Mario Tama

Retail spending was up this holiday season, a good sign after an otherwise dismal spending year. But 2011 might be a year of growth, reports Eve Troeh. A shopper carries shopping bags on Fifth Avenue in New York City. (Mario Tama/) More on Retail TEXT OF STORY STACEY VANEK SMITH: That cold and very white Christmas they had on the East coast certainly wasn't what retailers were dreaming of. Research firm Shoppertrak estimates stores lost about a billion dollars worth of business on key post-Christmas shopping days. Overall, though, this was the merriest Christmas retailers have seen in years.