It’s that time of year: pockets feel more than a just a little bit lighter, forgotten credit card purchases of last year start arriving in the mailbox and retailers begin taking stock of the numbers of the holiday shopping

season. So how did the year close?

Unfortunately, not so good.

In 2007, CNN.com’s theme for the holiday shopping season was “Ready, Set, Shop.” The National Retail Federation predicted that holiday sales would rise four percent in September of 2007 to $474.5 billion. Though the economy was not in its best condition, holiday shoppers still bounced from store to store spending money. Online purchases rose a staggering 19

percent during the month of December, 2007, to a whopping $29.17 billion.

In a sweeping change from the previous year, the dismal holiday shopping predictions for 2008 held true as many consumers pinched pennies in the wake of last year’s economic struggles. A survey conducted by the American Research Group, Inc. in Nov., 2008 found that many shoppers planned to begin shopping earlier rather than waiting till the last minute.  Shoppers also said they planned to cut back on gift spending and purchase more from catalogues rather than stores.  Overall, the survey found that consumers planned to cut their spending in half, which would cause a drop in spending from $859 in 2007 to $431 in 2008.

Receipts from this year’s holiday season show shoppers followed through with their plans to cut back on spending.

“Our average weekly sales have been down 20 to 25 percent,” Roberta Morais, assistant manager of Abercrombie & Fitch at Southpoint Mall, said. Morais also reports that this year’s Black Friday sales were down 17 percent compared to last year’s coming to a rest at $25,000 for the Southpoint store.

Morais said the week after Christmas was actually their best week due to an extensive Winter Sale, but the incentive of lower prices didn’t hold customers in for long.

“We went up during the first week of the sale, but we are back down now,” Morais said. “We are back down big.”

Morais said her store didn’t even hit $2,000 on Monday and that more price cuts will be coming soon.

Privately owned stores are feeling the burden just as much as the international chain stores like Abercrombie & Fitch. Martha Parks, owner of SoHo located in Cameron Village, said it hasn’t been an easy season for her store either.

“We were aware earlier last year that things were going to be off so we were careful about what we bought,” Parks said. “But it’s still not going to be an exciting January.”

Parks said her store did see a drop this holiday season but that it was certainly not busier than last year’s.  Like Abercrombie & Fitch, SoHo cut their prices in hopes of drawing in customers.  However, Parks said her sale was comparable to those she had held in the past.

“We had a big sale that started earlier than usual,” Parks said. “We started it earlier because of the economy.”

Morais and Parks both said the faltering economy was a topic of discussion and angst in their stores. While some consumers took the bad economy in stride in light of the happiness of the seasons, others played the scrooge.

“Some customers were just grumpy this year,” Morais said. “The staff tried their best to keep the atmosphere upbeat, but there was a lot of talk about the economy and that did affect their shopping.”

Some consumers even decided to reject shopping in stores altogether and made their purchases online.

“I actually did all of my Christmas shopping online this year which made

things ten times easier,” Lauren Miller, a sophomore in aerospace engineering, said. “It was nice not having to fight through the crowds and a lot of the Web sites that I bought from had extra online savings and free shipping.”

Parks, however, tries to remain the optimist when dealing with the economy. Parks said most people have just been so alarmed by the mountains of somber news reports describing a doomed economy.

“The news was just so discouraging,” Parks said. “It was a constant harping. Most people will be fine, but the news has made them worry so that even those who were doing better off were starting to react.”

In the end, all anyone–shopper or retailer–can do is wait to see what the New Year has in store.

“We will be fine,” Parks said.