked that they had by far the worst pricing (some of which didn’t include shipping). It was actually laughable. I came to the conclusion that this route was for the filthy rich who just don’t want to step foot in these stores to do the shopping. Also, it was frustrating how things varied. You would find the same item listed at several different prices because it would be sold by more than one supplier. And, if you leave and come back, the prices may have changed. I highly suggest that you don’t even bother with this route. I don’t know why, but they can’t even compete with the Targets, Meijers and Walmarts. Same goes for Office Max, and on a smaller scale…Staples.
If School Supplies Shopping Guide 2016 items were not exact in comparison, I made sure to go with the lowest priced option available for each of the items. However, when considering the 1-inch three ring binders, I compared only the hard cover binder with the view style, i.e. you can insert a page into the front cover.
See related posts below for more Oakland County Moms School Supplies Shopping Guides and more about School Supplies Shopping Guide 2016
