photo by: Gage Vota

Leeah Pearson, 7, prepares for second grade by shopping at the Ohio Valley Mall. Families can take advantage of Ohio’s Tax Free Holiday beginning Friday through Aug. 14.

The Ohio Valley Mall is gearing up to get the youth of the community ready for the school year without having to pay sales taxes.

The annual statewide Tax Free Holiday will kick off Friday and continue through Aug. 14.

Ohio Valley Mall Marketing Director Candi Noble-Greathouse said she believes the holiday is a wonderful opportunity for Ohio Valley Mall stores to boost their back-to-school sales within the two-week period.

All clothing, footwear, dine-in food, school supplies, sports equipment, personal care products and many other items valued at $500 or less will be tax free.

Noble-Greathouse said there’s no limit to the number of items purchased, but she noted alcoholic beverages, watercraft, motor vehicles, vape or tobacco items, and items that include cannabis will not be tax-free during the holiday.

She added that she looks forward to the event all year because it’s a great opportunity to provide a break to customers while also helping mall stores receive more foot traffic.

In addition to the tax-free holiday, the Ohio Valley Mall is also giving all customers a $25 gift with purchases of $250 from now until Aug. 14. Once the purchase is made, customers can take their receipt to the Customer Service Center to receive their gift card.

“As long as it’s an Ohio Valley Mall store between the proper time frame, they will get a $25 mall gift card that they can use at a later date, and it’ll help them for more back-to-school shopping or for something special,” Noble-Greathouse said. “It’s just really a perfect time to offer it, just because everybody is thinking about back to school.”

The Children’s Place Ohio Valley Mall location manager Ashley Blake said that the tax-free holiday helps her store immensely. She added that the holiday used to only span a weekend, but now with it lasting 14 days, it allows for customers to be more spread out instead of creating a chaotic rush.

In addition to the holiday, Blake said the biggest boost her store sees throughout the year is the Clothes For Kids program through the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services.

She said the Clothes For Kids vouchers and the tax-free holiday net her store a bulk of its revenue for the entire year.

The Clothes For Kids program offers Ohio Valley Mall vouchers to provide temporary assistance to needy families to serve children whose families are at or below 141% of the federal poverty level.

Blake said that although she isn’t able to announce what the sales at her store will be just yet, she can confirm that during the holiday her store will be offering deals that she believes will make back-to-school customers happy.

New Dimension Comics store Manager Bo Pritts said that this coming year will be his store’s first time participating in the tax-free holiday, and believes it will help drive more traffic to the location during the two weeks of tax-free purchases.

He added that it’s no secret that everyday people are struggling as the cost of living continues to rise, and he believes that giving customers a break will be not only helpful to the customers but to the stores as well.

“Consumer prices increased 2.4% this past May compared with a year ago, according to a Labor Department report,” the Associated Press reported.

Pritts said he looks forward to customers receiving two weeks of tax-free shopping because it will give people who have been budgeting the opportunity to get out and have fun while saving some money.

Noble-Greathouse added that the annual event gains more popularity each year since its creation in 2015.