Retail spending volumes here haven't changed much in the last year, and Inland Northwest industry observers say that they anticipate activity slowly will continue improving through 2012 as effects of the recession linger.

"In the minds of the consumer, things are still tight and tough," says Randy Barcus, chief economist for Avista Corp. "We're going to bounce along the bottom for a while, and I don't see a lot of optimism out there for retail sales other than Internet sales, which seem to be going up."

While consumers nationally spent a record of about $52 billion during the Thanksgiving shopping weekend, including Black Friday, Barcus says those figures won't have a huge effect on overall retail sales for the year.

Bryn West, general manager of River Park Square shopping mall downtown, echoes some of Barcus' sentiments.

"Sales look to be similar to increases that we saw last year," West says. "I'm cautiously optimistic because the holidays have been stronger than anticipated, and it gives us a sense of confidence going into 2012."

West says some of the new retailers that debuted at River Park Square this year have helped to boost traffic to the mall. Those stores include The North Face, a seller of outdoor apparel and recreational equipment; a Ben Bridge Jeweler Inc. outlet; and two women's clothing boutiques, she says.

West adds that River Park Square currently is working to secure several new tenants that the mall plans to announce next year, some of which don't have a presence in Spokane now. She says the hope is that those new stores will continue attracting more shoppers to the mall throughout next year.

Another indicator of consumer trends is sales taxes collected by the City of Spokane. From January through September of this year—the latest month period for which data is available—the city's sales tax collections were down by about 1 percent compared with the same time last year, says city spokeswoman Marlene Feist.

"For 2011, we had budgeted for an increase of 0.5 percent over actual collections in 2010," Feist says. "We are off pace with that a bit, but we anticipate that we will end the year pretty close to budget."

For 2012, Feist says the city is budgeting again for a 0.5 percent increase in sales tax collections.

Avista's Barcus asserts that one factor that could be affecting consumer's buying decisions here is the convenience and affordability of online shopping.

"Part of what we're observing here is that local sales are fairly flat because our people are astute and it's easier for them to shop on the Net," he says.

Trends in retail property lease activity here also look about the same now as compared with a year ago, but that sector could see modest improvements in 2012, says Marshall Clark, a longtime commercial real estate broker and developer with Spokane-based Clark Pacific Real Estate Co.

"Investors also are buying retail buildings, which shows some confidence in lending and investing—the marketplace is agreeing that things are turning a corner and could be getting better," he says. "I'm optimistic, but everything isn't perfect."