TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – As parents shop for school supplies during Florida’s back-to-school tax-free weekend, retailers are seeing a new trend, as more shoppers searching for technology to allow their children and teens to learn remotely.
Families say on the positive end of things, it’s not too crowded at stores such as Best Buy; however, the high demand for laptops, computers, and tablets, means families have to be flexible with their choices as stores run out.
Nycleshia Washington was shopping with her family. Her son, Andrew, is getting ready for first grade.
“I’m gonna be doing it from home,” said Andrew.
Washington has been working remotely and is hoping her son might receive his own laptop so that they don’t have to share.
“From my understanding, Leon County Schools are going to provide the kids Chromebooks, so we are on the list, and I’m hoping that he’ll be able to receive one,” said Washington.
Tamia Adams is heading to Lively Tech, where the classes are starting remotely.
“This is my first year in college and I’m super excited,” said Adams.
She was searching for a laptop, but some of the empty shelves provided a challenge.
“We’re actually hoping that the one we’re looking at is in stock, because we saw someone else looking at it!” said Washington.
Best Buy took extra precautions during the pandemic, including requiring employees to have temperature checks before work.
“When customers are done with an area, we’ll run by and sanitize it. A big thing we’re doing is limiting the number of customers in the store. We normally have a fairly large capacity, we’ve cut that down to 15 percent,” said Tony Hayes, a specialty sales manager at the store.
Hayes says in his year at that location, Friday was one of the busier days.
“We’re seeing the change in business in that method. A lot of people are going to the work from home, school from home business model, and it’s been fantastic,” said Hayes.
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