Aug. 4--The national economy may be slack, but stores across Georgia actually exceeded sales expectations during this past weekend's tax-free holiday.

Retailers sold about the same amount last weekend as they did during the 2008 tax-free weekend, said John Heavener, president of the Georgia Retail Association.

"We expected numbers to drop this year, but it's looking like they stayed strong," Heavener said.

Nationwide, back-to-school shopping is expected to be down 7.7 percent in 2009, but Heavener said Georgia is on track to resist the sinking trend.

In the midstate, many stores performed better than projected during the tax-free holiday.

At Macon Mall on Eisenhower Parkway, traffic was booming Saturday and Sunday as back-to-school shoppers stocked up on supplies, apparel and electronics.

"We did much better than I expected," mall manager Brian Olivi said. "I thought the economy might stop people from coming out, but it didn't."

Olivi estimated that three-fourths of the mall's tenants either met or exceeded their sales expectations during the weekend.

At the Dillard's store on Riverside Drive, sales associate Annette Stanley said sales were about the same as last year, maybe even slightly better.

"We had long lines and full parking lots all weekend," Stanley said.

The Best Buy on Presidential Parkway welcomed healthy sales numbers, as shoppers made high-ticket purchases of computers and digital cameras. Store manager Bryan Hutchinson said he expects sales, which have not yet to be finalized, will outpace last year's numbers.

At others shops such as Kohl's, American Eagle and Target, traffic was about the same as last year -- and that didn't disappoint retailers.

"We had about the same numbers as the last sales-tax weekend," said Kohl's manager Eric Jackson. "That's a good thing."

But not all area stores were immune to the nation's sluggish economy.

In Warner Robins, Fred's store manager Stefanie Reeves said the weekend was pretty busy, though not as busy as tax-free weekends in the past.

She estimated that sales are likely to be down 2 percent to 3 percent at her location compared to last year.

"People are just not out buying unnecessary things," she said. "It just didn't seem to be as busy."

Telegraph staff writer Natasha Smith contributed to this report.

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