Sources:  National Retail Federation, TechFlash.com, Wall Street Journal, American Express

Consumers who gobbled up great deals holiday shopping on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday helped secure a spot in the record books, with traffic and spending up both online and in stores, reaching historic highs.  According to the National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch over the weekend, Thanksgiving and Black Friday spending reached a record $52 Billion and Thanksgiving Day early bird shoppers were the highest in survey history. A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million last year. The average holiday shopper spent $398.62 this weekend, up from $365.34 last year. Additionally, shoppers also checked out retailers’ deals online, spending an average of $150.53 on the web – 37.8 percent of their total weekend spending.

“While online shopping has shown to be more popular,” said Gregg Broujos, Founding Principal at Colliers International | Pittsburgh, “we are definitely seeing an increase in interest from bricks and mortar retailers.”

Following the surge of sales generated by Black Friday shoppers, small businesses across the country are hoping for a huge boost in business from their local communities as a result of Small Business Saturday.  American Express founded the event in 2010 to encourage the use of their credit services.  This year American Express  expanded its movement by partnering with companies, such as facebook, to offer independent owners the tools needed to promote their small businesses.

Dedicated to supporting small businesses on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, Small Business Saturday emphasizes local shopping to generate small business sales, which in return, can increase jobs and local property value in communities.  Nationally it was deemed a success, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, and appears to have boosted sales for some independent merchants.

The event has been successful in broadening awareness of support for small business retail sales, although independent retailers continue to be subject to declining market share.  The Wall Street Journal reports that neighborhood shopping centers, especially those anchored by grocery stores, generally are regarded as a stable investment in tough economic times. Yet the vacancy rate for such centers sits at 7.6%, down just slightly from a 10-year high set in this year’s second quarter, according to real-estate research company Reis Inc.  While grocery stores often remain steady through economic cycles, the small shops operating adjacent to them typically don’t. It is those small shops — typically mom-and-pop stores — that suffered the most in the recession and its wake.  Still, Small Business Saturday is able to benefit economic stimulation and promote community development, by bringing new customers into local stores for holiday shopping.

Jessica Jarosz, Associate at Colliers International | Pittsburgh commented on her holiday weekend shopping experience, “the weather was beautiful for November and the sales in Pittsburgh were remarkable!”

For those who preferred to stay indoors for holiday shopping, click through consumer spending contributed to a record boost of retail sales for Cyber Monday.  TechFlash.com reports that following blockbuster Black Friday sales, online retailers saw a surge in sales as shoppers raced to snap up Cyber Monday deals on electronics, video games and other items.

Cyber Monday sales were up 33 percent over 2010, with consumers spending an average of $198.26 per order, according to a new report from IBM. The report also found that Cyber Monday sales beat out Black Friday sales, with online sales up 29.3 percent over the $816 million consumers spent the day after Thanksgiving.  Mobile shopping played a big role in retailers’ success. This year, 10.8 percent of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up from 3.9 percent in 2010, and mobile sales grew dramatically, reaching 6.6 percent on Cyber Monday versus 2.3 percent in 2010, according to IBM.