I looked for school supplies at Walmart and Dollar Tree. Many deals were similar, but one shopping experience was easier.

My family tends to do most of our back-to-school shopping online. It’s fairly quick and painless, even if it’s not always the most affordable option.

However, as September rolled around this year, I was curious what I’d find in terms of value and selection if I shopped in person.

So, I put two famous discount retailers, Walmart and Dollar Tree, to the test. For the sake of this story, I focused on buying everything my daughter entering second grade would need for the year.

Though there’s no “right” choice, the differences between the two stores may just make one of these chains the better back-to-school shopping destination for your family. Here are my takeaways.

Dollar Tree was easy to navigate, though there wasn’t too much variety.

Before I visited either store, I knew my shopping experiences would be very different since most Dollar Tree locations are about 1/10th of the size of a Walmart.

As soon as I walked into my local Dollar Tree, I spotted the back-to-school section. Within a few minutes, I’d found most of the supplies on my prepared list.

I didn’t have many decisions to make, either. The store had one option for a mixed pack of highlighters, one choice for a box of colored pencils, one choice for crayons, and so on.

For some items, like folders or scissors, I had a few colors to choose from.

Many of the items were from brands I wasn’t familiar with, like Liqui-Mark (colored pencils) and Promarx (highlighters). However, I also found products from popular brands like Sharpie and Paper Mate.

I didn’t have the easiest time navigating Walmart, but its back-to-school section had a ton of variety.

At Walmart, it took several minutes of concerted effort — including questioning of a few store associates — before I located the back-to-school section. It was spread out over an area that felt as big as the entire Dollar Tree I visited.

Needless to say, it took significantly more time to locate the items on my list here.

I saw more recognizable brands here than I did at Dollar Tree — colored pencils from Crayola, scissors by Fiskars, glue from Elmer’s, pencils from Ticonderoga, and more.

I could buy markers in packs of all different sizes and in several different colorways, or pencil sharpeners with all different features.

Honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed by the choices at Walmart. After struggling to comb through so much variety, I eventually just focused on looking for the lowest prices in each product category.

Walmart had several items that cost less than what I saw at Dollar Tree.

I found that many school essentials were much cheaper at Walmart than they were at Dollar Tree.

For example, at Walmart, I found a composition notebook for 50 cents, a small bottle of white glue for 97 cents, and a pencil sharpener for 47 cents.

Most of these prices were labeled as “rollbacks,” so these discounts are likely temporary for the back-to-school season.

At Dollar Tree, each of these items was $1.25 — the same price they typically sell for all year.

However, Dollar Tree had Walmart beat for a few key items.

That said, I can’t say Walmart was the winner across the board in terms of price.

For example, at Walmart, the cheapest kids’ water bottles I saw started around $5.44. At Dollar Tree, I saw several options for $1.25 a pop.

I was impressed that, like at Walmart, Dollar Tree’s bottles featured characters from huge franchises, like “Bluey” and Disney. They may not have looked as fancy as the ones at Walmart, but they’d still get the job done.

I especially noticed a price discrepancy when it came to backpacks.

The cheapest backpack I found at Walmart was just under $12 for a small size or about $23 for a larger one.

Though Walmart’s selection of patterns, colors, and brands was impressive, I found several backpacks at Dollar Tree for just $5.

I didn’t test the quality of the bags (or any items on this list), but I was again impressed that both chains had options featuring recognizable characters, from “Paw Patrol” to the Marvel franchise.

Dollar Tree also beat Walmart in terms of pricing for other items, like packs of dry-erase markers and highlighters. The cheapest packs I saw at Walmart cost several dollars more than the options I found at Dollar Tree for $1.25.

That said, Dollar Tree didn’t have everything I needed. Walmart did.

Not having a large variety of school supplies is one thing, but missing some of the basics is another.

At Dollar Tree, the most notable missing item on my list was a lunchbox. This location didn’t have any kids’ lunchboxes for sale — I asked several different employees to be sure.

On the other hand, Walmart had at least a dozen options in a range of colors and styles. Most lunchboxes cost at least $10.

The prices mostly shook out in the end, so the store you prefer will depend on other factors.

It’s tough to say for sure that one store is better than the other when it comes to shopping for school supplies.

After doing a bit of math, I realized I would likely spend about the same amount on back-to-school essentials at each store. Walmart has some under-$1 deals, but a few items there cost notably more than they would at Dollar Tree.

Ultimately, your best choice may come down to whichever store is closer or other factors that matter to you.

You may prefer Walmart if you like to have lots of choices, prefer to shop name brands, or have a list with really specific requirements, like binders with a certain number of rings.

However, you may spend quite a while browsing and making decisions, given that Walmart has many options spread across a larger area.

Personally, I found shopping at Dollar Tree was more convenient, efficient, and less overwhelming than browsing the endless shelves at Walmart.

I found it easy to make decisions when I had just one or two options for each of the basic school-supply categories. It was easy to navigate the consistent prices, and I wouldn’t be opposed to ordering the few items I couldn’t in in-store, like a lunchbox, elsewhere.

Regardless of the store you choose, rest assured that you’ll find lots of back-to-school essentials priced between $1 and $2 at both chains.

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