Large and small stores alike prep for tax-free weekend in New Mexico

Store manager Iris Bustillos and other employees priced clothing items on Thursday afternoon at Other Mothers/Trendy Trades, a shop that sells used children’s and women’s clothing in Albuquerque.

Bustillos, who has worked at the store for eight years, and owner Melinda Wetzel are preparing for the large influx of customers starting Friday, the beginning of tax-free weekend in New Mexico.

“It’s a little chaotic,” said Bustillos, who’s worked tax-free weekends at the clothing exchange store in previous years. “But I mean we’re kind of used to the chaos.”

Tax-free weekend is a welcomed holiday for many New Mexicans, especially college-aged adults and parents with children heading back to school.

The holiday, enacted in 2005, takes place the first weekend of August each year and allows people to purchase items like laptops, clothes and shoes without the addition of gross receipts tax.

New Mexico is one of 18 states with a tax-free holiday, according to a 2023 New Mexico Tax Expenditure Report. And businesses don’t have to participate in the tax-free weekend, said New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore, though many do.

Computers, including desktops, laptops, notebooks and tablets, can be nontaxable so long as they are $1,000 or less, according to the department. Articles of clothing and shoes under $100 can also not be taxed, as well as school supplies like pens and binders if they’re under $30 and backpacks if they are under $100.

Tax-free weekends in years past have saved New Mexicans quite a bit of money.

The report from TRD estimated that in fiscal year 2021 — which would mean 2020’s tax-free weekend — the holiday saved customers about $5 million in taxes across the state.

That will likely be the case again this year, with national chains, like Best Buy and JCPenney in Albuquerque, also prepping for the large influx of customers this weekend.

Lourdes Sais Felix, the general manager for the JCPenney at Coronado Center, said the tax-free weekend tends to be one of the busiest times of year for the store.

“We get really busy,” she said, adding that the tax-free weekend also comes at the same time the store is holding its Mystery Sale, which allows customers to “reveal a coupon at the door” that gives them an extra 30% to 50% off most merchandise in the store.

She said the store heavily stocked up for the weekend, with about 7,000 items under $20 and about 4,000 back-to-school specific items under $20. The store extended its hours for the weekend, staying open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

“We’re ready for our customers this weekend,” she said. “This weekend is when we have the most hours of operation.”

About a 10-minute drive east at the Best Buy at 55 Hotel Circle NE, the team has been prepping for the weekend for about two months, said the store’s experience manager, Jacqueline Apodaca.

Apodaca has worked at Best Buy for eight years, and she said the holiday compares to other big sale holidays like Black Friday.

“Associates are extremely excited about it,” Apodaca said. “It’s busy, to say the least.”

Best Buy this tax-free weekend will aim to sell big-ticket items like laptops and desktops, which are becoming more and more common for students as education becomes more digitally focused. At Apodaca’s store, that means promoting Copilot+, Microsoft’s new artificial intelligence-enabled computers.

She said the store will have sales on computers like HP and Asus, but also Apple. And, she said, there will be sales for associated products like printers — which are nontaxable if they’re no more than $500.

Jason Espinoza, the state director for the National Federation of Independent Business in New Mexico, encourages consumers to shop in locally owned stores.

“When you shop locally, more of your hard-earned dollars stay within the community,” Espinoza said in a statement. “Main Street is the backbone of our economy, creating good-paying jobs and supporting charitable organizations that keep our communities thriving.”

Wetzel’s Other Mothers will likely bring in hundreds of customers — if not more — during the weekend. She said she expects school clothes, including the uniforms the store sells, and coats will go fast.

Workers will also move from other areas of the store, like in processing, to the front where the registers are to keep up with the heavy traffic.

“We roll with the punches here — good punches in this case,” Wetzel said. “The girls are well-trained and they are ready.”