NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the nation's retailers prepare for the all-important holiday shopping season, Toys 'R' Us and Best Buy announced plans Tuesday to hire a small army of temporary workers.
Toys 'R' Us said it would hire 45,000 seasonal employees for the 2010 holiday season, doubling its workforce.
Best Buy said it will hire roughly 29,000 employees for the holiday season, according to spokeswoman Jennifer McNamara, who added that the total was "about the same" as in previous years.
The planned hiring comes ahead of the holiday shopping period in the United States, when retailers typically make the bulk of their profits for the year.
While most of the positions will be phased out in January, the hiring spree is welcome news for a nation struggling with unemployment near 10%.
Toys 'R' Us satellite stores: Toys "R" Us said it will hire 35,000 additional workers for its existing outlets nationwide. In addition, as announced earlier this month, it's hiring 10,000 additional employees to staff 600 temporary Toys 'R' Us Express stores in shopping malls and other locations.
The hiring for the 587 traditional Toys "R" Us stores is in line with previous holiday seasons, when the company said it hired 35,000 additional workers.
Toys "R" Us said it has 45,000 workers in non-holiday periods.
Many of the workers will be given the opportunity to work overtime during the weeks leading up to the holiday season, the company said.
With these new hires, the company is looking to become more competitive this holiday season in the face of retailer giants like Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500).
The Toys 'R' Us flagship store is located in New York's Times Square. Its corporate headquarters is in Wayne, N.J. 
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