Merchants gearing up for 'tax-free' holidays

GAINESVILLE - Some merchants in Gainesville are using special advertising campaigns to entice customers to shop with them Friday and Saturday - the state's first "sales tax holidays."

Lorrie Schrage of Saul's in downtown Gainesville is one of them.

"I don't know how to guage it," Schrage said. "I have some friends in New York (who) have had a lot of experience with it and they sound positive. It just remains to be seen how people react to it."

Schrage says Saul's is going a step further than the law allows.

"Rather than limit what can be bought as the law prescribes, we're just going to not charge sales tax on anything we're selling."

However, Saul's will have make up the difference to the state.

At Colonial Mall-Lakeshore in Gainesville, marketing director Donna Montgomery says some stores are planning to stay open extra hours Friday and Saturday and some are running special sales.

There are limits on the kinds of items that will be exempt from the sales tax and there are monetary limits as well.

You can access full details about what is and is not exempt and other information about the sales tax holdiays elsewhere on accessnorthga.com.