Tax-free weekend busy

Staff writer

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Portales families came out to shop for school supplies Saturday during tax-free weekend which ends today.

Heather Cochrain and her daughter Kaylynn Belew came to Bealls clothing store in Portales for new clothes for school.

Cochrain said she and her daughter saved a lot of money using coupons on top of the tax-free weekend sales.

During this weekend in stores across New Mexico, qualifying items such as clothing and electronics, can be bought tax-free. The tax-free holiday provides a deduction from gross receipts for retail sales, which allows the items to be sold tax-free.

Jennifer Herrington, a Bealls supervisor, said that the store had several coupons available and even more deals for Bealls card members. Herrington said because of this, people seemed to be “buying in bulk.”

Herrington said Bealls has been seeing more customers as the weekend progressed.

“Saturday was busier than Friday, and I’m sure Sunday will be busier than today (Saturday),” Herrington said.

Herrington said, however, she has seen less people coming into the store this year than years previous.

Rebecca Calsen, Wal-Mart front zone supervisor, said she saw more customers than years previous.

“It has been absolutely busy. Friday was constantly busy all day long and (Saturday) has been steady,” Calsen said.

Calsen said that Eastern New Mexico University staff came to Wal-Mart on Friday and bought more than $3,000 worth of school supplies.

Amie Griffith, a Portales resident, came with her two daughters to Wal-Mart on Saturday to buy basic school supplies, but she was not that impressed.

Griffith said even though it was tax-free weekend, she was not saving a large amount of money.

“It saves you a little bit of money,” Griffith said.

Dayna and Jeremy Archuleta and their son, Jordyn, traveled from Clovis to shop at the Portales Wal-Mart to buy school supplies.

The family said they traveled to Portales because they prefer the selection and employees at this Wal-Mart.

Once at Wal-Mart, the family was happy to find out it was tax-free weekend, which they considered a nice surprise.

— Staff writer Anna George

contributed to this report.