Back-to-school shopping is a rite of passage for children, parents and grandparents.

But this year, the Retail Council of Canada says shoppers will be spending less this this year due to rising inflation. Retail analyst Bruce Winder says retailers are aware of the pressure Canadians are under and will be offering strong promotions.

“Overall, retailers are fairly cautious because they realize the consumers are under a significant amount of pressure, for the obvious reason, interest rates are at 5 % and the Bank of Canada may raise them again.”

Winder says despite store promotions, shoppers will likely stick more to essentials, and head for discount and used options to save money.

61 % per cent plan to spend big in the stationery aisle.

That’s a turnaround from last year, when stationery didn’t even make the top 10 list last year in a survey by Caddle.