Back-to-School Shoppers Get Lessons in Economics, Fashion

For Judith Whittinghill, it’s a crisis--albeit a minor one.

Both her children, 12-year-old Ian and 10-year-old Catherine, want a special fruit drink for their lunch boxes. She can’t remember its name. But with less than a week left until school starts, she is looking for it.

“You have to have it,” the Camarillo mother said with a smile. “So we are hunting for it.”

Whittinghill, who was searching through the aisles of the Target store in Camarillo on Tuesday morning, is one of thousands of shoppers flocking to Ventura County’s malls, outlet centers and discount stores looking for items ranging from basic clothing and school supplies to the latest back-to-school fad.

“My Taz lunch box is the coolest,” said 9-year-old Katie Olson about the raised image of the Tasmanian devil on her plastic box as she strolled through The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks with her mother, Lee Ann, and three of her five siblings. “I love Taz.”

But whether it is finding the basics or looking for the latest gizmo, back-to-school shopping can lead to some fierce negotiations between grandmothers and grandsons, mothers and daughters or aunts and nephews.

“This is a nightmare,” said Ronnie Ellison, her arms heaped with hangers and clothes while shopping at Mervyn’s in Ventura for her three granddaughters.

“I think all the schools should have uniforms,” Ellison said. “Then you don’t have to worry about what to wear.”

Shopping with her granddaughters requires lots of compromise, Ellison said. She pushes for more basic and functional, while “they go for all the high-fashion things,” she said.

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Ashley Lisenbee, 10, who will be starting fifth grade at Las Posas School in Camarillo, was luckier. Her mother understands her clothing needs, she said, because she did not get to choose what she wanted when she was growing up. Ashley said she is glad she doesn’t wear a uniform because “I think clothes express how people feel.”

“We agree,” said her mother, smiling.

Ashley picked lots of tees with satin sleeves. She ran down an outlet mall’s list of What’s Cool for Back to School--things like ankle-high boots and anything in lime green--and nixed every item as “uncool” or “old.”

Over at the Buenaventura Mall, Patricia Marcese, 12, and Ashley Dana, 13, had the deal of a century: shopping alone, with no parental oversight. Just the cash.

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Patricia was already in her new corduroy overalls. “Corduroy is the thing,” she explained.

“And flip-flops,” said Ashley. “And you can’t just get them at Thrifty. You have to get them at a surf shop.”

Both will attend Cabrillo Middle School in Ventura. Other fashion items on their list: Levi’s 501s, not too tight and not too baggy with lots of holes, and “board shorts,” otherwise known as surfers trunks.

The shopping was much less stressful for students at the handful of schools with uniforms. At Mervyn’s, racks of blue jumpers and white shirts with Peter Pan collars offered a somber contrast to neon T-shirts and denim vests.

Many advocates of uniforms have said the strict dress codes would save parents money. But parents and store managers say they aren’t spending any less. In the end, it’s those with the shopping acumen who get the bargains.

And parents say bargain shopping is the only way to cope with rising prices.

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“Most of the stuff we got on sale,” said Wendi Posey, who was shopping at J.C. Penney in The Oaks. “We pretty much shop for the basics, but it is always expensive.”

The Thousand Oaks mother planned to spend about $150 on clothes for each of her two children.

But if back-to-school shopping can be a headache for parents, retailers from Oxnard to Thousand Oaks said they love the annual buying frenzy.

The July 28 opening of the Target store in Camarillo came just in time, said store manager Ken MacKenzie. Business is very good, and much of that is due to back-to-school sales, he said. The store dedicates about 5% of its floor space to school supplies.

Anything with a movie or cartoon affiliation sells. Besides the Taz lunch boxes, there are Hunchback of Notre Dame backpacks, Batman bags, Pocahontas notebooks and Goosebumps binders.

While the younger students are attracted to these supplies, older kids gravitate to the latest fashions.

“If you want to be accepted by your fellow students, you have to dress accordingly,” said Dominique Key while shopping at The Oaks. That means tight shirts, loose shorts and low-cut sneakers, said the 13-year-old girl, who is about to begin eighth grade at Los Cerritos Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks.

But peer pressure has its limits, Dominique said. While she has painted her fingernails blue, she won’t go for the bell bottoms and other ‘60s clothes that are making a comeback, she said.

“I’m not wearing that stuff,” Dominique said. “It’s nasty.”

Miguel Helft is a correspondent and Hilary MacGregor is a Times staff writer.