Richfield-based Best Buy and other retailers also are stretching the ever-important holiday retail season as long as possible. Both retailers have acknowledged they must work hard to entice consumers who are shopping more selectively. Spending during the holidays is projected to increase by the smallest increment in the past few years.

Target said on Monday that it would hire about 100,000 seasonal employees, in-line with what it had hired for the last three years, as the retailer gears up for its all-important holiday period.

The retailer's Deal of the Day program is also back, with new one-day-only deals available each day of Target Circle Week.