Nationally, 2008 may have seen one of the worst holiday shopping seasons in nearly 40 years —but that definitely wasn’t the case in Davis County.

Locally, sales numbers were pretty strong across the board.

“We had a lot of electronics that were back ordered into the next shipment,” said Jerry Wells, electronics manager at Wal-Mart in Layton. “Our (Nintendo) Wii’s were a hot item.

“All of the gaming consoles were really a hit. We sold a lot of games and hand held electronics and everything.”

Other local retailers, such as the Smith’s Marketplace in Bountiful, were just as successful, according to their manager, Jim Shue.

The Target in Centerville also reported strong turnout, though they weren’t allowed to release any official numbers for the holiday shopping season.

Blaine Smith, owner of the Gem Smith at The Square at 2600, stated that his store’s numbers were slightly down at first, but rebounded well.

“The first week or so after Thanksgiving were relatively slow because everyone is flocking to the mass retailers,” he said. “But in the two or three weeks before Christmas came, we picked up quite a bit.”

Reed Shurtliff, owner of the Mr. Mac store in Woods Cross, echoed Smith’s words, adding “we’ve had good numbers since a little before and even after Christmas.”

“We are down just a hair, but the store has done really well for the holiday season.”

Nationally, it was a different story. Mens and woman's clothing was hit the hardest, according to SpendingPulse. Combined sales were down more than 15 percent from last season.

“People were smarter when it came to spending this year,” said Wells. “Even when people wanted electronic items, they didn’t try to go overboard on the price tag.

“Most people looked for alternatives. MP3 players, CD players, less expensive DVD players, that sort of thing. You could see it everywhere in the store, not just electronics.”

According to an initial report released by SpendingPulse, an information service provider with MasterCard, retail sales in some sectors fell as much as 8 percent.

The report shows retail numbers based on sales completed between the holiday shopping season dates of Nov. 1-Dec. 24 this year.

“There were a few signs of relative strength,” said Meir Kahtan, a Public Relations representative, in the report. “Our research analysts showed a significant increase in change from the food sector.

“Everything from food, restaurants, grocery stores, and general merchandise stores showed very strong numbers. In turn, that kept the level of decline into the single digits.”

However, local spending had shown a decline as well. Despite a higher volume in consumers, the overall sales numbers are down.

And despite local and mass retail stores slashing prices before and after Christmas, the local economy is being blamed for the lack of sales numbers.

“It certainly doesn’t help urge people to spend money,” said Stacey Tilley, a Layton resident. “I over spent a little when I went shopping for gifts, but that always happens with me.

“Other people I know aren’t so inclined to spend money though.”

The biggest hit in total numbers was in the electronic and appliance sector. Combined the two showed a decrease of 26.7 percent from the same period last year.

The International Council of Shipping Centers, another agency that tracks spending, expected the total numbers to reflect a loss of roughly 1.5-2 percent decrease from last year.

Both agencies have stated that this could possibly be the worst holiday shopping season since 1969; however, the full report isn’t expected to be released until Jan. 8, when major retailers are supposed to report their sales numbers.

sgillet@davisclipper.com