KSHB 41 reporter Abby Dodge covers consumer issues about personal budgeting and everyday spending. You can email her story ideas.
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The aisles of Target in Liberty filled with shoppers, even in the middle of the day. Friday marked the first day of the Show-Me state’s tax-free holiday weekend.
“It can be a little overstimulating sometimes,” college student Samiracle Lee told me. “But you just have to remember everyone is here for the same thing, so they can get affordable things for their children so they can go back to school.”
Lee said she was picking up a handful of items, but other parents are expected to spend an average of $875 to get ready for the new school year according to the National Retail Federation.
“It’s a little stressful just because everything is a lot more expensive now,” mother Abby Jerls told me as her family went down one of the aisles. “You have to do the clothes, the shoes, the supplies and everything else that comes with it.”
Jerls said the crowds are worth the cash she is saving. Shoppers can expect to save anywhere from 8-10% depending on where they are buying their back-to-school gear.
There are limitations on the amount of money shoppers can spend on individual items:
- Clothing – any article having a taxable value of $100 or less
- School supplies – not to exceed $50 per purchase
- Computer software – taxable value of $350 or less
- Personal computers – not to exceed $1,500
- Computer peripheral devices – not to exceed $1,500
- Graphing calculators - not to exceed $150
In preparation for the holiday, Target store director Jason Bisges made sure there was enough staff and supplies on hand.
“We’re definitely staffed a little heavier for this particular weekend for sure,” he told me. “Just to be sure we are pulling things out of the back, being ready for what the guests are looking for.”
You can purchase qualifying items tax-free through Aug. 4.
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