Until then, teachers are putting the finishing touches on their classrooms and families are stocking up on clothes and supplies.
As for clothing, there’s what’s hot and what’s not.
“No. 1 right now are unicorns,” said Anna Anagnos, owner of Eat Your Spinach Children’s Boutique in downtown Ridgewood.
Also trending, she said, are bomber jackets, cold shoulders, vintage destruction sweatshirts, ultrasuede dresses and pants, chokers, and lace up tops.
Anything with tassels and fringes also are all the rage.
“And emojis never really went away,” Anagnos added.
The all-essential backpack goes glam this year with lots of shine.
“Metallic is very in – gold and silver and other colors,” said Sarabeth Fein, owner of The Purple Bow on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck.
Studs are big, too, and anything with sayings.
The well-accessorized backpack this fall includes a fuzzy keychain and, in some cases, a matching pencil case.
It’s cool, too, to put sticker patches on backpacks.
The usual paper and plastics supplies – notebooks, folders – are flying off the shelves at the Dollar Store and CVS in multiple towns.
But even the same-old stuff gets a bit of a lift this fall.
Move over, plain old pencil top erasers. What’s in now are iwako’s take-apart puzzle erasers, featured, among lots of other items, at The Purple Bow.
Younger kids don’t come to Radio Shack in the Midland Park Shopping Center, according to Associate Tyler Bennett.
But college kids do.
“We’re mainly selling them routers and Ethernet cables so they can have the Internet in their dorms,” said Bennett, who added the store will be running a sale after Sept. 6.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Lorraine Ash, Anthony Locicero and Faith Ballantine contributed to this story.
Click here to follow Daily Voice North Passaic and receive free news updates.