For the next three days, Pike County shoppers will have an opportunity to save money on school supplies.

The 5th Annual Alabama Sales Tax Holiday began today at 12:01 a.m., and will continue until midnight August 8.

During this time, sales tax will be lifted on certain items. Items such as clothing items with a cost of $100 or less, computers, computer software and school computer supplies costing $750 or less, various school supplies with a cost of $50 or less and books valued at $30 or less will all be exempt from the sales tax.

In addition to state sales tax, local sales tax collections will also be lifted during the holiday, offering shoppers even more chances to save.

Local businesses are also expecting to take advantage of the holiday, as it is often one of the busiest shopping times of the year.

“It has proven to be a good thing for us in the past, especially last year,” said Richard Moultry, store manager of the Dollar General at Southland Village. ‘We’re expecting the turnout to be good, and I think it’ll really give us a boost.”

Glenda Lunsford, a supervisor for Goody’s, said her store is also expecting plenty of business this weekend, and has taken precautions to ensure customers will be satisfied.

“We’re expecting a real big turnout, so much so that we’ve essentially doubled our staff from what we would normally have on a Friday and Saturday because we don’t want these people to have to wait in long lines,” Lunsford said. “We just want to make this weekend as pleasant as it can be for our customers.”

Sales tax relief won’t be the only enticing opportunity to save money this weekend, however. Many stores offer additional sales in conjunction with the holiday.

“We are expecting so much traffic at our store that some of our other stores have actually sent us some of their clearance items, so we’ll have additional clearance items all weekend,” Lunsford said. “Plus, we’ll have lots of sales as well, so it’ll be a good chance for people to come out and save more money than just the sales tax.”