Stores vie for back-to-school bucks

Today marks the start of the biggest back-to-school sales push of the summer for retailers before Hawaii public schools open their doors Monday.

As retail chains have grown in the islands, so has competition for the parents’ dollars. Companies such as Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Longs Drugs Stores and Fisher Hawaii have been aggressively advertising in-store and online promotions in recent weeks, one even launching a national online school supply list database and another a weeklong cybersale similar to Cyber Monday during the winter holiday season.

"Back to school for us is our Christmas. (It) is so competitive," said Tom Hallaman, retail contract group manager for Fisher Hawaii. "We’re so busy right now, we’re running around like chickens (without) heads. We’ve got guys working 14 days straight. That’s how busy it is. It’s crazy."

Retailers are hoping to cash in on the frenzied parents looking for last-minute deals on required school supplies this weekend. The National Retail Federation is projecting back-to-school spending to reach $30.3 billion this year. The group estimates the average family with children in kindergarten through 12th grade will spend $689, up from $604 a year ago. On school supplies alone such as backpacks, notebooks and pencils, NRF expects the average family will spend $95. The most money will be spent on apparel, electronics and accessories.

"We are going into a really huge weekend, so we just started running some ads," Heidi Muniz, a Walgreens store manager in Kaneohe, said Friday. "It’s my biggest weekend for the month of July."

Back-to-school shopping was in full swing Friday at Fisher on Cooke Street as shoppers sought to scoop up the best deals while checking off the items on growing school supply lists.

For Jocelyn Lopez, who traveled from Laie to Fisher in Kakaako, it meant budgeting for her four children ranging in age from 8 to 17 years old and shopping around for deals.

"I’ve spent like $300 already on their clothes, shoes and backpacks," she said before adding another $100 onto her school supply tab. "We shop around. We do the Walmart, Longs, the Fisher. It pays to compare. Save as much as you can because even the lunches have gone up, their bus fares have gone up. They want other stuff, and I say, ‘I’m sorry, we reached our budget. We cannot get anything else.’"

Laureen Pidgeon, who lives on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, is spending between $60 and $70 per child on supplies for her two elementary-age children before even shopping for her four older kids.

"I have six kids in school. I paid for their bus passes, lunch accounts, their school fees today. I’ve already spent $400 besides the supplies," Pidgeon, whose children range in age from 9 to 17, said Friday.

Fisher, which staged four employees in the parking lot just to direct traffic, is offering as many as a dozen loss leaders — or products sold at a loss to attract customers — in an effort to compete with the numerous big-box stores that have spread across the islands.

"The big boxes will focus on the main 10 to 12 items that you’ll see every school ask for to draw people in. For us to try to compete at what Walmart can buy their crayons at (is difficult)," Hallaman said. "Walmart might not be losing money at 25 cents a box. We’re absolutely losing money at 25 cents a box. Loss leaders hopefully get them in your store and they buy other things."