Tax-free weekend kicks off for back-to-school shoppers

TYLER – With back-to-school around the corner and hot deals on the table, stores are gearing up for the tax-free weekend in East Texas, according to a report from our news partner KETK.

“They’re buying their back-to-school supplies, apparel and footwear,” Tyler Academy Store Director Randy Smiley said. “It’s just a fun day for us here at Academy.”

Academy is one hot spot for Tyler shoppers, Smiley said Friday started pretty slow, but as soon as it hit lunchtime, hundreds of shoppers began entering their stores. He expects even more people to come through their doors this weekend. At Broadway Square Mall in Tyler, several businesses said they picked up just as much traffic on the first day of the tax-free weekend as well.

“We are seeing about, I must say, roughly about 600 customers a day,” Journey’s District Training Manager Rhya Rollings said.

According to Rollings, backpacks are on the top of many shoppers’ lists this year and have been selling out the fastest. She added that people are coming from all over East Texas to the Rose City to get their last-minute back-to-school gear.

“A lot of schools are going back, so we are seeing people from Whitehouse, some people are coming all the way from Longview,” Rollings said.

With as many people as they’re seeing on day one, the Tyler Buckle manager-in-training said their employees are preparing for even more people over the weekend.

“We had over like 300 pairs of jeans come in just today, and so our team is like working crazy just to get all of those out on the floor,” Buckle manager-in-training Grace Jiles said.

They’re all preparing for the big crowds brought in by the special weekend deals.

“Be a little bit patient because it can be pretty hectic and crazy, but you’re going to get that tax-free weekend deal,” Jiles said.