(Columbia) Aug. 8, 2004 - The tax-free weekend for back-to-school shopping, and other shopping too, came to an end Sunday.

Friday through Sunday shoppers got a break from the Palmetto State's five percent sales tax on certain exempt items (.pdf) from clothing to school supplies along with things like diapers, baby clothes, coats, sports gloves and shoes.

The list also included computers, printers and PDA's, but computer parts like monitors, keyboards and scanners are taxable when sold separately.

Shoppers still had to pay taxes on briefcases, cosmetics, furniture, eyewear, and sporting equipment like golf clubs and helmets and toys during the weekend.

Mail order or Internet purchases were also tax free as long as it's a qualifying item and the sale occurs during the sales tax holiday.

Stores like Target geared up for at least triple their normal business as employee Juan Torres can attest, "This corner here, we normally have one person. Tomorrow we'll have four to five people covering it."

The tax-free weekend was first held in 2000. Since then, shopkeepers have learned to keep their stock up and shoppers have learned to expect larger-than-normal crowds. Last year people purchased about $47 million in tax-exempt goods, way down from the first sales-tax holiday, which saw about $72 million spent on exempt goods.

Since the holiday's inception in 2000, North Carolina and Georgia have begun their own tax free holidays, sending some sales across the borders.

Reporting by Judi Gatson

Updated 11:55pm by Eva Pilgrim