I shopped for school supplies at Walmart and Target. One had better prices for nearly everything on my list.

I went back-to-school shopping for a few essentials at Target and Walmart.Savannah BornI shopped for school supplies at Walmart and Target to compare selections and prices on a few items.Target's selection of backpacks, pens, fashion folders, and mechanical pencils impressed me.Sales will vary, but Walmart's prices were at least a few cents cheaper on most items I checked.Back-to-school season often requires a major shopping haul, and if you're debating between two stores, it's probably Walmart and Target.Both are go-to spots for all things school, but I was curious which offered a wider selection and better deals. With Labor Day looming, I looked for basic school supplies at each store, searching for the same items in equivalent sizes.My list included everything from pens, pencils, and coloring supplies to notebooks, folders, and other essentials. I even sought out backpacks and binders.Here's how each category stacked up on this particular trip.Walmart felt festive from the get-go.Savannah BornThe first thing I saw when I walked into my local Walmart was a giant "back to school" banner hung above the last-call fireworks,Signs led me to the back corner, where I found three full aisles of name brands and Pen+Gear, Walmart's private label. It also had cardboard displays with plenty of goodies, from rulers to mini staplers.It wasn't hard to find the back-to-school section at my local Target, either.Savannah BornDuring my visit in mid-July, my local Target still seemed to be setting up some of its supplies. However, the "school shop" was easy to find.In addition to big names, Target carried supplies from its in-house brands, Up&Up, Mondo Llama, and Dealworthy — the third being the most budget-friendly option.Mechanical pencils were first on my list.Target had tons of mechanical pencils.Savannah BornSure, Walmart had mechanical pencils, but Target's overflowing pop-up display made a stellar first impression.It included my favorite Papermate Clear Point mechanical pencils in multiple colors and package sizes. I found two-packs for $3.99 each.Walmart had the same two-pack for $3.97, but I only saw one color variety. I preferred Target's selection, even though Walmart had a lower price.In my opinion, Target's pen selection offered more than Walmart's.Savannah BornWalmart generally seemed to have slightly lower prices on pens. For example, a five-pack of Pilot G2 gel pens costs $5.97 at Walmart versus Target's $5.99.However, the trade-off seemed to be a lackluster variety compared to Target, which I felt had a broader range of brands, package sizes, and designs in-store.I didn't find much that caught my eye at Walmart — mostly varieties of G2 and Papermate pens — but it had the basics. And I was happy to see my beloved Papermate Flair felt-tip pens at both retailers.I found 12-packs of colored pencils for $0.50 at both retailers.Savannah BornFor the best deal on colored pencils, I'd happily shop either store's value brands. Packs of a dozen pencils were only $0.50 apiece.Walmart's binder section impressed me a little more.Savannah BornI didn't appreciate my local Walmart's neat binder aisle until I went to Target, where the shelves felt trickier to parse through.Walmart's 1½ -inch Pen+Gear binders clocked in at $4.97 across the board, including patterned ones.Target's 1½-inch Up&Up binders, on the other hand, were $0.02 pricier, and I didn't see any patterned varieties from this brand in my store. The only patterned binders I saw were not store brand, and the price tags seemed to reflect that.I found a checkered binder for $4.99, but it was only 1-inch thick. The rest of the printed binders I saw, including 1-inch varieties, cost at least $5.99.The real kicker was my middle-school must-have, a 2-inch Case-it Laptop Zipper Binder. It rang up to $22.84 at Walmart versus $23.99 at Target.Target's decorative folders were much cheaper than Walmart's."Fashion" folders were under $2 at Target.Savannah BornSpending $2.72 each on garden, ice-cream, and space-themed folders at Walmart felt reasonable, but one trip to Target changed my perspective.I found similar plastic folders, also in a range of fun designs, for $1.99 each. Even fun licensed Despicable Me and Spider-Man folders were the same sub-$2 price at Target.Regular folders were basically a draw.Both Target (left) and Walmart (right) had tons of folders.Savannah BornUnlike the fashion folders, which had a substantial price discrepancy, regular solid-colored folders were priced similarly. Both carried store-brand, two-pocket plastic folders for $0.50 apiece.For a plastic-pocket Five-Star folder, though, I'd pay $2.37 at Walmart and $2.39 at Target.I'd buy notebooks at either store, including composition books.Savannah BornWalmart's Pen+Gear 80-sheet composition books cost $0.38 each versus Target's Dealworthy version for $0.39.These both felt like can't-beat prices for something I remember using daily in school.At only $0.35 apiece, regular 70-sheet notebooks came in

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