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The Back-to-School Discounts That Are Actually Real Right Now

We skipped the "up to" percentages and pulled actual listed prices: 25-cent crayons at Target, $0.35 notebooks at Walmart, and a $250 cut on a Dell laptop.

Meridians Reviews Desk

Published 26 August 2026 · Updated 26 August 2026 · 4 min read

The Back-to-School Discounts That Are Actually Real Right NowDeals
Photo: Photo by The Design Lady / Pexels (Pexels License — free to use, no attribution legally required (credited above as good practice).)

The short answer

  • Target and Walmart are listing school supplies as low as $0.25-$0.50 per item, including crayons, markers and notebooks, per a DealNews roundup.
  • Clothing retailers including JCPenney, Belk and Champs Sports have specific markdowns, such as Levi's boys' jeans at $25 (down from $56) at Belk.
  • Dell is offering a $250 cut on its Dell 15 laptop ($549.99), and Best Buy has a 24-inch LG monitor at $86.99 ($113 off).
  • Separate analysis of historical retail patterns estimates peak discount windows fall across late July through mid-August, though this is an editorial estimate, not a retailer-confirmed schedule.

Back-to-school sales pages are full of "up to 70% off" banners that don't tell you much. Here are the actual listed prices we found this week, pulled from a live roundup of retailer sales.

School supplies

  • Target: 24-count classic crayons for $0.25, down from $1; washable markers for $0.50, down from $2.25.
  • Walmart: Pen+Gear 1-subject notebooks at $0.35, down from $0.97; Crayola 24-count crayons at $0.50.
  • Office Depot: composition books at $0.55 and spiral notebooks at $0.50.

Clothing and backpacks

  • The Children's Place: up to 70% off kids' clothing.
  • JCPenney: Nike Elemental backpack at $29.99 ($10 off); kids' graphic tees starting at $5.99.
  • Belk: Levi's boys' relaxed bootcut jeans at $25, down from $56.
  • Champs Sports: CSG Baseline backpack at $20, down from $40.

Electronics

  • Dell: Dell 15 laptop for $549.99, a $250 cut.
  • Apple Education Store: MacBook Air with the M5 chip starting at $1,199.
  • Best Buy: 24-inch LG IPS monitor at $86.99, a $113 discount.

If a specific item matters, check the retailer's own site before heading to a store — in-store stock on the deepest-discounted supplies tends to move fastest.

Sources

Every factual claim above is traceable to these documents. Check them — that is why they are here.

About this byline

Meridians Reviews Desk is an editorial desk at Meridians, not an individual. A desk byline means the article was produced and fact-checked to that desk's published standards. Read our editorial standards and corrections policy.

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