VALENTINE'S DAY While hearts go pitter-pat; cash registers go ka-CHING!

For the holiday, one store sells dog cookies shaped like cats and mailmen.
THE RECORD (BERGEN COUNTY, N.J.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Valentine's Day. It's not just for lovers anymore.
Valentine's gift-giving has expanded to include children, friends, aunts, co-workers, even cats. And retailers are enamored of this trend.
Americans are expected to spend $12.8 billion for Valentine's Day this year, and less than two-thirds of that will be spent on gifts for romantic partners, according to the National Retail Federation. The rest -- some $5 billion -- will be spent to make relatives, friends, teachers, work buddies, bosses and pets feel loved.
"Valentine's Day has become a holiday to express appreciation for a variety of people," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. As a result, she said, "Valentine's Day has become a very big business for retailers in what is traditionally one of the slowest shopping months of the year."
Home Depot
Even Home Depot has become smitten with the holiday. They're doing a "home is where the heart is" promotional push and urging shoppers to give their bedrooms romantic makeovers with a new paint job, rose-colored light bulbs, or dimmer switches for mood lighting.
Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison said "the sheer power of the holiday as a gift-giving kind of day" is driving the chain to play Cupid. "We see a bump in sales" around the holiday, he said. "It's becoming more measurable."
He predicts the best-seller for Valentine's Day will be the same as Christmas -- Home Depot gift cards, most of which will be given by women to men. "It's women as much as men who are buying Valentine's gifts these days," Harrison said.
Circuit City
At the Paramus Towne Square shopping center in Paramus, N.J., this week, Circuit City had a "Music for Lovers" kiosk stationed near the front door, selling $13.99 CDs such as "Dangerously in Love" by Beyonc & eacute;. Chef Central was featuring heart-shaped pancake griddles and waffle-makers for $29.99 and Valentine's cookies for dogs shaped like cats and mailmen. Next door, Buy Buy Baby was sold out of "Baby's First Valentine's Day" bibs.
Retail researcher Pam Danziger calls Valentine's Day the "third most-gifted holiday" after Christmas and Mother's Day. Her market research firm found that 70 percent of Americans buy Valentine's Day gifts, compared with 74 percent for Mother's Day and 96 percent for Christmas.
"Rather than being viewed only as a romantic holiday, its become a way to show anybody and everybody that you care about them," Danziger said.
Kathryn Longo has seen that trend develop in the six years since she opened the Eco-Galleria gift shop in Teaneck, N.J. "I have been seeing more women coming in to buy gifts for friends," she said. "When I first opened, I probably thought of Valentine's Day as only a male-female holiday."
Now, she said, "people find excuses to give gifts to people" and she sells Valentine's gifts for teachers, aunts, uncles. This year, she also had customers looking for gifts for female bosses. (Male bosses don't seem to be on any Valentine's Day gift lists yet, Longo and other gift shop owners reported).
Women are almost as likely to give Valentine's Day gifts as men, Danziger said, but men still spend more, an average of $171, compared with $78 spent by women.