Where can you find the best price on school supplies in the metro-east?
With tariff talk and economic uncertainty, families across the metro-east may find back-to-school shopping season particularly daunting.
According to a NerdWallet survey, parents expect to spend more on school supplies, clothing and books than last year’s average. More than half of respondents said back-to-school shopping is financially stressful. To quell this stress, some reported reconsidering what brands they’ll purchase and where they’ll shop.
To take out some of the guesswork, the Belleville News-Democrat compared school supply prices at five local stores this week. Now, we’re sharing what we found.
How we did our price comparison
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Our shopping list consisted of 15 items frequently featured on local schools’ supply lists at multiple grade levels — crayons, markers, colored pencils, wooden and mechanical pencils, highlighters, glue sticks and liquid glue, folders, rulers, pens, scissors, index cards and loose-leaf notebook paper.
We then visited five metro-east stores and took note of the above items’ prices. In Belleville, we hit up the Target on Belleville Crossing, the Walmart Supercenter on Green Mount Commons Drive, and one of the many Belleville Walgreens stores. We also visited the OfficeMax in Fairview Heights and the Swansea Dollar Tree.
In an effort to make the best comparisons possible, we took note of Crayola brand crayons, colored pencils and markers when available. We also tried to compare comparable quantities of items. For example, we looked at packs of 24 mechanical pencils and packs of four highlighters across each store whenever possible. Often, Dollar Tree was the exception, as it did not have as broad of a selection.
By comparing the total cost of the 15-item supply baskets at each store, we found where school supplies are the cheapest, and where they are the most expensive.
Dollar Tree is the cheapest, but may not be best for older students
With every item on our list costing $1.25, Dollar Tree proved to have the cheapest prices, followed by Walmart, then Target. The most expensive was Walgreens (the total cost was over double the cost of Target’s supplies), followed by OfficeMax.
Although their prices were usually higher than the other stores, both OfficeMax and Walgreens had buy-one, get-one half-off deals. For some families, the convenience of Walgreens may outweigh higher prices.
While it may be the cheapest, Dollar Tree may not be a one-stop shop, especially if your school requests specific brands or if you’re shopping for middle and high school students. A top item on older students’ supply list is a combination lock, which was sold at all the stores we visited except Dollar Tree. Walmart had the lowest price on a single lock at $5.97, followed by Target at $7. Walgreens and OfficeMax both sold single locks for $8.99.
Many of the supply lists for middle and high schoolers include specific calculators, namely the Texas Instruments TI-30XIIS Scientific Calculator and, for more advanced classes, the Texas Instruments TI-84 Graphing Calculator. Walmart had the best deals on both calculators at $9.48 and $100 (sale price), respectively. Target was in the middle, and OfficeMax was the most expensive with the TI-30XIIS calculator at $17.99 and the TI-84 on sale for $126. Some versions of the graphing calculator may be more expensive, though, depending on their features.
Is it cheaper to shop for school supplies online?
There’s not a clear answer for this one.
We also compared the cost of common school supplies at local retailers to what’s on Amazon Prime, specifically so we wouldn’t have to consider shipping costs. The total of our 15-items was $64.54 when shopping for mostly name-brand items. That’s higher than our five local stores.
However, the total came out a bit cheaper than Walgreens when we shopped off-brand items on Prime.
Families may choose to shop on Prime for convenience and to choose from a wider range of products or those that can be harder to find, such as scientific and graphing calculators.
As of Friday, a TI-84 cost $95.95 on Prime. That sale price makes it the cheapest TI-84 we found. The TI-30XIIS cost $9.48, the lowest price we found, on Prime and at Walmart.
Prime also sells many items in bulk, which could be ideal for teachers stocking their classrooms.
Other tips to save on school supplies:
- Remember, just because something is on sale doesn’t mean it’s the cheapest option - For example, OfficeMax had nearly every item on our shopping list on sale, but nearly every item was able to be obtained somewhere else for cheaper (although many were also on sale at other stores).
- Off-brand products are almost always cheaper than name-brands - no surprise, but worth remembering.
- If you’re a teacher, you may get a discount - Some retailers offer teacher discount for qualifying purchases.
- Check out local back-to-school events - Many local districts are promoting back-to-school celebrations with free school supplies on their social media pages. Before you go, make sure your child is eligible for the supplies.
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
