A bargain hunter's paradise

Massachusetts bargain hunters showed up in droves and shopped hard on yesterday's sales tax holiday, buying everything from treadmills and snow blowers to candles and chandeliers, and crediting the 5-percent tax break with bringing them into the stores.

A Massachusetts Retailers Association spokesman said that as of yesterday afternoon, one-day sales appeared on track to surpass the group's $200 million prediction. Statewide sales figures won't be tallied for months.

''It defies belief," said Rick Spelman, chairman of the retailers association and a district director for Sears. ''We knew it was going to be good, but this is beyond my wildest imagining."

Approved last year as part of a larger economic stimulus bill, yesterday's tax break was the first time Massachusetts has ever offered a temporary waiver of its sales tax, a practice commonly used to spur the economy in other states. While many states limit the tax break to ''back-to-school" items such as clothes and computers, and offer the benefit for up to three or four days, Massachusetts opted for a shorter but more inclusive one-day holiday that featured most items up to $2,500. The state is expected to lose $6 million to $10 million in tax income as a result.

Statewide sales of $200 million, as predicted by the retailers association, would be six times the normal volume for a Saturday in August. By 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the 16 Sears stores in Massachusetts were 360 percent ahead of their total sales for the same day last year, according to Spelman.

Retailers said they expect to see some depression in sales figures for the days leading up to the holiday, when many shoppers postponed purchases, and for the week after, when people are likely to buy less.

At busy malls yesterday, clerks and customers said it felt like the Christmas rush, with shoppers in genial moods despite some long lines. Shoppers such as Christopher Landreville of Brockton said there was no question what was driving the increase in business.

The tax holiday ''kicked us into overdrive," said Landreville, who bought a high-definition, wide-screen TV at Circuit City in Braintree yesterday, after six months of research. He spent $2,000, and saved $100 in sales tax.

Joan Hindmarsh of Halifax hadn't dreamed about buying a $500 vacuum cleaner, but when her friend, Connie Roman of Quincy, shared her plans for the tax holiday, Hindmarsh tagged along to the mall. She ended up with a vacuum to match her friend's -- plus a TV and VCR.

''I figured, why not?" she said. ''The vacuum I have is 40 years old."

Anticipating the rush, many stores opened early or stayed open late. The Apple Store in the CambridgeSide Galleria was open from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. yesterday for the first time, and cash register lines were 25 people deep at peak periods.

''We had a huge crowd at midnight, and people were buying throughout the night," said a tired-looking store manager, Michael Regan, who dismissed concerns about his exhaustion. ''I wouldn't miss it -- this is too much fun."

At Best Buy in Braintree, manager George Gonsalves said about 70 customers were lined up outside at 7 a.m. Computers were the most popular item, said the manager, who had to assign one worker to handle crowd control in the computer department.

The employee, Steve Francis, stood at the entrance to the department, blocking access with his arms as a line of about a dozen people waited for shopping space to open up. ''This is the shortest it's been all day," he said of the 10-minute wait. ''Most people are understanding, but it's the 5 percent who aren't who you remember."

''Do I have to pay a cover charge?" said one customer jokingly, halfway back in the line.

Not every shopping district reported the same bounce in business. On Newbury Street yesterday, a half dozen merchants selling everything from French handbags to ceramics and fine art said the day felt little different from any other.

''People who come here don't worry about the tax," said Susan Brokaw, sales manager at Guido Frame Studio and Art Gallery, where prices range up to $65,000. She said free parking or a pedestrian-only day on Newbury Street might do more to stimulate business there.

At the Square One Mall in Saugus, jewelry stores bustled with customers looking to spoil themselves. Barbara Campbell, 60, and her boyfriend, Victor Lozzi, 75, hunched over a showcase of diamond engagement rings at Belden Jewelers as glints of colored light danced off the princess-cut stone on Campbell's left hand.

The couple had not planned to buy rings so early, but the tax break drew them in.

''Now, if I was young and this was my first time, I would want that big one," said Campbell, a widow who plans to marry Lozzi next August, as she fingered another ring with her right hand. ''But when you get my age, this is enough."

For those without credit cards, the day encouraged outpourings of affection.

Audrey Lyckman was among those lined up at the Apple Store for one of the day's most popular items -- an iPod-- in addition to a laptop computer and color printer.

The 12-year-old ticked off a list of uses for the computer: homework, instant messenger, and e-mailing her best friend, who had moved to Africa.

''You're very, very nice, I love you so, so much," she told her father, Al Lyckman, smiling sweetly.

Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com.