At the start of the new academic year, many bookstores in Jeddah raised prices of different items taking advantage of the high season for school supplies.

A large number of book stores and stationery shops stocked on school supplies as students started their first week of school. As demand went up, prices of items soared prompting the Jeddah branch of the Ministry of Trade to step in and put a check on the rising price tags of commodities.

The ministry’s officials put in place a strategic plan to control the exaggerated prices that included sudden inspection tours on books stores and shops selling stationery in the city. The prices of the items, which were double of the official market prices in some cases, were compared and violators handed out penalties.

The campaign resulted in the shutting down of forty stationery and school supplies’ shops, and giving out warnings to thirty others to comply with the price list.

A source told Arab News that the ministry would practice a zero-tolerance policy with law-breakers. “These inspection tours will continue for the next two weeks to cover all the book stores in Jeddah,” the source added.

A number of parents complained about the unjustified price hike telling Arab News that their budget for the beginning of the school year had become insufficient.

Adel Al-Hanafi, a father said that the hike in prices of school stationery items at the beginning of each academic year had become the norm. “It’s just crazy. An ordinary school bag is being sold for a minimum price of SR 200,” he said.

Fahd Al-Matiri criticized the absence of official monitoring authorities which has led vendors to deliberately raise prices every year. Parents, Ahmed Muhsen, Nayef AL-Harbi and Ibrahim Saleh, agree saying that the customers are falling victims to the scams of the libraries and book stores. They added that the authorities should step in and stop scammers from fleecing the public and help Saudi families plan their expenses. “My budget goes haywire every year owing to this hike in prices,” said Muhsen.

Ahmed Al-Salem is a father of three girls and one boy. He says their annual school supplies, apart from the school uniforms, cost him around SR 2000 putting a high burden on their September budget.

Meanwhile, libraries and book shops blame external factors for this increase. Nawaf Al-Zahrani, a sales manager in a stationary store, said shops buy the supplies at a higher rate from the source. “We import school supplies from abroad at a higher cost which forces us to raise our prices,” he told Arab News.

Al-Zahrani asked parents to bear in mind that prices of raw materials and labor have increased causing the prices of school supplies to rise. He advised them to buy their children’s needs before the school starts which could help them save money.