Kids not returning to school is good news and bad news for retailers, depending on what you sell. The National Retail Federation says school uniform revenue is down 50%, but some high tech items are hard to keep in stock.
Gary Huddleston with the Texas Retailers Association says back to school sales are better than you might think.
"You go back a week or so ago and we had tax free weekend and many of our retailers had a fairly good sale weekend, due to tax free."
Huddleston says virtual learning doesn't mean every kid skips buying new clothes.
"We still believe kids will maybe buy a new shirt, have some sort of new clothes even if they're doing Zoom, because they want to look nice for their friends."
Huddleston say virtual learning means more high tech sales.
"They may need some cabling, they may need a new camera, mouse, keyboard, besides a new laptop."
Tech sales have been so brisk there's a nationwide shortage of laptops, especially Chromebooks.