Fry's is the cheapest this week.
We checked prices on local school supplies again to see if anything had changed since we did the first check two weeks ago. Plus, we got an awesome tip from one of our readers that we should check Fry's.
So, we went to Target, Walmart and Fry's instead of OfficeMax this time.
We were surprised to see that the Fry's at 7050 E. 22nd Street had the best total price when we added up everything on our list. Walmart prices stayed the same — and it does have its backpacks stocked now! A few prices changed at Target and there were more lunch boxes on the shelves.
Some supplies, like plastic pencil boxes, were low at all the stores
The graphic above will tell you what the prices were, but here are a few other observations.
What we saw
We noticed some super cute trends: Glitter everywhere, cute patterns like stripes and polka-dots and of course the expected pop-culture related stuff like superheroes, Star Wars, Dory, Shopkins and Frozen — still.
I couldn't resist a glittery notebook. Mine is silver, though.
We also checked out the Dollar Tree, just to see if it was comparable, but it's pretty hard to compete with the 17-cent spiral notebooks at Walmart.
Out of the three stores, Fry's total price was the cheapest and Target has the best variety of backpacks and lunch boxes.
Dollar store not your best bet
Your best bet for school supplies is NOT to do your major shopping at the dollar store. Your grand total might be less, since everything is a dollar, but you're not going to get the quality brand names. For example, most teachers want you to get Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils because they're the best. You won't find them at Dollar Tree.
On top of that, many items are much less than a dollar at the stores we went to. Remember that $0.17 paper we mentioned earlier? It would cost a dollar at Dollar Tree.
These notebooks can be found at Dollar Tree.
However, we did find some fun Star Wars Force Awakens notebooks for a dollar each. And, they had some three subject notebooks with 120 sheets for a dollar.
Pro tip: Make sure you check the Target Cartwheel app for additional savings before shopping. If you go to Walmart, use the Savings Catcher app after shopping to get the difference on items that were cheaper somewhere else.
Backpacks and lunch boxes
We loved these two backpacks for little kids. They can be found at Target. Peppa the Pig: $12.99 and Dory: $19.99.
Target had the best selection of lunch boxes and backpacks on our outing. Popular themes are Shopkins, Star Wars, Minecraft and they had tons of cool cat and dog patterns. Prices ranged from $12.99-$29.99.
Here are some photos of some of our faves:
Get ready for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie with this glam backpack.
Star Wars and Shopkins are popular themes for school supplies this year. We loved these for elementary aged kids: Force Awakens, $19.99 and Shopkins, $15.99.
If your kid loves Star Wars, but also loves sequins, this is a great backpack. It can be found at Target for $19.99. Plus, check out the candy themed backpack next to it. Cute!
We liked these two for older kids. Minecraft, which is $29.99 at Target, has remained popular and the other one, because, cats, is $19.99.
Superman vs. Batman is a popular subject for this year's school supplies. This lunch box can be found at Target and Walmart.
There were some pretty cute lunch boxes, too. Our favorite was Superman vs. Batman. It's double-sided and it has a cape. It's $11.99. There were also cute Dory and Shopkins lunch boxes for $9.99.
These rad lunch boxes are available at Target.
These adorable lunch boxes are available at Target.
At Walmart we liked the Dory lunch box for $8.97 and the same Superman vs. Batman lunch box for $8.97.
Bento boxes allow for some extra creativity and storage when packing your child's lunches.
Fry's had a great selection of Bento box style lunch boxes. We liked the Expandable Bento for $9.74. Plus there were Hello Kitty, R2D2 and Captain America Lunch Boxes.
This lunchbox lights up and makes noises. Available at Fry's.
Fry's also had a limited selection of backpacks with prices ranging from $9.99 to $19.99. Our fave was covered in colorful owls.