Keep your kids busy for free with the help of upcoming events at local Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement stores and the Lego Store at Crabtree Valley Mall.

First up, mark your calendar for the Home Depot Kids Workshop this Saturday, March 3. From 9 a.m. to noon, kids ages 5 to 12 are invited to build a race car and learn tool safety.

The kids will also receive a free apron, pin and certificate.
Click here for more details on the kids' workshops, which are held the first Saturday of every month.

Next up, the Lego Store at Crabtree Valley Mall will hold its next Mini Model Build on Tuesday, March 6.

Lego fans ages 6 to 14 are invited to make a free miniature model. The build begins at 5 p.m. and continues while supplies last. This month's free miniature figurine is a Lego garden, complete with snake.

Looking ahead to next Saturday, March 10, Lowes Home Improvement will hold its next Build and Grow Clinic for children in first through fifth grades.

The project is a "carnival hoops" game. It looks like a miniature basketball goal with its own mini ball. The first 50 children present receive the building kits, aprons and safety goggles. Sign up online here.

Keep the kids busy for free with upcoming activities at the Lego store, Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement stores.

If you're looking for free entertainment for the kids this weekend, Home Depot is hosting its monthly kids' workshop.

From 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Jan. 7, kids ages 5 to 12 are invited to build a bank in the shape of a storage shed.

The kids will also receive a free apron, pin and certificate.

Click here for more details on the kids' workshops, which are held the first Saturday of every month.

Finding the perfect Christmas tree can be a challenge. But finding a tree with the perfect looks and the perfect price tag -- now that's a trick.

This time of year, it's nearly impossible to drive more than a mile or two without seeing trees for sale -- out of the backs of pick-up trucks, at road-side tree lots, in hardware stores, and direct from North Carolina farmers at the state Farmers Market in Raleigh.

The hardware stores, as you might expect, have the lowest prices on standard-size Fraser Firs, the most popular among Christmas trees. At Home Depot, a 6- to 7-footer, for example, sells for $31.97, which was the cheapest I came across other than those being sold out of pick-up trucks for $20 a pop.

But what you save in price, you might give up in selection and freshness.

At the farmers market, you can find everything from a $10 table-top model to a $200 mammoth 12-footer. If you're timing is right, you just might choose a tree coming straight off flatbed trucks from the mountains, some with snow still on them.

Families looking to light up their Christmas trees in a more eco-friendly fashion can save some cash with a trade-in program at Home Depot.

Grocers, home-improvement stores and other retailers will likely see a boost in business in the wake of Hurricane Irene as homeowners buy supplies to clean up and repair damage.

It's a small bright spot from the storm, which could have a major economic impact on many businesses in hard-hit areas, especially those that depend on tourists. Even retailers that could benefit from clean-up demand lost some sales when they closed stores during the storm.

Food Lion closed 350 stores over the weekend and has managed to reopen many of those, including four on the Outer Banks this morning, said Christy Phillips-Brown, a spokeswoman for the Salisbury-based grocery chain.

But 50 Food Lions along the coast of North Carolina and Virginia, and in the Richmond area remain closed.

"We are working as quickly as possible to restore operations to these locations, many of which are without power at this time," she added. "We are seeing increased traffic in our stores as we reopen."

Home Depot is now selling personal wind turbines at select stores in Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and California.

Home Depot is closing two North Carolina stores, one in Winterville and one in Rocky Mount.

According to WARN notices filed with the NC Department of Commerce, the two stores combined employ 185 people.

Company spokesman Stephen Holmes said the two stores at 950 Home Depot Plaza in Rocky Mount and 717 Thomas Langston Road in Winterville "weren't expected to meet their long-term financial returns." No Triangle-area stores are closing.

There is no set date yet for the closure of the two stores, Holmes said. That will depend on how long it takes to sell the stores' merchandise, a process that generally takes six to eight weeks. According to the WARN notices, the "first separation" of some employees will be on April 14. The departure of all the stores' employees will depend on the final timing of the stores' closures, Holmes said.

Progress Energy is launching a CFL bulb discount program Saturday designed to save customers an average of $1.50 per bulb purchased.

Customers who buy one Energy Star rated compact fluorescent light bulb at a Home Depot will get a free 14-watt twist CFL. The limit is 12 free bulbs per customers.

The Raleigh-based power company is holding promotional events at the three Home Depot stores in Cary, Asheville and Wilmington that are offering the free bulb.

"It's not like a rebate where they have to send it in -- it's a discount right there at the store," said Progress spokesman Mike Hughes.

Home Depot will shutter a test store in Wilson, one of three stores with a three different trial formats the company announced it will close.

The store, which is about half the size of a regular Home Depot store, employs 30 people. But spokesman Craig Fishel said the decision does not affect any of the other 11 Triangle-area Home Depot stores.

In addition to the Wilson store, Home Depot will also close a clearance outlet store near Atlanta and a hurricane response store in Waveland, Miss.

The Wilson store's closure is scheduled tentatively for March, Fishel said.