BACK TO SHOPPING SCHOOL SEASON = MORE SPENDING.

Byline: JULIA M. SCOTT Staff Writer

Carla Frauenfelder was surveying the checklist her daughter's fourth- grade teacher sent home to make sure she had not missed anything. Notebooks and pencils, check. Dictionary and thesaurus, check. Ruler? No check.

By the time Frauenfelder, 38, of Tarzana, is done shopping at the Woodland Hills Target, she estimates she will have shelled out $200 to $300.

``I still spend more for vacation and holidays but it does add up,'' Frauenfelder said as her 9-year-old daughter Sarina pleaded for a pack of brightly colored mechanical pencils. ``It seems like more than when I was a kid.''

That's exactly what retailers are hoping, and they are bending over backward to make sure shoppers hit the stores.

Back-to-school season is the second-largest spending period behind the winter holidays, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

``It's a very important time of the year for us,'' said Bed Bath & Beyond spokeswoman Bari Fagin. ``College students are some of our new shoppers. They're going out on their own, decorating for the first time.''

Families will spend on average $527 this year to prep students for the first bell, up from $443 in 2005, according to the NRF.

College-bound students and their parents will spend double what grammar-school parents will spend this time of year, or about $36.6 billion.

Those numbers jumped mostly because of electronics, said Kathy Grannis of the NRF.

``MP3s, laptops, even cameras are all starting to play a huge role in not only the home and the child's life but in the classroom,'' Grannis said.

Many retailers are pumping their Web sites with features and shopping tips to attract buyers.

Bed Bath & Beyond has an entire section, on par with its bridal registry, to help college students prepare for campus living. The site offers fully designed dorm rooms and breaks down shopping lists into five categories.

Best Buy's Web site has video sales pitches for a variety of the laptops, cell phones, and small appliances it suggests for college students.

Not sure which iron to buy for your freshman? Let us show you what we have.

College student Samantha Shery said she ``easily'' spends as much on college textbooks as she does on Christmas gifts. Her tab runs up to $500 a quarter at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said Shery, 20. That limits her budget for supplies like notebooks, shirts, and kitchen supplies to $50.

When it comes to clothing, retailers are staggering fall wear to create a ``constant flow of new products'' so customers will keep coming back, according to retail analyst Dana Telsey.

Stores are pushing T-shirts and blouses this year after hiking up the cost of jeans last year.

``The ability to increase those (jeans) prices is not as great'' this year, Telsey said. ``Today the goal is to increase the number of tops people are buying.''

Consumers are waiting longer to hit the stores, meaning the busiest shopping days are likely still ahead, according to Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Sales were slow in July partly because of a national heat wave, but by the end of the season retailers will have done OK, said Niemira. Overall retail growth should hover between 3 percent and 4 percent.

``It's not a total washout but not that great either,'' Niemira said.

julia.scott(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sarina Frauenfelder, 9, who's preparing for the fourth grade, looks at backpacks at the Target in Woodland Hills.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2) Alexia Beghi, 17, of Calabasas, shops for her upcoming freshman year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at Bed Bath & Beyond in Canoga Park.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer