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Shoppers out in droves to take advantage of tax-free weekend

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 14, 2010 03:30 PM

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By Christopher J. Girard, Globe Correspondent and Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

The retail tax holiday made a roaring return today, with customers flooding Boston-area stores and plunking down plastic and cash to buy iPads, sofas, and cases of wine.

At the CambridgeSide Galleria, a queue of consumers snaked down the corridor in front of the Apple store, buyers waiting for an available sales agent. At Copley Place, some store managers reported that by early afternoon, foot traffic was substantially higher than what they'd seen during the rest of summer. And at the M. Steinert & Sons piano store, where baby grands make beautiful music on Boylston Street, four pianos had already been sold by midday.

Shoppers like Joe and Melissa Gilburd of East Boston had marked their calendars for this day -- even if there wasn't always accord about what, precisely, to spend hard-earned dollars on.

"We came to buy," Melissa Gilburd said. "It's gotta be something."

The couple was at the Best Buy at CambridgeSide, scouring shelves filled with computers. They have no car to get to always-tax-free New Hampshire, so they waited for today to make a big purchase. Joe's desire: a computer. Melissa's: a mattress.

The state suspended the 6.25 percent sales tax for two days -- it continues through Sunday -- in hopes of providing a jolt to a balky economy. The suspension of the tariff applies to items under $2,500, with some notable exceptions: autos, motorcycles, and tobacco. State coffers were expected to forfeit $20 million to $23 million in revenues, something lawmakers thought Massachusetts couldn't afford last year, when there was no sales tax holiday.

While it was too soon for shops and malls to have comprehensive sales data, there were encouraging signs for merchants battered by the dismal economy: At CambridgeSide, car traffic in parking lots was up 20 percent compared to the same time last year, and people were leaving laden with bags, said Jennifer Rotigliano, senior marketing director at the mall.

"The good news is we were really busy in the morning," she said, "and we're typically not busy in the morning, being an urban mall."