Nationally, the holiday shopping season was a lot better in 2009 than the previous year.

According to Reuters, "SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors, showed retail sales rose 3.6 percent in the period from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve on Dec. 24."

Comparatively, in 2008, spending fell 2.3 percent as tracked by SpendingPulse and 2.8 percent as tracked by the National Retail Federation, as the financial crisis led consumers to cut back, Reuters reported.

Though the rise in spending across the nation seems to point to an economic recovery, what's going on in Charlotte's retail backyard?

The city's economic landscape is still reeling from banker layoffs and an unemployment rate in the double digits. But some local retailers said the holiday season gave them reason to hope for a better year.

Busy is how Julie PageSmith, owner of Cottage Chic -- a lifestyle store that offers furniture, personalized jewelry and many other things in between -- describes the holiday shopping at her store.

Read the rest of this story here.