Published: July 30, 2008 07:32 am      

Retailers hope sales tax holiday spurs shoppers

When it comes to Oklahoma’s second annual sales tax holiday, several local retailers are hoping business goes as well as it did during the first statewide sales tax holiday last year.

“Last year it was the biggest weekend of the whole year; it was busier than the day after Thanksgiving,” said Jesse Clevenger, manager of Sharpe’s. “I’m hoping for a repeat.”

It was also “like the Friday after Thanksgiving” for Woodward’s Stage Department Store, according to store manager Susan Chaffin.

“It went really well last year,” she said, noting that Stage “sold a lot of shoes and a lot of jeans; just the basics for back to school.”

Kris Day, of The Cowboy’s Tack Shop, noted that her store also sold a good number of jeans during the sales tax holiday weekend last year.

Overall, Day said the sales tax holiday is “great for business.”

“It draws people in,” she said, noting that Woodward’s location even helps “draw people from Kansas and Texas.”

Besides being good for business, Day said that it’s also good for the customers, especially those doing their back to school shopping.

Joanie Barrie, manager of Walls Bargain Center, agreed, noting that “all the back to school stuff is so expensive . . . so even a little break helps.”

“It’s only eight percent, but it still helps out,” Clevenger said.

According to a press release from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the sales tax holiday “give(s) shoppers the opportunity to purchase certain clothing and shoes sales tax free. This includes state, county and local municipality sales taxes.”

With this year’s sales tax holiday scheduled for this weekend, Barrie said she and her staff “expect to be busy.”

Clevenger noted he also predicts a busy weekend, noting that he is actually “expecting more than last year.”

However, not everyone is certain of a positive outcome.

“I don’t know with the economy this year if it will be like (last year) or not,” Chaffin said. “But I hope it will.”

Michelle McClung, owner of Michelle’s Chic Boutique in Laverne, is also unsure of how much, if any increase in business she will see over the holiday weekend.

However, rather than the economy, her concerns centered around the fact that she wasn’t aware that the sales tax holiday was scheduled for this weekend.

“If I don’t know about it, how do all the customers know about it?” she asked.

Paula Ross, the communications director for the Oklahoma Tax Commission, explained that the same law that created Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday last year also established that the holiday be held every year over the first weekend in August beginning Friday at 12:01 a.m. and ending Sunday at midnight.

However, while information was sent out to retailers about the new law last year, Ross said no reminder information was sent to them this year.

Nevertheless, she said she “think(s) most merchants are aware of it.”

In addition, Ross said information about the sales tax holiday has been and is available on the Tax Commission’s website at www.tax.ok.gov.

Retailers and their customers can learn more about the 2008 sales tax holiday, including what items are eligible for tax exemption during the holiday, by visiting the website.