• by Sarah Mahoney , June 12, 2008

While Father's Day is never quite the blessing to retailers that Mother's Day is--with consumers spending about $9.6 billion on dad versus $15.8 billion on mom---stores are being extra clever this year in their attempts to woo gift buyers. 

It goes without saying that both Home Depot and Lowe's--already positioned as Dad's dream emporiums--are offering plenty of promotions, both online and in stores. And in the hardware department, Sears' Craftsman has also outdone itself.

Special spots, set to the theme song of "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," show a Dad and son built entirely out of Craftsmen wrenches, with "the power to tighten any bond." With a $35 Craftsman purchase, shoppers can purchase a $9.99 "Doodle Box," a classic red Craftsman toolbox that comes with stickers, so kids can customize it for dad. The promotion also includes posters, t-shirts and online give-aways, including wallpaper and avatars.

Sears is covering its bases, offering an alternative for the unhandy, too: A Men's Dockers Father's Day event, wherein customers will receive a $75 gas gift card when they spend $100 on Men's Dockers merchandise. A drawing for a Toyota Prius is also part of the promotion.

Some gift promotions are less expected. Amazon, for example, is appealing to egg-headed Dads, offering free one-day shipping for those who buy its Kindle electronic reader. And Whole Foods Markets is recommending that shoppers buy Dad cheese--specifically, fine Norwegian Jarlsberg. (The variety isn't quite as random as it seems--Whole Foods recently welcomed Jarlsberg, now minus a questionable preservative, back on its shelves.)

But what most Dads want, at least according to Circuit City, is electronics. The company recently released a survey of more than 4,100 fathers, which finds that 52% of dads prefer electronics for their big day--way more than those who want clothing (16%), sports gear (13%), or a vacation (9%). And it turns out that "You shouldn't have!" is pretty phony: Only 8% of dads surveyed didn't want a gift.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are 64.3 million fathers in the U.S.; 30.2 million have children younger than 18.