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Home » Family » Kids Clothes » Back-to-School Clothes

Back-to-School Clothes

Related Guide: Costco or Sam's Club
At each store we shopped for a long list of back-to-school clothes to compare the total cost of outfitting two children, a boy and a girl, with one of each item. While the shopping cart test didn't give us all the answers, it did give us the bottom-line cheapest store. Into our cart went back-to-school clothes including boys and girls uniform shirts and pants; girls uniform skirts; boys and girls shorts, including gym shorts; boys and girls jeans, T-shirts and hoodies; boys dress pants, polo shirts, and button-down shirts; and girls dresses, skirts, and fashion tops. We also included boys and girls socks, underwear and pajamas; boys undershirts; girls training bras, leggings, and tights; boys and girls sneakers; boys and girls accessories such as belts, hair ties, and jewelry; and girls dress shoes. While we did look at boys dress shoes, boys and girls boots, and boys and girls outerwear, not every store carried those items, so we didn't include them in our totals. Again, our shopping cart calculations include only one of each item. (For underwear, socks, and other items that came in packs, we calculated the cost per item in order to make a direct comparison.) The shopping cart test revealed Walmart to be the cheapest store for back-to-school clothes, at $218.36 (before tax), and Kohl's to be the most expensive, at $705.13. Falling in between were Target, at $293.88; Kmart, at $295.47; Old Navy, at $386.81; Sears at $546.40; and finally JC Penney, at $597.68.

Of course, your children likely will need more than one of some items and may have some categories covered already. A useful guide from Scholastic recommends three to five pairs of pants, 10 to 14 pairs of socks, 10 pairs of underwear, six to 10 shirts, two to three sweatshirts, a matching skirt and top combination for girls, two pairs of shoes, one pair of boots, and coats for fall, winter, and rain.

Discount Kids Clothes Availability.

The shopping cart test brought to light several variables. For starters, not every store carried every item. If you're looking for a true one-stop shop for back-to-school clothes, Sears was the only store with everything on our list, including outerwear, boots, and boys dress shoes. JC Penney and Kohl's were missing only four items in store and Old Navy and Target were missing six items each from our list. Falling behind the pack were Kmart, which doesn't carry seven items on our list in store, and Walmart, which was missing nine items.

We were able to find some of those missing items online, so we included them in our shopping cart test to account for the fact that different locations carry different items. Just about everything in store can also be found online, often with low-cost or free shipping. The only problem with shopping for back-to-school clothes online is that your children can't try on the clothes before you buy them. Kids grow so fast there's just no way to know their sizes from year to year unless they try the clothes on.

Cheap Kids Clothing Coupons.

Sales and coupons can drastically reduce your total at the cash register. Sales on back-to-school clothes were abundant when we shopped, on weekdays between July 20 and July 26. Just about every item at Kohl's seemed to be on sale, while Walmart features rollback prices of the day. JC Penney and Sears both had back-to-school sales during that period, while Target and Kmart included select back-to-school items in their weekly discount ads. Old Navy also had a sale on select back-to-school items when we were there. However, we didn't include any sale prices in our shopping cart test.

Kohl's is the winner when it comes to coupons. The store constantly sends Kohl's card members coupons for 10, 20, and 30 percent off. One shopper we spoke to said she shops at Kohl's often and gets low prices because she always has a coupon; one time she forgot the coupon and the store honored it anyway, she said. Old Navy also sends card members regular coupons, while Target sends out coupons and also offers e-coupons. Walmart and Kmart have coupons available online, but none the week we shopped were for back-to-school items. JC Penney and Sears feature weekly ads with discounts and Sears has a deal of the day, but neither store has coupons that we saw. If you know of more coupons available for these stores, please let us and other frugal shoppers know in the comments.

by Raechel Conover (Google+ Profile)

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Sears Review
Target Review
Walmart Review
JC Penney Review
Kmart Review
Kohl's Review
Old Navy Review

 

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