NATCHEZ — With the economic condition in the nation uncertain at best, not even Christmas could escape the effects.

Retail shopping statistics have been below average for several months before the Christmas shopping season began, and they remained low during the busiest shopping season of the year.

Local businesses were not immune to problems created by the current recession- like state of the economy.

At The Pampered Sole in downtown Natchez, store owner Julie Smith was pleasantly surprised by her day-after-Christmas traffic.

But the weeks before the holiday were not as hectic as she would have liked.

“This was a very peculiar Christmas,” Smith said. “No one really seemed to be in the mood. We were exceedingly slow.

“Everyone seemed to be hesitant to do any kind of buying.”

Smith said that while the overwhelming flow at her store has been slow, she has seen some peaks.

“We were busy, busy, busy today and really busy Christmas week and the week after Thanksgiving,” she said. “But other weeks it was like a ghost town.”

Brenda Zirby, owner of Moreton’s Flowerland, said people weren’t necessarily beating down the doors at her store, but overall she was pleased with the outcome of the Christmas shopping season.

“I think we did very well overall,” she said. “Sure, we would have loved to have see lots more out of town folks downtown and locals downtown, but we saw that when we had sales, that drove people in.”

Zirby said an increase in value shopping shows that shoppers are looking to get more for their money this year.

“I think a lot of people were looking for a way to still have a wonderful Christmas but maybe stick within more of a budget,” Zirby said.

A shining star for Zirby’s business was the increase in decorating jobs she did. Zirby said there were several more clients calling for custom Christmas trees, garland and other home decorating items.

“There were a lot of decorating jobs that we did,” she said. “There was definitely and increase in that.”

Zirby said one cause for a decrease in shoppers, could be the drastic discounts available at larger, chain stores.

“Sometimes downtown suffers because people will go to malls and discount stores,” she said.

While Smith is having an after Christmas sale, she’s not sure how many people will come shop. She said many customers are lured by the price slashing at larger stores, but that isn’t something she is able to do.

“We can’t do anything extreme,” We can’t do the 75 percent off like you see elsewhere. You are basically cutting your own throat there.”

But no matter the reason for the slowdown, Smith is hoping a change in the calendar will help spur on business.

“I believe everyone has been afraid of what they hear on the news,” she said “Hopefully they won’t feel that way next year.”

At Moreton’s Flowerland, business is picking up before the new year. Thanks in part to the store’s annual post Christmas sale.

“We’ve had several people come back because they had their eye on something special, and that is good to see.”