Aside from the usual pens, pencils and bookbags needed by students getting ready for the upcoming school year, local shoppers will be more likely to stuff clothing items into shopping carts this weekend.

The Palmetto State's annual tax-free weekend, which provides shoppers with a 3-day tax break on back-to-school items, kicks off at 12:01 Friday and runs until midnight Sunday. This is the 10th year the state has declared the weekend-long tax break and it has become one of the busiest shopping periods in the state, trailing only the day after Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas.

According to the state Department of Revenue, shoppers in the Palmetto State are expected to save about $2.8 million in sales tax during the event.

Among the items that are tax-free are clothing and footwear, clothing accessories like hats, scarves, hosiery and handbags and school supplies. Also included are computers and printers, as well as bed and bath items.

The sales tax holiday does not apply to the sale of jewelry, cosmetics, eyewear, wallets,

watches, furniture, rental of clothing or footwear, camping/hiking backpacks, cookware, toilet paper, toys, items for use in a business, or goods placed on layaway or some sort of deferred payment or delivery plan.

Several local businesses have been preparing for the rush of customers, many of which are having sales offering discounts and added perks for customers.

However, the economic downturn caused the Cherokee County School District to scale down the assortment of items required of students the first day of classes, using a uniform school supply list for each grade level throughout the district.

"Particularly because of the economy, the school district chose not to issue a large supply list like in previous years," said Blacksburg Middle School Principal Virgil Hampton. "All of us are taking the wait-and-see approach, not requiring students to buy certain items until teachers deem them necessary. The school district doesn't want anyone purchasing items they may not need."

Gone from this year's list are items like sanitizer and hand wash, which the school district is supplying for the 2009-10 term. Writing utensils, crayons, colored pencils and sheets of paper are a necessity in most Cherokee County classrooms, but after that Corinth Elementary School Principal Brenda Sharts said the list is "pretty bare-boned."

"It is relatively bare bones for what will be used in classroom," Sharts said. "It's all part of an effort not to be a burden on parents. We'll likely see less money put into school supplies and more into clothes and other things."

Don't expect much of a dropoff in computer sales, especially among college students, with this time of year offering deals hard to pass up.

"The big items like laptops will still fly off shelves, mainly because college students are looking more to computers than ring binders," Hampton said.

For a complete list of items, see www.sctax.org, or call the state Department of Revenue at (803) 898-5788.

Among the items free from tax are:

Clothing and footwear

Clothing accessories like hats, scarves, hosiery and handbags

School supplies Computers, printers

Bed and bath items.

The sales tax holiday does not apply to the sale of:

Jewelry Cosmetics Eyewear Wallets Watches

Furniture

Camping/hiking backpacks

Cookware

Toys

Goods placed on layaway or a deferred payment or delivery plan

For a complete list of what's included and what's not, log on to: www.sctax.org