The usual hustle and bustle on the sidewalks of the Once neighborhood, in Balvanera, has a noticeable accentuation these weeks.
To the textile sector, which includes long lines and full stores, we must add the several tables that
school supply stores set up on the sidewalks.
Entire families flock to them to take advantage of offers and look for better prices than in other neighborhoods;
The locals take advantage of the influx, common at this time of year, although with the economic crisis and the hardships of this summer,
they see more people coming than ever.
According to a note published by
Clarín
on February 16, and citing the Buenos Aires Ombudsman's Office, school supplies cost, on average, 450% more than in February 2023
.
Countless mothers and children come from the suburbs and from different corners of the City to look for convenient prices in a scenario of
growing inflation
.
Bartolomé Miter at 2500, almost on the corner of Paso.
Daiana and Camila open their black bags and show what they bought: several covers for notebooks, films for laminating cardboard, plastic knobs, pencil boxes, political and physical maps of various sizes, sheets of paper.
Daiana spent
30 thousand pesos to buy her second grade son's supplies;
Camila 37 thousand so that her daughter, of kindergarten age, has everything and very colorful.
In unison they say: “We don't know how much we save
.
”
They come from Lomas de Zamora, where they say, the supplies are very expensive.
“We hardly even ask because we sense that prices are up there.
“We came here directly.”
Guaranteed savings, although not all customers are so happy with the amount spent.
“I spent 50 lucas.
“Fifty lucas!”,
remarked with some indignation a mother who came out carrying two bags with various linings, three boxes of crayons, and six liquid correctors, among other small supplies.
Long lines and price search at Once before the return to school.
Photo: Juano Tesone
In another location:
14 thousand a replacement of 480 lined sheets whose color is limpid white
, 17 thousand more yellowish ones that, they say, are less tiring to the eyes
.
Finely printed folders cost 9,000
, with other designs they can cost 7,000, and plain ones almost 4,000.
From 20 to 30 thousand for cartridges with two or three floors
;
almost 4 thousand tube cartridges.
Filling them is another story.
“For three years, people have been queuing for a block,” says Víctor from his location on Miter and Larrea.
For 40 years he has been dedicated to the field, which shifted from wholesale to retail.
“It is no longer necessary to set a minimum sales amount, because between four or five things they buy they already spend
approximately 30 thousand.”
A
toy store
, on Azcuénaga between Miter and Rivadavia, set up a stand on a parking lot on the street.
The owner explains: “From the last week of January to the first week of March, we sell bookstore items to alleviate the decline in toy sales.
These parties were very hard
. ”
210 pesos for a black or blue pen, 230 for a knob of glue to glue, 250 for an eraser.
There are almost no top brands, money is scarce.
A box of colored pencils can cost a thousand pesos,
3,100 for the top brand, “the one that kids want
,” she highlights.
Also they hardly sell.
In a store in Rivadavia, focused especially on leather goods, only a small, printed garden backpack costs less than twenty thousand.
Backpacks with kids can
cost up to 60 thousand if you look for a reinforced one,
as durable as possible.
Without a doubt, backpacks are almost sumptuous goods.
“I buy here because they seem good and you have to take care of the ticket, make it last,” says a father waiting in line to enter the store.
Great school cheap!, reads on Rivadavia Avenue at 2300, a large sign as a marquee.
Griselda comes from González Catán to stand in line to buy hardcover notebooks at the store.
She has spent more than
300 thousand pesos to cover the basic supplies for the school list of her three children and the two of her older sister
, who died a month ago.
She walks and looks for prices: “I come here to buy
the notebooks, which are 1,700.
Two blocks before, I saw them at 2200.
”
She is referring to the 42-sheet hardcover notebooks.
In another time, she and the chronicler remember, they brought 48 pages.
Griselda also says that she is waiting for the aid of 70 thousand that the national government announced as reinforcement.
“But for the kids to start
I have to spend my salary
, since that help only arrives at the end of March.”
A top brand notebook with 100 sheets costs 5 thousand and up.
A street vendor, on Castelli Street, says that the only ones who carry those notebooks are the parents who adhere to the
strict requirements that some other private school sets out in the supply list.
“They think that people make silver.
They have to pay the fee, the books and, on top of that, several so-called ABC notebooks.
If they have more than one child, they have to mortgage the house,”
she concludes.
Rivadavia at 2500, a baby and children's clothing store that, from the end of January to mid-March,
sells overalls.
“
The season hasn't started yet, we didn't sell more than 25 overalls a day,” says the saleswoman from the door.
She comments that clients look for what is affordable and, in most cases, they pay in installments for overalls that, depending on the size, can reach 20 thousand pesos.
For a kindergarten-aged child, you can't get anything for less than five thousand.
In Once there is a place for everyone, and everyone looks for it.
There are street vendors who approach the long lines carrying cold drinks, sandwiches or cookies.
Everyone, bookstore sellers and street vendors, emphasize the good price they offer.
In the windows of some bookstores it reads “the infinite pencils have arrived – or returned”.
Infinite pencils?
Luca, from Librería La Capital, on Pasteur and Rivadavia, explains what it is about.
“It is a metallic pencil whose tip is made of bismuth and tin alloy.
Lasts longer than a dozen pencils.
It sells considerably,
because you save on worn, broken or lost pencils during the year.”
Tricks by manufacturers and sellers to highlight what is important: taking care of the handle, as they say.
He takes out his calculator to add up how much it costs to buy and fill a basic, tubular-shaped pencil case, the cheapest, at almost 4 thousand pesos.
It does not go below fifteen thousand pesos,
if it is filled with supplies from national brands, sometimes considered second brands: twelve pencils and ten colored fibers, three black pencils, two pens, an eraser, a corrector, a pencil sharpener and a highlighter pen.
Another budget is if you add
a basic calculator, which costs 9,500 pesos.
There are notebooks and boxes with binder sheets that cost, in your local store, just above others.
Is it just due to retail and store maintenance costs?
"Partly.
In some stores they sell adulterated leaves and other supplies.
You pay for a box of 100 gram sheets of paper, but inside there are 65 gram sheets.
“They are trout leaves
. ”
While people crowd inside his establishment, this reporter tells him his intuition: people look for the best price.
"Surely it does. But as a seller, the best you can offer are
quality things at the best price.
Since there is almost no difference in price, it is preferable to pay a few extra pesos but bring durable things.
And he also mentions the case of concealers, which are sold on sidewalks for almost a third of the price.
“They are watered down and erase less, or they are stolen.
Otherwise how can it be worth so little? ”He says.
Apparently, adulteration and smuggling also reached the supplies.
The reason?
Filling the kids' backpack empties their wallet more and more.
You have to adjust somewhere.
S.C.