On Wednesday, the lighted sign at Hamilton Place advertises a tax free shopping weekend.Tax-free weekend
* In Tennessee, sales tax — which is 9.25 percent in Chattanooga and throughout Hamilton County — will be waived Aug. 7-9 on back-to-school clothing, school supplies, and computers priced at $1,500 or less.* In Alabama, where sales tax varies by city, including 9 percent in Scottsboro and 8 percent in Fort Payne, the back-to-school tax holiday will take place on Aug. 7-9 and will include clothing at $100 or less per item, computers that cost $750 or less, and school instructional materials.
This weekend brings another round of tax-free, back-to-school sales for Chattanooga-area residents.
Tennessee and Alabama will waive sales taxes Friday through Sunday on everything from paper and pencils to shoes and clothes to software and laptop computers. Retailers expect big crowds for what's become one of the busiest shopping days of the year. School starts the following Thursday, Aug. 13, for the Hamilton County Department of Education's roughly 43,000 students.
"We've already done dozens and dozens of pre-orders for this weekend," said Jay Phillips, a sales representative at the MacAuthority store at Hamilton Place mall. The store, which specializes in Apple products, also has discounted items, including used 11-inch MacBook Air laptops for $399.
"It's going to be pretty similar to how Black Friday is, but over a whole weekend," Phillips said.
Hamilton Place Mall advertised the tax holiday on its "reader board," or digitized sign alongside Interstate 75.
"This is probably one of the top three busiest weekends we have all year," said mall spokeswoman Catharine Wells of Chattanooga-based CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.
The National Retail Federation projects that back-to-school spending will be down this year compared with a year ago. The average U.S. family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend $630.36 on electronics, apparel and other school needs, the federation says, down from $669.28 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $24.9 billion.
"Shopping patterns do fluctuate a lot from year to year," Wells said.
The Tennessee and Alabama tax-free weekends follow Georgia's sales tax-free weekend for school items last weekend. Chattanooga merchants are eager to get their share of one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
The Chattanooga North Target department store on Hwy. 153 in Hixson put signs on its front doors advertising the tax holiday.
"It's a big holiday for us," store Team Leader Tim Larkin said.
Best Buy also expects a lot of customers, including for Windows 10 software that launched July 29, said Laura Rother, spokeswoman for the electronics retailer.
The back-to-school sales tax holiday is also being advertised by Unclaimed Baggage, a complex of stores in downtown Scottsboro, Ala.,stocked with used clothes, computers and other items said to be culled from bags that people forgot on airplanes. The store says it's one of Alabama's biggest tourist draws with one million customers, annually.
Hixson's Northgate Mall will hold a Princess and Superhero party on Saturday from 11 a.m. 1 p.m. Children will be able to take their photo with several characters for a suggested donation of $5, with all proceeds going to Emily's Power for a Cure in honor of Chattanoogan Tristin Greer, 18, who died in May. His struggle with cancer gained attention after his firefighter father Jason Greer competed in Chattanooga's Ironman race.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.