Holiday Shopping Was at Highest Level Since 2011

100.5 The River has been your Christmas music station since 2000. 

Wow! Almost 15 years of playing your Christmas favorites through November and December.

Since we're in a new year now, I thought it would be good to sort of wrap up this past holiday season with some good economic news.

Confident consumers stocked up on holiday gifts and other merchandise over the 2014 holiday season, helping boost overall holiday retail sales to their highest level since 2011.

According to the National Retail Federation, December retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and increased 4.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Total holiday retail sales, which include November and December sales, increased 4 percent to $616.1 billion, which was in line with NRF’s projected forecast of 4.1 percent growth. In addition, non-store holiday sales, which is an indicator of online and e-commerce sales, grew 6.8 percent to $101.9 billion.

The U.S. Commerce Department, which does include gasoline, said on Wednesday that December retail sales decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and increased 3.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year. The significant drop in gasoline prices in the month of December brought down much of the month-to-month growth.

Cutting through all the economic terms and numbers, we seem to have moved well beyond the days of consumer pessimism and that the future for retailers continues to point up. Retain is a pretty resilient industry and, of course, a successful holiday for retail sales is extremely important.

Experts are expecting to see most of us continue to benefit from the extra income gained from an improved job market and the dramatic fall in gas prices.

Bottom line: Our economy is growing again and there is a lot to feel good and optimistic about.