Attention Downtown Shoppers: There’s a sale… everywhere!

Thanks to the 2021 Florida Back to School Sales Tax Holiday, clothing items priced at $60 or less each, as well as computers and other school supplies, will be tax-free from July 31 to August 9.

 

While the timing is specifically aimed at helping out families who are sending students to school this fall, a sale is a sale.

 

Add to that the additional discounts many stores take to further sweeten the pot, and you have a perfect excuse to spend a day shopping at Downtown Pensacola’s many boutiques and shops.

 

There is no garment pedigree better than Don Alans, downtown’s premier collection of men's clothes and shoes. This store offers both the finest name brands and tailored garments.

 

But women’s clothing is where the real opportunity is downtown.

 

Offering a wide variety of curated fashion, women’s clothiers in Downtown Pensacola include Melobay, Bluetique, Indigeaux Denim Bar & Boutique, Scout, Blue Spero, The Market and Mainly Shoes, and Gray Boutique.

 

If your back-to-school list includes an especially lucky princess, you may want to check out Sparkle – A Girl’s Boutique. Or, if your students are spending the fall semester studying the beach, Innerlight Surf & Skate has the board shorts and tees they’ll need.

 

As you gather your tax-free packages, you’ll be working up an appetite. Downtown has some great spots for lunch, like the salads and fried chicken of Polonza Bistro, the candied bacon and stuffed French toast at the Ruby Slipper and the varied fare available from the four Airstream food trucks at the Garden at Palafox and Main.

 

Clothes aren’t the only goods that are discounted during the back-to-school sales tax holiday.

 

Computers and computer accessories valued at up to $1,000 are also free of sales tax during the holiday. You can take advantage of that at Palafox Computers, which offers Windows and Mac laptops and desktops, as well as data storage devices like thumb drives and external hard drives.

 

If you are a bibliophile, you will enjoy the tax-free books at the Bodacious Bookstore & Café. An independent bookstore in the heart of Downtown Pensacola, Bodacious offers a selection of current bestsellers, classics and local interest authors.

 

Finally, nothing caps a Downtown Pensacola shopping adventure better than a sweet treat. So, why not finish the day with a sundae from Bubba’s Sweet Spot, some hand-crafted fudge from Peterbrooke Chocolatier, or a piece of decadent cheesecake from Fosko Coffee.

 

Splurge. After all, you will have saved all of that money on sales taxes.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gray Boutique