Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408290054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Ann Kidd lingers in Kmart's stationery section at Crossroads Mall, poring over a photocopied list of school supplies.
She's got the red marker, the blue-and-black pens, the soft pencil pouch. That leaves only 14 other "must" items her fifth-grade niece needs for Monday's first day of classes at Mountain View Elementary in Roanoke County.
Kidd moves down the list: No.2 pencils, an eraser, a ruler, a journal, "subject dividers (two packages) with six pockets" and "medium-size Elmer's glue."
She does a double take. Tissues? Liquid soap? Kidd wonders aloud whether there's a sales-boosting conspiracy afoot between retailers and school administrators.
"What happens to our tax dollars?" she exclaims. "Aren't they paying for the soap and tissues? Thank God, we don't have to buy toilet paper, too."
It's back to school, a ritual late-summer shopping frenzy that leaves kids neatly dressed and excited about school and parents wincing at the drain on their wallets.
Signs of it were all over the Roanoke Valley on Saturday: adults with children in tow navigating shopping-center parking lots, queueing at cash registers, handing over hard-earned dollars and walking out of stores hefting overflowing shopping bags.
Public schools open Monday in Roanoke County and in Salem. Roanoke schools start classes nine days later, on Sept.7.
Pens, pencils and paper only begin to cover basic new-school-year necessities. The children need scissors, three-ring notebooks and backpacks. Some need haircuts. Above all, they need comparatively pricey clothes and shoes.
And in a sign of the '90s, a few back-to-school shoppers are going high-tech. In Sears, they browse computers loaded with stereo sound that provide movie-like glimpses of history, biology and physics. Not surprisingly, the setups can cost $2,000 or more.
The back-to-school shopping season begins in late July. It continues through September, as children and teen-agers get a glimpse of the hot new "in" clothes their peers are wearing and drag mom and dad - usually mom - back to the stores for the latest fashions.
While parents may find the shopping ordeal frustratingly expensive, it leaves retailers humming all the way to the bank.
The National Retail Federation pegs back-to-school as the second or third most important shopping season, behind Christmas and maybe Mother's Day-Father's Day, says Pam Rucker, an NRF spokeswoman.
"It is extremely important, especially in the youth market,'' says Rucker. ``You can judge the impact on retailers by the amount of money they put into advertising. It's a big promotional time."
NRF estimates that for just the first few months of the school year, parents will spend an average of $300 per child on jeans, hosiery, underwear and shoes; and the older the student, the higher the cost.
And it doesn't stop with September, Rucker notes. A second wave of buying hits stores as temperatures drop in October, and coats and other outerwear are in demand.
"For children's clothes, it's the equivalent of Christmastime in the rest of the store," says Brent Allen, senior merchandising manager of J.C. Penney Co. in Valley View Mall.
Sheila Staggs of Covington knows it well. With her arms full of clothes and accessories for her 14-year-old son, Jason , she vows her Saturday trek to Penney will be her final run of the retail gantlet.
She estimates she's made 10 to 15 others this summer. Among the "must-haves" for Jason are baggy jeans and a $35 leather-bottomed knapsack.
"We have a freshman [daughter] in college, and believe me, we've been doing back-to-school shopping. Like $2,000 worth," Staggs says.
Over in Hofheimer Stride-Rite Shoes in Valley View, the staff can't fit children fast enough.
Manager Ginger Seamster says the store has been packed, opening to closing, for days.
Joella Bush of Salem is there, along with her children Audrey, 15, Alvin, 10, and Ashley, 8.
"Today we did a haircut for my boy; now we're looking for shoes for Ashley," the single mother says. "The book bags are what got on my nerves this year, because Audrey's cost $47. It's a Jansport, a name brand."
Bush estimates she has already spent $750, including the $125 basketball shoes she bought for Alvin, who wears a men's size 8.
"And I haven't gotten everything, because I still need socks and underwear," she sighs.
Her 8-year-old daughter leaves the store with a comparatively cheap $40 pair of sneakers.
Over in Leggett, sales clerks Susan Quist and Jane Arthur survey a crowd of adults and children queued in front of their cash register. A brief power-outage in the store didn't seem to faze the shoppers.
"This is probably my third time out," says Hope Wilson of Vinton, who is shopping for her 15-year-old son, Mayo, and 11-year-old daughter, Devon.
"I've probably spent about $500. They're getting older, their sizes are getting bigger, and they have to keep up with their peers."
Back in Kmart, Blue Ridge resident Helen Hale is arguing over shoe styles and sizes with her 6-year-old daughter, Brandi Spence. Brandi enters kindergarten at Botetourt County's Colonial Elementary School this year.
"I want pumps, Mom," Brandi declares. Then she spies a pair of tennis shoes with flashing lights in the heels. How to decide?
The worst things about back-to-school, Hale says, "are the crowds, the money it costs, the getting out and the getting back."
But the best part about school reopening? Hale doesn't hesitate:
"It's the break away from the kids."
by CNB