As stores prepare for hordes of Black Friday shoppers and mark down high-definition TVs and hot toys, they're also pushing deals on something more mundane -- necessities like socks and diapers.
Toys R Us, Wal-mart and clothing stores in malls are responding to tough economic times by luring people who are making it a more practical holiday this year.
What should shoppers expect? Fewer sumptuous sweaters, $200 robotic toys and other flashy items. Everyday items like flannel shirts, blankets and underwear are the order of the day.
Toys R Us' Babies R Us stores are armed with deals on jumbo packs of diapers and baby food for their 5 a.m. opening on Black Friday. Wal-mart's Black Friday promotions include $7 fleece jackets and $3 children's pajamas alongside 50-inch Sanyo plasma HDTVs for $598.
Retailers and the government have also been working on ways to calm the Black Friday crowds while keeping the buying as feverish as ever.
Black Friday kicks off the make-or-break holiday season, when retailers earn most of their revenues for the year. But the sales, marked by multitudes of shoppers stalking the aisles for limited supplies of merchandise, have been the scene of violence. With budget-conscious shoppers already wary about spending, experts say, retailers need to go out of their way to ensure that safety concerns aren't another impediment.
"Consumers are already worried about the economy and losing a job. The last thing they need is to worry about breaking a foot (during a stampede) or worse," said Craig Johnson, the president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consulting firm based in New Britain, Conn.
Last year, authorities said, a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers pushed their way into a Wal-Mart outside of New York and trampled a maintenance worker shortly after the doors opened at 5 a.m. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Wal-Mart a citation, asserting the retailer failed to provide training for employees on how to handle such large crowds. Wal-Mart is contesting the citation, according to OSHA.
The incident prompted several sets of Black Friday guidelines from OSHA, work-force regulators in states, and the National Retail Federation. The guidelines call for retailers to develop detailed crowd-control plans, let in small groups of customers at a time when the doors open and use Internet lotteries for popular items.
Officials who devised the guidelines said they could not determine how many retailers were following them. Retailers "need to train their employees, set up barricades and make sure lines don't extend to entrances," said Jordan Barab, the acting assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. "They need a contingency plan in case something goes wrong."
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