According to a recent report from NEWSWIRE on August 10, 2023, one in four Canadians is expected to participate in back-to-school shopping this year. The Retail Council of Canada's Back-to-School 2023 Shopping Survey reveals that consumers are being more cautious with their spending, focusing on lower-priced items compared to previous years. Notably, stationery is projected to be the leading spending category at 60.8%, a significant shift from not being included in the list last year. Higher-priced items are being deferred by shoppers.
The shopping trend is beginning earlier this year, with 29.5% of respondents planning to shop 2-4 weeks before school starts, a decrease from 42.9% in 2022. A remarkable change is observed in shopping behavior, as 66% of Canadians intend to make dedicated trips for back-to-school purchases, contrasting with only 32.7% in the previous year.
Brick-and-mortar retailers in local neighborhoods are the preferred choice for 81% of Canadians, a notable increase from 41% in 2022, indicating a strong preference for physical stores over online purchases.
The top categories for back-to-school spending include stationery (60.8%), clothing (32.1%), books and music (23.4%), and personal or home electronics (18.2%). These findings provide insights into Canadians' shifting shopping habits and priorities for the upcoming school season.
You can jump into the article in the description.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/survey-1-in-4-canadians-will-go-shopping-for-back-to-school-this-year-805960556.html
Today I have an interesting topic which is about school summer vacation in Canada. The first surprise for the Japanese is this: school summer vacation in Canada usually lasts for 2 months or more.
The first day of the summer holidays for most Canadian schools is the last Saturday in June (early July), while the last day of the holiday is normally Labour Day in September. Students in the country enjoy two to three months of summer vacation. Mostly in Japan we only have 1 month that I was feeling long enough while I was in Japan for some reasons, though.
At the end of the summer vacation, Canadian people seem to have a unique culture called back-to-school shopping. for me, it is similar to the Japanese shopping culture for a new season of school in April.
The most surprising thing for me should be that generally speaking, there is no homework during the vacation and no cram school that we called JUKU in Japan. That means children in Canada are essentially designed to enjoy their summer by playing with beautiful summer or focusing on playing sports in some leagues for those who belong to some teams.
By the way, one of my teammates in the running club has an old Japanese friend who is a teacher in the cram school. The funny thing was that he expressed that "the cram school" is the place the students in Japan are going crazy about the study outside of school. I was like, Juku is the strange culture in Japan, for some Canadians, that is just a crazy and awkward spot to have students study hard.
On the contrary, I am feeling something missing these days, it is likely because we don't have summer special holidays called OBON in Japan and nothing special opportunities to feel summer itself by having summer foods or joining summer festivals or meeting relatives who we basically only meet in summer in Japan.
Overall, I am mostly jealous of Canadian children because they can enjoy their summer for 2 months without any responsibility for homework or anything. If I grew up in Canada, I must have been lazy but might have been curious about some nature experiences or summer activities.
How do you see Japanese summer? Stay safe everyone against the humid and boiling temperature.
