Back-to-School Deals Canada: What Actually Goes on Sale

Back-to-school supplies are cheap on purpose; laptops are where the money is. How new-model sales and last year's clearance overlap, and where prices are the same everywhere.

A back-to-school flyer mixes two very different kinds of deal. Most of the page is supplies priced to get you in the door. A few items, laptops above all, are where you can save or lose real money. They deserve different amounts of attention.

Supplies are cheap on purpose

Notebooks, pencils, and glue sticks at a few cents each are loss leaders. They're usually genuinely that cheap, but the total is small enough that it barely matters where you buy them. Grab them wherever you already are, and don't drive across town to save a dollar on binders.

Laptops are the purchase worth timing

Back-to-school season overlaps with retailers clearing out last year's laptops. When a manufacturer ships a new model, the outgoing one often goes to clearance while it's still a perfectly good machine for school. So the same week can offer a back-to-school price on the new model and a clearance price on the old one.

Compare the two before deciding. Check the new model's back-to-school price against its own history too, since a "back to school sale" sticker is most likely to be measured against an inflated regular price on exactly this kind of item.

Where the price is the same everywhere, and where it isn't

Best Buy and Staples both price nationally. A laptop costs the same at every one of their stores, so once the price is right, go to the closest store that has it. Staples also keeps clearing back-to-school overstock through the fall, which is worth knowing if you can wait until after the first week of classes.

Canada Computers is worth checking for laptops as well. Its clearance includes open-box and refurbished machines, and those are priced by condition, so the same model can show up at a few different prices across its stores.

A simple plan

Look up price history on anything over $50, because that's where a misleading sale tag actually costs you. Set alerts in early August on the one or two big items rather than shopping the first week, since retailers compete for the same buyers all month and prices can keep moving. Search a laptop to see its history and stock near you, or browse today's clearance. Outside the seasonal push, most Canadian clearance never makes a flyer.