NATCHEZ — It was a shopping melee Friday in Natchez, as locals capitalized on the first of a two-day tax holiday.

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday through midnight today, state government has given shoppers a free pass from paying sales tax when buying clothes and shoes under $100.

And at the cusp of the new school year, locals are making the most of it.

Alice Jackson was flipping through white-collared shirts and Dickie’s pants Friday afternoon in Sports Center shopping for her nieces and nephews.

She said having the tax-free holiday helps out when it comes to back-to-school shopping.

While she had already made some headway in her shopping prior to Friday, she wanted to take advantage of the holiday.

Cassandra White was in the market for shoes at Sports Center, and she said Friday was the day to tackle it without the sales tax.

Shoppers will have yet another day of tax-free shopping at Sports Center on Sunday, as the store has extended its own sales tax holiday for one more day.

Over at the Natchez Mall, Jessica McKenzie was also back-to-school shopping at the Shoe Department.

While shoes were on her mind at the moment, she still had to cross shirts and pants off her school-shopping list.

But while working through that list, she said not having to pay sales tax certainly helps.

While the sales tax holiday spells savings for shoppers, it spells frenzy for store employees.

“As you can see, I’m sweating,” Sammy’s Uniform employee Al Jack said.

Sammy’s opened its doors at 8 a.m. Friday to prepare for the throng of back-to-school shoppers.

“At about quarter to 10 people started coming in bunches,” Jack said.

Sammy’s does school logos, and Jack said the store had done “1,000 or more” Friday already.

And he doesn’t anticipate it slowing down today either.

“I think it’s going to be the same as today,” he said.

Natchez Mall Manager Marie Lofton said the mall stores are extending their hours to accommodate the throngs of back-to-school and tax holiday shoppers.

“I think it’s going to be really, really busy (today),” she said.

JCPenney’s is opening its doors at 7 a.m. and won’t shut them until 11 p.m.; Belk is staying open until 10 p.m., and all other mall stores are opening at 8 a.m.

Lofton said she advises shopping be done earlier in the morning.

“Even at Christmas, people aren’t out that earlier in the morning,” she said.

At Sports Center, employees were pulling shoes off shelves, checking out customers and racing bags with imprinted logo shirts to shoppers.

Clerk Steve Bowlin said thousands of logos have already been pressed, and he’s not expecting it to slow down this weekend.

“It’s bad enough this time of year, but it’s a double whammy with no sales tax,” he said.

But the adrenaline rushes, non-stop working and general rushing about all boils down to one higher purpose, Bowlin said.

“It’s for the good of the customer.”