Retailers are counting on the tax holiday’s reappearance to boost sales
Retailers are hoping the state’s sales tax holiday will draw customers into their stores, but will they take the bait?
Massachusetts has not had a sales tax holiday since August 2008, just before the start of the financial crisis. Now, some retailers are gearing up for the tax-free weekend of Aug. 14 and 15, planning to offer additional discounts and launch advertising campaigns in anticipation that the weekend will be one of their best during the year.
Jordan’s Furniture in Taunton, for example, is planning to advertise two sales it launched last week ahead of the tax holiday: a package for a queen-size memory foam mattress and 32-inch television for $799, and a living room set and television for $1,999.
“They know the six-and-a-quarter percent they are saving here, the next week they can’t save that,” Eliot Tatelman, chief executive of Jordan’s, said of his customers. “They know it’s a legitimate sale.”
