Who has the best prices on school supplies?

That’s not an easy question to answer, but WINK News traveled into the School Zone to do some comparison shopping. We picked a few basic items that appear on many school supply lists.

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• 4 glue sticks
• Colored pencils – one package of 12
• Regular pencils – a 12-pack of No. 2
• Dry-erase markers – 4 pack

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Then, we went shopping.

• Office Depot – 7091 College Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33907
• Publix – 1631 Del Prado Blvd S, Cape Coral, FL 33990
• Target – 1890 NE Pine Island Rd, Cape Coral, FL 33909
• Walmart – 1619 Del Prado Blvd, Cape Coral, FL 33990

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It’s worth noting that all of the stores had some variety of back-to-school deals.

At Office Depot, we spent $13.27, and all four items were on sale. They offered a four-pack of glue sticks, compared to the other stores, where we only saw two packs. Our receipt noted a savings of $7.89.

We spent the most at Publix, but we were not able to make a direct comparison with some of the items. We also walked away with extra items.

Publix had three packs of glue sticks for sale. The school supply list we used for this experiment required four glue sticks, so we would have had to buy two packages. In this case, we lucked out. They were BOGO—buy one, get one free. The colored pencils were BOGO, too.

Also, our list required a 12-pack of pencils, but we were only able to find an 18-pack. Our Publix receipt reflected $7.08 in savings.

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RELATED: School supply lists for Southwest Florida by school and district

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At Target, we saved $2.78. The glue sticks were marked down to 50 cents for a package of two, and the colored pencils were also on sale, priced at 99 cents.

And went spent the least amount at Walmart. The glue sticks were priced at 50 cents per 2-pack. Everything else was slightly cheaper than the other stores.

A few other observations worth noting:

• Each of the above graphics shows how much we paid in tax. If the Back-to-School tax holiday were underway, we would not have paid that additional amount. The tax holiday runs from July 29 to August 11.
• The sales tax in Cape Coral is 6.5%. We paid 6% tax at Office Depot in South Fort Myers.
• Dry erase markers were the most costly part of our purchase at all the stores.

If you have more than one child, BOGO’s might be more appealing. If you’re shopping for groceries at Walmart or Target, it might make sense to buy supplies there.

No matter which store you choose for your back-to-school items, you need to know your prices and determine if it’s worth going from store to store to get the best deals.