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Author Terri Peters smiling at a Walmart
I went back-to-school shopping at Target and Walmart.

Terri Peters

  • I took my two teenagers shopping for school supplies at Target and Walmart.
  • We live in Florida, where school starts in mid-August, so there were lots of clearance deals.
  • The retailers had similar price points for supplies, but Target had some amazing clearance deals.

My family has been homeschooling for the last four years, but my kids grew up attending public school, so we're no strangers to back-to-school shopping.

Although most of my kids' schoolwork these days only requires their laptops, we still stock up on essentials like notebooks, mechanical pencils, and three-ring binders at the beginning of each school year.

My kids are teenagers now, so we also get them new backpacks and lunch boxes since they often do their school assignments on the go.

Target and Walmart are usually our go-to spots for supplies. The discount department stores tend to have a broad selection and decent prices, so I was curious how they compared.

Here's how our back-to-school shopping trips at Target and Walmart stacked up.

My local Target had mostly emptied its back-to-school section, but I found great clearance deals.
Target clearance section, empty shelves
The back-to-school section at my local Target was mostly gone by the last week of August.

Terri Peters

Many kids in my county went back to school a week ago, so my local Target's back-to-school section was starting to be dismantled, presumably to make room for Halloween items.

Because of this, the shelves that weren't completely bare were filled with half-off merchandise like backpacks, pens, and notebooks.

This included cute Barbie and "The Mandalorian" licensed merchandise and school supplies from big name brands like Elmer's and Ticonderoga.

I spotted a few clearance sales at Walmart, too.
Deals at Walmart
My local Walmart had a few markdowns.

Terri Peters

Walmart's versions of clearance prices — sometimes called rollbacks — were also in effect, with lots of products in its also-dwindling back-to-school section marked down.

Notebooks from Walmart's Pen+Gear brand, for example, were marked down from $1.97 to $1.48.

Most of the items I saw marked down at Walmart were from the retailer's own brands. I didn't see discounts on items with licensed characters or ones from big name brands.

Although empty in spots, Target's back-to-school section had lots of essentials.
Target school supplies bins
I found a lot of school supplies for cheap prices at Target.

Terri Peters

At Target, the back-to-school inventory was greatly reduced, but I still saw plenty of essential items, all marked at 50% off.

From PaperMate pencils to Elmer's glue, I found many reliable, tried-and-true brands available to stock up on at an impressive price.

The PaperMate mechanical pencils, for example, retail for just under $10, but were only $5 as part of the half-off sale. I found 4-ounce bottles of Elmer's glue that are usually $1 but were marked down to 50 cents.

My local Walmart's back-to-school section had, for the most part, been set up for Halloween.
Walmart Halloween section
It was nice to see Halloween stuff out but I wished Walmart had more discounted school supplies.

Terri Peters

Walmart was in full fall mode, and the sections of the store that were back-to-school themed just last week were already filled with Halloween candy and spooky trinkets.

Although I did find a small section where the remaining school supplies had been moved, the pickings were slim and not everything was marked down — only products on a Walmart rollback.

This was apparently a great time to buy cute back-to-school accessories at Target.
Target school accessories
Some supplies aren't essentials but are nice for students to have.

Terri Peters

My teens love personalizing their school supplies and backpacks, so I grabbed a few iron-on initial decals and tech accessories, like phone wrist straps, for them at Target.

These items would cost way more during the school year, but the 50% discount applied to them as well since they were in Target's back-to-school section.

Finding little gems like this that would ordinarily be an additional expense (not a must-have school supply) felt like a great deal and a nice back-to-school treat for my teens.

Walmart seemed to have more supplies geared toward teachers and their classrooms.
School supplies for teat Walmart
It was nice to see some products for teachers.

Terri Peters

At Walmart, I spotted products geared toward teachers for classroom use.

From $20 packs of 240 crayons to a $5 door-decorating kit, it was nice to see some products designed to make teachers' lives easier.

These items were not discounted at the tail end of back-to-school season, but it was nice to see them. I didn't notice products designed for bigger groups of students at Target.

The non-clearance school supplies in both stores seemed similarly priced.
Target school supplies section next to similar section at a Walmart
Target (left) had prices similar to Walmart (right).

Terri Peters

Most of the items I checked, like an eight-pack of Expo dry erase markers ($10), were priced similarly at both stores.

A 10-pack of my daughter's favorite PaperMate InkJoy pens were around $12 at both stores. Staples like filler paper ($1), plastic pencil boxes ($1), and 12-packs of glue sticks ($6) were all priced the same at Target and Walmart.

I'd have expected Target to be a more expensive place to shop for school supplies since Walmart is famous for discounts. But Target held its own — I saw no huge difference between prices at the two chains.

I recommend visiting Target during its back-to-school clearance if you can — it's a great time to stock up.
Target end cap
My Target had some school supplies on clearance in late August.

Terri Peters

Prices and availability can certainly vary, but on my trip, Target held the biggest savings due to the 50%-off clearance deals on its back-to-school section.

Although the end of August is a bit late for many back-to-school shoppers, these supplies are rarely purchased once and often need to be replaced or restocked.

So, I recommend taking advantage of end-of-season deals — especially the ones at Target — to stock up on essentials your kids will need throughout the year, from notebooks to pencils.

Based on my experience, the best time to find these clearance deals at Target might be about a week after school starts in your area.

Just move quickly because spooky season is rapidly taking over at both chains, making back-to-school sections obsolete until next year.

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Retail, back-to-school, back-to-school-shopping, review, freelancer-le, school, Target, walmart, Shopping
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I took my kids shopping for school supplies at Walmart and Target. I found way …