WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It's back-to-school week for students in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Many families rushed to the stores Sunday for some last-minute shopping on the final day of the sales tax holiday.
"I'm excited for school," Abel Belk, who is 6 years old and going into the second grade, said. "I do like math and swimming, and I also like dinosaurs."
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The Belks have three children ages 6, 4 and 3. They just moved to South Florida from Mississippi.
"For us, it's actually the first time we've been to school. Because of COVID, we homeschooled all the way through, but now we're starting off fresh, and it's kind of really exciting actually," Elbert Belk said.
The family said they spent the day shopping for school supplies for Abel.
"We got a lot of pens, a lot of markers, a couple of backpacks, but it was so packed," Elbert Belk said. "There were so many people in there. It's unbelievable."
The family's $200+ tab was just a little cheaper thanks to the tax-free holiday.
"I think we saved $22.43 just from the tax-free holiday," Elbert Belk said.
The National Retail Federation predicts each family this year will spend $864 on back-to-school supplies, which is nearly $37 billion nationwide.
"There was a lot of stuff sold out. It was really hard to find notebooks, so we needed to get like these black-and-white composition notebooks, and they were all gone," Elbert Belk. "Get the tax-free holiday in. It's the last day. You can do it."
The family said they also bought paper towels and other school supplies for the classroom and students in need.