Back-to-school spending is expected to reach $27 billion in sales, according to the latest survey from Deloitte. More than a quarter of shoppers (28%) will shop at off-price retailers, like T.J. Maxx, a TJX Cos. chain, a 10 percentage-point rise from last year. And 28% expect to shop in department stores, down from 54% last year. Sixty percent of shoppers will head to stores in August, spending an average of $532, higher than the $458 the remaining parents who will shop in August or later expect to spend. More than half (57%) will shop in stores while 21% expect to shop online. About 29 million households will take part in the back-to-school shopping season, which is the second largest of the year. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is down 12% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index is up 8.3% for the period.
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