What happened to back-to-school sales?

For this week’s No More Ls column, we’re looking at what the heck happened to back-to-school deals and how, in this economy, you can still save.

You know the back-to-school shopping season now starts earlier in August than ever before. And between inflation and tariff talk, a flood of early Labour Day sales events, and kids old enough to have opinions about their own budgets, the season has turned into something parents and caregivers need to navigate strategically.

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We talked to a market researcher and two moms (one a financial planner, and the other a money coach) about how the shopping ritual has changed, and how they’re strategically shopping.

Two ways to deal with the early start to BTS shopping

There have been shifts in the where and when of back-to-school shopping, according to Luc Dumont, senior vice-president, Consumer Insights at Leger, a market research company. There’s a bit of “a push and pull” between types of Canadian back-to-school shoppers, he says. “People go, ‘well, sales might be fantastic this year, so I’m going to wait.’ But, there’s another cohort that says, ‘I just don’t want prices to go up more, so I’ll do all my shopping as soon as possible.’”

That tension is relatively new, Dumont says, and it’s tied to how people are feeling about their money in general. Where back-to-school shopping was once a two-day thing, it’s now much more intentional, specifically because of economic pressures. “Whenever people find a deal, they might think it’s a little too early, but now might be the time to get one piece of the puzzle handled.”

In its 2025 back-to-school survey, Leger reported that a majority of parents were noticing higher costs for school supplies, with many seeking more affordable options. “Many more people in the last two, three years have been going to discount retailers—people who wouldn’t have in the past,” Dumont says. “Someone who wouldn’t go to Dollarama three years ago, this year may consider it because they know they can save big bucks on some of the base costs.”

Tariff uncertainty is nudging behaviour too, he adds, pushing some shoppers toward unfamiliar territory, like taking a chance of ordering something on sites like Temu and “hoping for the best.” (Don’t want to get duped by online shopping fraud? Read: How to shop online securely and avoid AI scams.)

Is the convenience tax worth it?

Not every household is deal-hunting store to store. Not everyone avoids the convenience tax.

Moira Rose Váně, an associate financial planner and a mom of two in Edmonton, has opted out of the back-to-school scramble by taking advantage of her kids’ school supply kit program.

“You just need to tick a box, and they get everything they need,” she explains. “You get a giant fabric bag, filled with all of the pens, pencils, erasers, protractors, binders, paper—every single thing they need for the entire school year, including Kleenex and hand sanitizers.” For Váně, it’s less about extra cost and more about saving sanity. “I don’t have the mental bandwidth to run to five different stores,” she says.

What she does still shop for is clothing—sparingly. “It’s not like a whole revamp of their entire closet,” she says of her approach to back-to-school wardrobes. “But we definitely get some new stuff into the rotation.” Most of the actual shopping happens in the last stretch of summer, after a careful inventory of what is needed.

Giving kids the responsibility to shop

While Váně’s approach is to outsource the small stuff, Toronto-based money coach and mother-of-two Angie Ross’s philosophy is about delegating control on purpose. “One of the major mistakes a lot of parents make is wanting to keep the control,” she says. Her fix: Set a budget together, then hand it over as physical cash.

The rules: “Once I give them the cash, I can’t interject into their decision-making, but they’re not getting any more than their limit.” The reasoning is backed by research. “For adults even, cash reduces spending by 25%,” she explains. “With plastic, it doesn’t mentally clock the purchasing, and the money leaving.” But a secured card can also work that way. And Ross is a fan of prepaid spending apps like Mydoh for building the same budgeting muscle year-round.

Ross scales the amount and freedom to spend by age, with younger kids handling smaller amounts and responsibilities, like picking their own pencil case with a set amount. She also gamifies the search for deals, getting her kids in on the research to teach them how to be smart consumers.

“Getting out the flyers and looking for sales, and even using ChatGPT to help find deals,” she says. “Sometimes it can be kind of a game to see who can find the best price.”

Shopping homework

Whether you opt for an August early-bird special, a last-minute Labour Day spree or a combo of the two, remember that teaching kids about personal finance is a life skill they’ll depend on (unlike, say, the Pythagorean theorem). 

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Know the rules for spending RESP money

Váně flags one massive back-to-school financial cost that has nothing to do with backpacks or binders: Registered education savings plan (RESP) withdrawals for kids heading to university.

“There are rules around withdrawals, with two pots of money that get treated differently,” she says. “One is kind of a free-for-all, and there are no taxes on it, so you can spend it on whatever you want. But with the other one, there are rules about what you can spend it on. Become informed on the best strategy for withdrawing money, or you might end up with a kid who ends up paying a lot more in taxes.”

Váně points to a stack of consumer complaints filed with the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) over RESP withdrawal errors. There are cases where, she says, a bank “accidentally ticked the box that was for the free money at the beginning, and then the kids end up in good co-op programs, earning super high incomes, and they have too much money left at the end.”

This situation can leave families owing taxes or having to return grant money they’ve already spent.

Her advice: Do your research. “You’ve got to walk through 100 metres and every five metres there are landmines—like when you can withdraw from each pot and how much. There are lots of them, and you don’t know what you don’t know.”