Back To School In The Illawarra In 2025
Where To Buy Back To School Supplies, Lunch Boxes, Bags, Stationery, Uniforms + The All-Important Shoes
It’s not that far away – yikes!
We think there’s something pretty joyful about the back to school shop.
Aside from the obvious – that THE KIDS ARE ACTUALLY GOING BACK TO SCHOOL – we get excited about the new backpacks.
Oh, and pristine uniforms.
Shiny shoes.
Clean lunch boxes without mushed up food bits.
Notebooks without any scribble.
Rows of unused, sharp pencils and orderly pencil cases… mmmmm parenting and organisation heaven.
So to help you with your back to school shopping mojo, here’s a guide of local shops to hit up to get you through your back to school shopping list.
SCHOOL SHOES
Top of the back to school shopping list? That’s gotta be school shoes, right?
Here’s a list of stores in the Illawarra that are stocked and ready for the back to school rush.
LUNCH BOXES AND DRINK BOTTLES
From eco-friendly to bento, hardy to colourful, minimise the risk of lunchboxes and drink bottles going into the Bermuda Triangle of the school Lost + Found box by grabbing something unique or eye-catching.
Now, you can always head to the chain stores – Smiggle, The Reject Shop, Spotlight and Kmart all have extensive ranges but as you know, we like to shop small so recommend heading to:
Taylor’s Healthy Grocers in Wollongong for plastic free lunchboxes.
You’ll find durable, practical and still stylish drink bottles and lunch boxes from The Sensory Studio in Fairy Meadow.
Oak Home in Gerringong also stocks an excellent range of bottles and boxes.
SCHOOL BAGS
The chain stores have once again got some big ranges.
Some specialty bag and accessories stores also have some super cute school bag options.
Beach Street Surf Scene stock loads of cool backpacks and often have some pretty sweet back to school deals.
Natural Necessity Surf Shop in Gerringong also have tons of cool options for bags and lunchboxes.
Oh, and a hot tip from The Fold team? Head to op shops like Salvo’s, Vinnie’s the Red Cross and the Smith Family for some bargain backpack buys.
STATIONERY
From Helensburgh to Gerroa, many of our local newsagencies have plenty of back to school stationery. And if you shop in the same town that your child goes to school, chances are they’ve probably already got the school stationery list on file and can help you load up.
Find a list of local newsagencies in the Illawarra to get you started.
Specialty stationery stores are always handy to head to also.
And your local post office [depending on the size of it] often have some cool back to school supplies to check out.
UNIFORMS
Many of our local schools have their own uniform shops, the chain stores are also good for topping up with unbranded socks, shorts, skirts, jumpers etc.
Poppets in North Wollongong is a family run business that has been operating locally since 1973. They cater for uniforms of 16 local schools including Towradgi Public School, St Columbkilles Corrimal, Oak Flats High School and more.
Hazeltons in Albion Park is another school uniform specialist and cater for a number of local schools and they have accessories such as hair ties and hats too.
