Oh, i can relate. Back in the 1970s when i was in grade school a local store (not a staples, just a small independent store) that sold school supplies, had a back to school sale close to the end of every summer vacation. I hated school with a red hot passion and so whenever i happened to be walking past the store when it was near the end of my summer vacation, i dreaded seeing their big “back to school” sales posters up in their windows.
And then when it came time to buy school supplies inside the store, my mother would take me and I’d spot many familiar faces of my schoolmates who were also accompanying their mothers who were also there for the same reason: to buy school supplies. I recall they all looked sad and sullen. Not a single happy face among my schoolmates. They were all miserable as i was at buying school supplies. At being reminded that summer vacation was almost over and school was about to begin again.
A few years ago I had to enter a public school for a Scouting thing and WHAM!! The smell triggered memories of my youth.