Small boost on tax holiday's first morning

Harry Barkelar, general manager of Sears in Woodfield Shopping Mall, started his work force 4 hours earlier than normal - at 6 a.m. - to open the doors Friday for back-to-school shoppers.

Such shoppers are a determined bunch, targeting specific items to ready their children for the coming academic year. But this year is different. Besides special sales, they aren't being charged 5 percent in state sales tax on certain purchases.

"It was definitely more shoppers than a normal Friday," said Barkelar.

Barkelar, along with other suburban retailers, expect this weekend to be busier than normal as they offer special sales coupled with the state's first tax holiday. The 5 percent tax savings is expected to continue for another 9 days on qualifying school supplies and clothing for the back-to-school push.

After a sluggish year while the economy recovers, retailers welcomed the tax break by extending hours and offering special sales, door-busters and promotions to woo shoppers eager to take advantage of the tax reprieve.

Many retailers see the back-to-school shopping season as second to the Christmas holiday rush, experts said.

"Anytime a customer can save 5 percent, they're willing to come in to shop," Barkelar said.

The number of shoppers at Prime Outlets in Huntley appeared to be up roughly 3 percent, but actual traffic numbers likely won't be available until next week, said mall spokesman Richard Feder.

"There's been a little increase in traffic, but the true test will come this weekend when people usually do more shopping," Feder said.

Meijer stores in Rolling Meadows, Bolingbrook, Naperville and Niles showed an uptick as well, said Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi.

"Without getting into specific sales numbers, which I can't, I can say we are seeing increased traffic in stores, specifically in back-to-school shopping," said Guglielmi. "We always have a lot of sales and promotions going on for back to school, so I would definitely say customers are taking advantage of the sales tax holiday."

The reprieve comes as the cash-strapped state grapples with a $13 billion budget gap. Illinois families tend to spend $800 million to $1.2 billion on back-to-school items, so the state stands to lose as much as $60 million in sales-tax revenue, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. "Here we are, broke as anybody outside of California. This might be a novel idea, but, gee, maybe we could pay our bills" first, said state Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican who considers the waived taxes an election-year bid by the legislature's Democratic majority to pander for votes.

Backers of the measure figured Illinois had little choice, saying they believe similar tax breaks in bordering Iowa and Missouri lured away Illinoisans' back-to-school dollars. "This is an idea of economic stimulus as well as helping families," Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, trumpeted Friday during a staged visit to a Sears store in downtown Chicago. "This is a way to give our economy a shot in the arm," with the 5 percent savings "going to help a lot of people figure out, hey, it's time to shop."

At the Sears store, Glenview's Leslie Howell, mother of 10-year-old triplets and a high school-bound daughter, called the sales-tax reprieve "a nice boon for the city." And she liked that it lasted 10 days, giving her enough time to buy a new wardrobe her brood, all of which she said had grown over the past year. "It would be hard for me to shop for all four in one day," she said.

Associated Press contributed to this story.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=398629">'Tax holiday' saving may not be big, but shoppers still happy to have it <span class="date">[08/05/10]</span></a></li>

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