As retailers statewide giddily prepared Thursday for South Carolina's so-called sales tax holiday, Kerrie Prince somberly strolled down a cluttered Wal-Mart school supplies aisle with her 9-year-old boy, Logan.

She could not have cared less about the tax holiday, which began at midnight today.

"Gas is more of an issue to me," she said.

As many Beaufortonians and South Carolinians gear up for three days of tax-free school shopping this weekend, other parents are scoffing at the reprieve, calling it ineffectual in the Beaufort area where gasoline went for more than $2.90 a gallon at the pump Thursday.

Prince, 32, of Ridgeland, opted to buy her child's supplies a day before the holiday began, mostly because she said she could not afford to drive back to Beaufort twice in three days. She was already in town Thursday to get her air-conditioning unit fixed.

"I'd rather save a trip than save the taxes," she said.

The state is projecting that parents will spend between $50 million and $60 million this weekend on a myriad of back-to-school items -- everything from pricey computers to ski suits, nightgowns, Capri pants and bras.

South Carolinians also will save nearly $3 million on state sales tax that they will not be paying, said Robert Martin, an economist at the S.C. Bureau of Economic Advisors, which analyzes economics forecasts and state revenue for the state and the General Assembly.

Gas prices, he said, have started to affect what people are buying in stores. Tax revenue the state collects each month is not growing at the usual rate because of gas prices, he said. But parents have to buy back-to-school items -- high gas prices or not.

"Back to school happens every year, so parents are going to have to clothe their kids," he said. "I don't think it's gonna matter if its $3.50 a gallon. I think you're going to see massive shopping those days."

Retail industry experts mostly agree. Accenture, a national consulting firm in New York City, released an Internet-based survey last month that found that most consumers will not let escalating gas prices affect how much money they spend on back-to-school items.

They will be driving less, however.

The National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C., found that the average family with school-age children in the South will spend $544.54 on back-to-school items this year. Nationwide, back-to-school spending is projected to reach $17.6 billion, nearly $4 billion more than last year, according to federation data.

Prince and other parents said they were not going to curb their back-to-school spending -- a relief for retailers who closely watch this shopping season as an indicator for crucial holiday sales.

Rhonda Throne, 47, was shopping with her son Thursday and found herself shocked by some of the items that her son's school, Agape Christian Academy in Lobeco, requested -- and not in a nice way, either.

"2 reams of 20 Weight Copy Paper Per Family -- (8 1/2" X 11") -- NON INK-JET PLEASE!" read one item.

"I can't believe this list," she said. "I pay a tuition each month. Why should I have to buy copy paper for the office?"

Frankly, she said, gas prices just served as another insult, and a tax holiday wasn't the answer.

"What am I gonna save? $4?" she said. "That's nothing. You're not going to save unless you buy something big or you have more than one child."

She had to drive to Bluffton to buy uniforms that cost $88. She also said she was not thrilled with idea of navigating hoards of sale-seekers this weekend.

State data show that the holiday's popularity with shoppers could be waning. When the holiday debuted in 2000, the state lost about $3.6 million, Martin said. That number fell to $2.5 million in 2002. This year, the Board of Economic Advisors projects the state will lose $2.994 in sales tax, he said.

"It is a little bit of a novelty, and it does wear off, and there are people who avoid going to the stores because people are dragging their kids around," Martin said. "I personally avoid going out."

School shopping this year is an exercise in consolidation, parents said. Jennifer Bowen, 28, of Grays, rode to Wal-Mart in Beaufort with a friend who also had to shop for her child.

The tax holiday meant little to her.

"I'm never in town when it's on, and I'm not going to spend a whole other tank of gas just to do that," she said.