Employees at North Grand Mall are ready for holiday shoppers scrounging for the latest toy fads after conducting a poll to see what items people want for the last holiday of 2000.

North Grand Mall, 2801 Grand Ave., conducted a pre-holiday poll of more than 100 shoppers to identify this season’s shopping trends so that the stores can be prepared for the crowds, general manager Kurt Carlson said.

“We wanted to identify what’s hot for the holiday among our shoppers,” he said.

Nikki Peterson, North Grand Mall marketing director, said scooters and robotic dogs came out on top of people’s hot toy lists. Other hot items for children included PlayStation 2 and Nintendo systems as well as computer games, board games and Legos.

The poll showed adults were asking for clothing, CDs, DVD players, books and jewelry. Fifty-eight percent of respondents polled said they plan on spending the same amount of money this year as they did last year, while 27 percent said their purchases would total between $250 and $500.

An additional 27 percent said they would be shopping online.

“The majority of the people who filled out this survey were in the 35 to 44 age category,” Peterson said.

The 10-question survey was handed out to shoppers who stopped by the customer service booth on Nov. 18, she said. “We wanted to get a quick idea of what people were looking for, for the holidays,” she said.

Carlson said he expects record crowds this year at Sears and J.C. Penney, two stores that have expanded due to renovation.

Sears has eliminated its soft side, which means it has done away with all clothing, Peterson said.

Customers want and need practical hard-line products, Sears general manager Connie Tully said. “We’ve given our Sears store a brand-new look and focused to meet those demands,” she said. “We didn’t have enough space, so we are concentrating on our strengths.”

One popular area that she said will attract crowds is their “tool territory” section that includes tools and hardware by the American manufacturer Craftsman.

Diane Handeland, Maurice’s store manager, said she sees a number of shoppers leaning toward soft-hand apparel.

“Soft-hand is a term that describes the textures of yarn used in popular chenille, boucle and lamb’s wool sweaters featured at our store this holiday season,” she said.

In addition to the information gleaned from the survey, Carlson said new stores are expected to bring in large crowds.

“With the addition of new retailers like Gap, Gapkids, and babyGap in early December, we anticipate an even stronger customer turnout as the season continues,” he said.