photo by Destiney Robb

Miranda and Joley Young shop for school uniforms on Thursday morning at Hometown Sports in Vidalia. Both girls attend school in Vidalia.

Families crowd local stores to buy uniforms

By Marcus Frazier (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, August 5, 2007

School days are here again and so is the school shopping surge.

Shirts, shorts, skorts and supplies are the targets of parents and kids who gather at local stores for the things they need to get the school year started.

“We try to get a week’s worth of new uniforms ready,” said Sonya Newbill, who shopped at Hometown Sports in Vidalia Friday morning with her son 13-year-old son Gregory.

“He likes Dickies, khaki over navy,” added Newbill.

This simplified her search, but Gregory added one complication.

“I’m going to Alexandria to get my shoes!” he said.

Shoes are an important part of the children’s attire since they give a sense of individuality on the area’s campuses.

“I hate uniforms,” said Miranda Young, a Vidalia High eleventh grader sifting through the racks at Hometown Sports.

“It seems everyone should be able to show their personal style, so I look forward to the free dress days,” she said.

Free dress days are select days when students get a chance to wear jeans or other non-mandatory attire. Schools use these days to raise money, charging kids a dollar or so to wear what they want.

But since these days are rare, shopping is a necessary event.

But shopping won’t be such a task for Miranda, since her mom, Rhonda, is by her side. Though she lets her daughter pick her own clothes, mom operates by the mission statement:

“I plan to get it all done in one day; this is the first store; and I plan to get it all done here.”

Most shoppers buy warm weather clothing and focus on long sleeves and pants once the cold season arrives.

“We have a lot of good uniforms left over from last year so we’re just adding on some new stuff because you have to go as they grow,” Jackie Griffin said.

Griffin was standing in the logo line at the Sports Center in Natchez with her 12-year-old Deqwon. “I’m getting P.E. uniforms, white shirts and khaki pants. I’ll get jackets when it gets cold,” she said.

The uniform hunt isn’t as much of a bother when you know the right people however.

“My grandmother works at Minette’s so the uniforms are the easy part. I’m done with that,” Brent Gaude said. Guade is a freshman at Cathedral and was shopping for school supplies at Wal-Mart.

“This part may take a few trips. We’ll be heading to Walgreens and Rite-Aide after this,” Brent’s mom, Ann Gaude, said. “This is where the scavenger hunt really begins!”