With Abercrombie & Fitch giving away 1,000 iPads and JC Penney offering $10 million of free haircuts, US retailers are pulling out the stops to make sure they get a share of what may be the best back-to-school shopping season in a decade.
Back-to-school sales, second only to the end-of-year holiday shopping season, may rise 2.5 percent to a record $40.4 billion this year, as hopeful consumers replenish wardrobes and the number of students increase.