Pursuits
Free IPads Chase Record U.S. Back-to-School Enrollment: Retail
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With Abercrombie & Fitch Co. giving away 1,000 iPads and J.C. Penney Co. offering $10 million of free haircuts, U.S. 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 consumers replenish wardrobes with more disposable income and the number of students increases, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.