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Maryland retailers capitalized on last week's sales-tax holiday — the first since 2006 — to lure consumers for early back-to-school shopping.

At Arundel Mills in Hanover, anecdotal reports from store managers indicated increased customer traffic, said Wendy Ellis, marketing and business development director.

"This year's back-to-school season has been very strong and better than 2009 in terms of sales and traffic," Ellis said.

At Lakeforest mall in Gaithersburg, many retailers handling back-to-school merchandise reported sales increases of as much as 15 percent over last year, said Susan Davis, marketing and business development director. The center sponsored its Kidgits Kids Club arts and crafts corner all week to complement the tax-free incentive.

"One retailer stated they were ‘crazy busy; sales are through the roof,'" Davis said.

Retailers at Westfield Shoppingtown Wheaton saw a boost in sales, but the tax holiday was probably too early in the month to have a major impact on back-to-school shopping, said Sidney Woods, marketing director.

"I anticipate the next two weeks to be stronger," Woods said.

Patrick Donoho, president of the Maryland Retailers Association, said he received positive feedback from merchants about the sales-tax break.

"We heard it really drew traffic into the stores and sales were up, more so on the weekend. It's been very much a success from a few of our members' standpoints," he said.

During the weeklong tax holiday, which ended Saturday, most clothing and shoes priced at less than $100 were exempt from the state's 6 percent sales tax. Maryland's last sales-tax holiday in 2006 ran only one weekend, while the last weeklong holiday was in 2001, when sales increased by 10 percent, according to the office of Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D).

Still, the traffic increase might not translate to an actual sales boost because shoppers still are being frugal and searching for deals, said Victoria Clark, spokeswoman for the Mall at Prince Georges in Hyattsville.

That center tried to boost sales further with a back-to-school promotion that offered free school supplies to anyone spending $75 or more in the same day and the chance to win an Apple iPod with accessories. About 200 gift bags of supplies were handed out this weekend, Clark said.

The mall also introduced a back-to-school website featuring information on area school dress codes, retailer offers and a gallery of "must-have" outfits, each listing where to find them. The promotion was run through the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns and manages the Mall at Prince Georges and 37 others.

"Old Navy is blowing out everything uniform and has been seeing double-digit sales increases," Clark said, adding stores trading in school uniforms, such as Rainbow Kids, tend to do the best. "It's comparable to last year, but this tax-free holiday couldn't have come at a better time."

Forman Mills, a discount clothing store in Temple Hills, also sold its fair share of uniforms, store manager Melvin Wood said.

"Many are saying they'll be back in this week, too," Wood said Tuesday. The sales-tax holiday "really brought people out."

Kohl's department store in Bowie offered shoppers promotional deals in the form of $10 gift cards for shopping at the store the week before.

"Things went very well. A lot of people shopped last week versus waiting until the last minute," Carol Murray, assistant manager at the Bowie Kohl's, said Tuesday. "It's a little slower this week, but last week we were jamming."

Murray said children's clothes and shoes were the hot sellers during the holiday, particularly items marked down for clearance.

"We had a lot of clearance picked up," she said.

Shoe retailer Esco Ltd. of Baltimore, which has a store in Temple Hills, also reported strong sales during the tax holiday.

"Every consumer that had any money to go shopping probably went shopping last week," CEO Michael Fortwengler said.

Actual sales figures for the week will not be available until next month, according to the comptroller's office.

"We're hoping it kick-starts shopping for the back-to-school season," said Lisa Lester, a spokeswoman for the comptroller's office.