State sales tax free shopping pays off for area businesses
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

The state's annual back-to-school tax-free weekend was a big hit with merchants and consumers who had more to purchase than backpacks and school uniforms.

"I know tax-free weekend is solely for back to school, but I can't tell you how many boots we sold, and work shirts," said Bill Newton, manager of Wild Bill's Western Wear on U.S. 59.

This year's tax-free weekend, Aug. 15-17, exempted most clothing and footwear priced under $100 from sales and use taxes, and the items on the list of exemptions lean heavily toward things students would need for school, such as backpacks and uniforms.

Newton said the store's sales here in El Campo at times surpassed those of the Wild Bill's store in Bay City, which is triple the size of the facility here.

"It did great, better than I expected, a lot better," he said. "We doubled last year."

Manager Gloria Yanis of El Campo's Palais Royal said while sales were good, they didn't live up to expectations.

"We had all sorts of folks, not just school kids, but we didn't have anybody waiting at our door to come in Friday, like in the past," she said. "We were a bit busy on Saturday, but not what we'd hoped. Last year our sales were a lot higher."

She said she felt some people just didn't have the money to shop like they did last year, possibly due to rising fuel costs and inflation.

At All-Star Sports & Things, which sells clothing that complies with El Campo's component dress code, owner Don Luedecke said things went fairly well.

"It was pretty good," he said. "It was fairly busy. We even opened on Sunday from 1 to 4 and people came in."

Fred Simmons, owner of Twice is Nice Boutique which primarily sells shoes, said the tax-free weekend was much more successful than last year's event.

"Everything was okay, in fact, it was a lot better than last year," he said. "To me, last year was terrible, but this year was great and two years ago was great. Tax-free doesn't do a whole lot in a shoe store, but was happy."

The possibility of crowding in with masses of other bargain seekers may have kept some shoppers from hitting the stores over the weekend, but it didn't deter customers at all at Wild Bill's.

"They say people don't want the hassle, but they hit it hard," Newton said. "It's the best taxfree weekend I ever had, honestly.

"I was smiling like a possum eating persimmons."