Forget Walmart and Target: Where budget-conscious Americans are shopping for back-to-school

Data from the National Retail Federation’s back-to-school survey found that by July over two thirds of American’s had gotten an early jump on picking up items for the start of the academic year. Over half were doing so specifically to avoid increased prices due to Trump’s tariffs.

The National Retail Federation says that respondents also plan to spend less this year on average for both K-12 and college school items and are seeking out deals. While many will be taking advantage of summer sales online and at department stores, some are turning to a less conventional retailer, pawn shops, to get what they need at a discount.

Shoppers can “save tremendous amounts of money” at pawn shops

Back-to-school shoppers can find basically all the items they have on their list at pawn shops including small electric appliances and bicycles for college students, as well as musical instruments, footwear and laptops. And the discount can be big, as much as 50 percent lower than retail according to EZPawn.

Renita Parker, an EZPawn regional director in Houston told CNN that the chain, which has 500 shops nationwide, is seeing more customers come in “because they know we have reasonable prices and because they don’t really have to worry about the stress of paying retail when it’s unaffordable to them.”

And because the vast majority of what is sold in pawn shops is secondhand, the price isn’t affected by the tariffs Trump has imposed on imports into the US. “Tariffs are not a factor here at our company simply because our customers are the ones that supplies us with the merchandise,” explained Parker.

EZPawn informed CNN that it has noticed a considerable uptick in the sale of back-to-school items in the last quarter.

“People are struggling more, and that’s why more people are looking for better deals. They don’t have the money, and they still want their children to have a laptop,” Les Gold, owner of the pawn shop American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit told CNN.

“With the way the economy is right now, people realize that they can go to a pawn shop anywhere in the United States, and they can save tremendous amounts of money,” he added.

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