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This weekend, it's South Carolina's turn to offer tax-free shopping.
With that incentive coming just before the start of the 2009-10 school year -- when all public elementary and middle schools in Beaufort County begin requiring students to wear uniforms -- Eichelbaum expects similar mobs of customers at The Uniform Source store he owns in Bluffton.
Picture Toys "R" Us during the winter holidays, with customers eager to snap up items almost as soon employees open boxes, he said.
Eichelbaum usually does half his business for the year during July and August.
"This is our Christmas," he said. "This is the make-or-break-it time of year."
He hopes sales will be particularly brisk during the tax holiday -- which starts Friday and ends Sunday -- because of the uniform mandate.
"This weekend should be pretty hectic," he said.
Eichelbaum, who also stocks a store in Hampton, said he brought in $200,000 worth of inventory to prepare all five of his stores for thetax-free holidays. He is paying employees overtime to handle the crowds.
Operators of the Salty Dog T-Shirt Factory on Hilton Head Island, which has designated part of its store on Arrow Road for school uniforms, also plan to increase staffing.
"I would imagine we're going to get a rush," said Stuart Booth of the Salty Dog. "Not only us, but a bunch of people that are selling it."
Even as retailers gear up, some observers are debating the effectiveness of the temporary tax exemption, which applies to items ranging from pencils to tennis shoes to laptop computers, in addition to uniforms.
Supporters say the tax holiday saves working families significant money while they get their children ready for school, especially in a state with one of the nation's worst jobless rates.
As the state works to revise its tax system, however, some critics say the time has come to alter a measure that has gone beyond its original intent. The tax-free list includes such non-school-related items as baby bibs, fishing boots and ski suits.
Clemson University economist Raymond Sauer said people will pay more attention to the holiday this year because of the weak economy, but he dismissed its effect on overall market conditions.
"There would appear to be a greater effect on sales, but much of the effect is a time-switch in sales and not a change in people's habits of holding back in this economy," Sauer said.
Sauer is skeptical of what he calls a gimmick that is bad policy.
"It's a piling up of people in the stores at one point in time," he said.
Harry Miley, a Columbia economist and former chairman of the state's Board of Economic Advisors, said there is no research to indicate whether customers are getting the best prices during the holiday. And he said there are other ways to help consumers in need.
Consumers don't need incentives to go back-to-school shopping, Miley said.
The state loses an average of about $2.9 million a year during the back-to-school tax holiday, according to the S.C. Department of Revenue.
Columbia attorney Ken Wingate, a member of the state's new Tax Realignment Commission, said the sales-tax holidays will be considered by the group as part of the broader tax law. The commission plans to issue a report in March.
"Could we really save more money for more families by getting rid of the sales tax holiday but making other changes in the tax structure overall?" he asked.
But taking away a tax break that has been in place 10 years would be difficult, University of South Carolina retailing professor Richard Clodfelter said.
Eliminating the holiday, he said, would feel like a penalty for retailers, who rely on a boost in traffic and sales that weekend -- even though the discount might be more perception than reality.
He said some stores won't put items on sale that week, and if customers wait they could get a better deal the following week when a store might slash prices more than 6 percent.
The (Columbia) State and (Charleston) Post and Courier contributed to this report.
