And How Do You Get The Rest of the Country to Line Up Around the Block During a Recession?

A free Grand Slam breakfast from Denny's, of course. Consumers lined up outside many of Denny's 1,500 locations on Tuesday. The chain advertised during the Super Bowl that it would give away its famed breakfast from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday to anyone that stopped in. Not only are people lining up to get their share of the promotion, they are also surfing its site. There were reportedly 14 million hits on its Web site between Sunday night and Monday morning — and it was reported that the site was down for parts of today.

Manhattan may have Joe Torre, but we don’t have Denny's. I’m sorry, New York City, but I think the rest of the country wins today.

* Kudos to Dennys.com for getting that store locator button directly in front of customer eyes. Retailers, take note.