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Monday, August 6, 2007
Back-To-School Frenzy: Can You Feel It?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ll admit it: I did a little tax-free shopping this weekend. No, I didn’t have any school supplies to purchase. I just couldn’t resist saving a few bucks on some new shoes for fall.
While I was waiting to try on a cute suede pair at Nordstrom, I overheard a sales clerk saying the store wasn’t nearly as busy as he thought it would be, given the annual sales tax holiday.
Honestly, I was grateful for the lack of crowds. But I did start to wonder: Where was the back-to-school frenzy?
Surely teachers were out there somewhere buying up packs of pencils, construction paper and glue with the governor’s annual $100 gift card. Certainly, moms and dads were toting tots to Wal-Mart and Target to purchase new backpacks and underwear.
Weren’t they?
For weeks, I’ve been bombarded with e-mails from PR people pitching the latest and greatest back-to-school products. And TV commercials pushing Staples as the destination for school shopping can hardly be avoided.
Yet, even though school starts today in Cherokee, Coweta and Henry counties (and later this week in Clayton and Douglas counties, as well as Marietta and Buford), I still haven’t felt that annual back-to-school feeling — you know, the giddiness you get at seeing all the clean notebooks.
I don’t know, maybe the oppressive heat and humidity is getting to me. Does anyone else out there feel like it’s just not time for school?
