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Sales tax holiday gets under way Thursday

• Retailers across the state prepare for this weekend’s sales tax exemptions.

Holly McCarthy

ALBANY — Retailers throughout Albany are stocking up and staffing up to get ready for an anticipated flood of shoppers taking advantage of the coming annual sales tax holiday.

Local and state taxes will be exempt on qualifying items purchased beginning Thursday and ending Sunday. Those purchases will include items of clothing or shoes costing $100 or less, school supplies with a sales price of $20 or less and personal computers costing no more than $1,500.

Items that exceed the specified prices will be taxable.

Lionel Jackson, operations manager at Circuit City in Albany, said his store began preparing weeks ago.

“This is pretty much the biggest computer-selling holiday of the year, except for a week in December,” Jackson said. “We’ll have special packages trying to take care of customers who are shopping for back-to-school. This is a scenario that only arises these four days.”

The store is expecting inventory deliveries all week and will open three hours earlier than normal each day during the tax exemption holiday.

Preparations started early in the month as well for Albany J.C. Penney store manager Joseph Iles.

“We call this the week of Christmas in the summer,” Iles said. “These four days are almost equivalent to what we’ll do in the first week of December.”

While Iles expects to sell everyday items such as jeans and shoes, he said that because the tax-exemption holiday occurs the weekend before schools start, school uniforms will likely be the biggest sellers.

“Because some middle and elementary schools require uniforms, that’s going to dominate, especially considering some other surrounding counties have switched to uniforms as well,” Iles said.

“I think the Georgia legislators who put this in place had the foresight to stick with the plan. The governor and legislators who decided to give the customers of Georgia a break gave retailers an advantage over neighboring states.”

Ruth Collins of Albany wasn’t aware of the tax-exemption holiday, but says now that she knows she’ll be sure to do some shopping.

“The weekend is going to be busy, but I’ll definitely come out early on Thursday to beat the crowd,” Collins said.

Collins is shopping for clothing, school uniforms and supplies for three school-aged children.

Though many consumers plan to hit area stores to take advantage of the tax respite, lower prices aren’t enough to entice everyone to battle the crowds.

“I probably won’t because I’m a teacher and it comes at the last minute for me,” said Southwest Georgia Academy teacher Sherri Newberry. “I’d rather get my supplies ahead of time. I don’t enjoy the crowds.”

Another tax-exemption holiday will occur Oct. 2-5 and will cover specific water- and energy-saving products. More information, including lists of specific items covered, can be found at the Georgia Department of Revenue Web site, www.dor.ga.gov.

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