September is here and bookstores are once again crowded with people preparing for the return to school. Every year, the arrival of the school year represents both a major outlay for families and an extraordinary income for bookstores. This time, high price increases and the gradual arrival of digital textbooks via Chromebooks mean that sellers and buyers have to adapt to new conditions.
“The books are the same price, but the school supplies have gone up”. This is how Javier Benítez, a father of two girls who are in ESO, comments on the investment he will have to make in the coming days. More specifically, he foresees that the costs for each of his daughters this September will be “400 euros in books, 50 in material and 100 in uniforms”.
Agustín Blasco, a father of two children, assures: “We will spend 100 euros per child because they are very young and do not need textbooks yet”. Despite the relatively low cost, he acknowledges: “The price increase will be noticeable”.
Textbooks at the El Quijote bookstore. | MIGUEL GONZÁLEZ
Another customer who was buying material for his two children, CAC, expects the total costs to return to school this September to amount to “150 euros for the uniform, 500 euros for the books and 100 euros for the material for each of them. In the end, between one thing and another, we will come to 1,000 euros for each child”. Finally, he jokes: “It won’t be as expensive as gasoline or electricity”.
Bookstores confirm that prices have indeed risen. LRR, a worker at the Hipérbole bookstore in Vila, explains: “The price of all material has gone up, but what has increased the most is paper. The cost of living in general is on the rise”.
The owners of the bookstore El Quijote in Sant Antoni, Jesús and Álex Navarro, detail: “The cost of the paper reel is 40% or 50% more expensive, treated paper has grown by 30% or 35% and the material will go up between 10% or 15%.”
Pens in the Hipérbole bookstore. IRENE VILÀ CAPAFONS
Bookstores offering cheaper alternatives this September
The sellers are aware of this effort that their customers have to make and LRR comments: “We offer lists of more basic and cheaper material to help families”. When asked about sales so far, this employee responds, “We have been working like last year and we are selling quite a lot of material, but it is noticeable that people have less money.”
For their part, Jesús and Álex Navarro are confident that “sales will be good. Whatever happens, the biggest sales of the year will be in September. At the moment, people are already coming with lists of books and the other day a woman spent 80 euros”. However, he qualifies: “Bookstores don’t take the 700 euros they say back to school costs. A batch of books is 200 euros.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.