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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.

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While after-Christmas buying was tempered in the Washington-area due to the threat of foul weather, shoppers across the rest of the country got right to it, returning unwanted gifts and scoping out bargains in the aftermath of what appears to have been the best holiday season for retailers since 2007, The Washington Post...

Daffy's has announced plans to open a store in New York's Times Square. The discount retailer has signed a lease for a 28,000-sq.-ft. store in the former New York Times building on 44th Street. The new store will have a ground-floor entrance, but the bulk of the space will be on the basement level. The Times Square store is scheduled to open in fall 2011, and the company hopes to add a total of 14 New York-area stores before 2015.

Jewelry lovers in Oregon have an extra incentive to cheer for the Ducks during the January 10, 2011 Bowl Championship Series game. The Oregon-based jeweler will offer a percentage off regular priced jewelry on January 11 that's equal to the amount of points the Oregon Ducks win by, up to 50 percent off. For example, if the Ducks win over Auburn by 20 points, then 20 percent off on Jan 11. "Although now you can find Fred Meyer Jewelers in 36 states nationwide, we're still very much an Oregon company," said Kirsten Darrow of Fred Meyer Jewelers.

CNBC's Brian Shactman drills down on rising input costs and the potential impact on the consumer and the companies that serve them.

Sears Holdings and Sonic Solutions have partnered to launch an instant access movie and television series download service for Sears and Kmart customers. The RoxioNow-powered Alphaline Entertainment service will offer customers the ability to download movies and television shows on the same day they are released on DVD and Blu-ray. Sonic and Sears are collaborating to embed the service through a chip, which will be included on portable media devices, Blu-ray disc players, mobile phones and high-definition television sets. "Collaborating with Sonic provides a great opportunity for Sears and Kmart to launch digital services for customers seeking even faster

Preholiday data from CFI Group indicates that 2010 marked the sixth straight year of internet retail sales growth in the United States. CFI Group uses the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index to help retailers improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. It recently conducted a major survey of holiday shoppers, finding that 27 percent of consumers planned to spend 50 percent or more of their holiday shopping budgets online.

Gilt Groupe hopes to attract up to $100 million in new financing next year, most likely with the help of a new investor. The money would help the flash-sale site expand its offerings beyond designer apparel and travel packages, said CEO Kevin Ryan.

eBay announced its annual "Top Shopped" report for 2010. eBay analyzed sales and search-data across categories to identify the year's "major moments and movements." eBay culled items sold pertaining to pop culture phenomena across multiple categories to create its list, data was based on U.S. eBay listings that included the key terms in the listing title across all categories from January 1, 2010, to December 19, 2010. eBay's top-ten picks for America's "Top Shopped" and Pop Culture Obsessions of 2010 were as follows: iPhone 4 Barbie Military jackets Hot Wheels iPad World Cup The Beatles Silly Bandz Alice in