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The beginning of the school year is coming and parents hurry to buy the necessary materials for their children in early September. The research of GRReporter shows that there are major differences in the supply of school materials. The prices of notebooks, school bags and other materials are significantly higher in small bookshops than in large specialized stores. Recently, in addition to the familiar chain stores for stationery (Plesio etc.) and goods for students large super-markets in Greece, offering a wide variety of products with a wide price range entered the September pre-school game.  

Shocking example of how the big department stores seize the market share of the smaller shops is the price of an ordinary notebook with wide rows of 50 sheets. It is available in the Ano Patisia local bookshop in the capital for about 60-80 euro cents. If the customers of the shop are regular ones or just decide to bargain when purchasing a larger quantity the trader  may offer them a discount of 10% -15%. Near the small bookshop is one of the super-markets in the neighbourhood. It has an exhibition area of about three hundred square meters, where children and parents can find the same type of notebooks in a package of fifteen for € 4.20 or the unit price is less than 30 euro cents. Many different types of school bags are offered there among which you can always find special offers for large bags of different colors and designs at a price of € 10. The popular among the older students branded handbags as Polo, No Fear, Eastpak and others have approximately the same prices. The decision of where to buy such a new bag depends on how well the customer knows the owner of the local shop that will offer a better price.

However, the fiercest is the competition in the school bags for the kids. Kids’ favourite cartoon characters like Spidermen, Ben10, the little explorer Dora, Barbie, Little Mermaid and many others are competing to become the guardian of the first grade pupils’ textbooks. Most of the companies that offer these bags are licensed to use the corresponding characters, which is definitely making the end price more expensive. However, the parents prefer this type of bags because they will make their children happy on one hand and on the other original goods are more reliable. “She is still under school age, but we don’t go out without the bag of the little explorer Dora,” Vasiliki – the mother of the five years old Lena – is laughing. The prices of the bags with the favourite cartoon characters range from € 20 to € 40. They vary in size but the suitcase type bags with a foldable handle that the child can pull instead of carrying on his back, when the bag is very heavy, have been particularly popular lately. This bag costs € 24 in the neighbourhood bookshop and it costs € 20 in the big super-market.

The financial crisis and reduced demand corner the small retailers that can not withstand the competition of large enterprises. Department stores take advantage of the large flow of customers that benefit from the convenience to shop consumer goods and school materials. However, number one on this competitive market are the specialized stores for children such as the Jumbo chain. There are plenty of goods for children of all ages there. These type of stores offer school bags for € 5 euros, which for the inexperienced parents that are always in a hurry are no different than those of € 30. There a simple box of 50 pens costs € 3. The only weapon of small retailers against the department stores is the personal attitude towards customers. An important role plays the connection with the neghbourhood community built over the years long before the emergence of the price difference between small retailers and corporate chains. “We moved the shop from the main street to the first crossing, because the room was too big and costly for our turnover,” says the seller of the neighbourhood bookshop in Ano Patisia. Regardless of the smaller volume of work, she does not believe that their business will decline.