The economic state would presumingly predict low day-after Christmas sales revenue this year, but local business owners say they’ve seen moderate results as the year closes out, and some tout sales were “better than expected.”

Ashley’s Consignment Shop Owner Carmi Ridley said she “expected business to be dead” the day after Christmas, but much to her relief, customers resumed their shopping through the assortment of name-brand handbags, clothes and shoes in search for unbeatable bargains.

“We’ve been doing pretty good over the holidays, and I guess business has been steady since then because more people are shopping local to save money,” she said.

She launched her Tallapoosa business around this time last year, and she hopes this year’s results will set the precedent for day-after sales in the future.

Meanwhile, Johnny Cantrell says he has generated better day-after sales revenue in the past at his long-time downtown Bremen business, Cantrell Jewelers, but the numbers he has tallied so far prove that sales have been “fairly well.”

“It wasn’t as big as it has been, but we did fairly well. Just normal sales the day after and the day before Christmas – no special sales,” he said.

Before and after holiday sales is a big money-generator for the Peebles department store in Bremen; however, this year, the numbers fell slightly shorter than anticipated, according to the store’s keyholder Don Freck. Meanwhile, Freck did note improvements compared to last year’s holiday sales season.

“We might not have made what we were expecting, but we did better than we did last year,” he said. “Wednesday, Dec. 23, was better than Christmas Eve, and Saturday after Christmas was pretty good in sales, in spite of the returns.”

Freck attributed the turnout to customers’ optimism about the end of the recession and a desire to stock up on extra gifts for an affordable cost. He said this year customers were especially satisfied with prices on jewelry and fragrances.

“We were overall pleased, and after more than 30 years in the retail business, the day-after shopping business was a delightful experience,” he said.