Local malls extend hours for tax holiday

Globe Staff

Simon Property Group, the large national mall operator, said its Massachusetts malls will mostly be opened an extra hour for the upcoming sales tax holiday set for this weekend in the Bay State.

Governor Deval Patrick recently signed legislation that sets aside Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 as a sales tax holiday in Massachusetts. As a recent Globe story noted, the holiday eliminates the 6.25 percent sales tax on most items under $2,500 in Massachusetts stores for those two days, with exceptions that include meals, cars, motorcycles, tobacco, cellphone service, and electricity. This will be the first year that liquor is included, because the state imposed a sales tax on liquor last August at the same time it raised the sales tax from 5 percent.

Simon operates 14 malls in Massachusetts, including Burlington Mall, Northshore Mall in Peabody, and South Shore Plaza in Braintree. Twelve of those malls will stay open an hour later, or until 10 p.m. on Saturday, and until 7 p.m. on Sunday for the tax holiday, a Simon spokeswoman said.

Two of Simon's malls, Copley Place and the Mall at Chestnut Hill, are on different scheduled than the company's other malls.

At the Simon shopping complex at Copley Place, the hours this weekend are 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Saturday and noon until 6 p.m. on Sunday, the company said. At the Mall at Chestnut Hill, the hours are 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday and noon until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

All special hours for the tax holiday weekend are posted on the individual websites of the company's malls, Simon Property Group said.