Officially, it’s over.

The Christmas shopping season wrapped-up its final days this past weekend and many businesses expressed surprise and a sigh of relief as numbers came in higher than expected.

“We had an increase after Christmas,” Robin Hutchinson, assistant store manager of Belk said. “It was overall a better season than expected.”

The weekend after Christmas is traditionally time when many return gifts and use their newly acquired gift cards. Many retailers said they were ready.

“Traffic went up and is still going up,” Rockingham Family Dollar store manager, Cara Russ said about this past weekend’s sales. “A lot of it was Christmas, probably 60 to 70 percent of it.”

Much of their Christmas merchandise and even toys saw slashed prices.

“We’ve been running high all season,” Russ said. “The Rockingham store has been second and third all season.”

Retailers across the country feared a repeat of last year’s holiday shopping season which saw a sharp decrease in sales.

A report released on Saturday by MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse noted an overall increase in sales this year, although it could be contributed to an extra shopping day between Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 which the 2008 season didn’t have.

SpendingPulse vice president, Michael McNamara noted that, “overall this year, we have seen increasing stability in spending, as opposed to the free-fall of 2008,”

The extra day could account for a 2 to 4 percent decrease in the initial numbers, but McNamara noted the it does not detract from growth in some sectors like eCommerce, men’s apparel and electronics.

Walgreens store manager, Tommy Leak said the store saw a roughly 25 percent increase in sales on Christmas Day and the days following.

“Being the only thing opened kind of helped,” Leak joked. “We’ve been running about 25 percent higher than expected throughout the season though.”

“We had a lot more traffic this season,” Hutchinson said. “And I think a lot of people shopped in town instead of going out of town.”

Richmond County retailers have reported seeing an increase in budget-conscious shoppers who were looking to spend a less on gifts, but were still willing to spend locally.

“We just hope it continues,” Hutchinson said.

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.