Santa was good to retailers last Christmas ? shoppers spent $65.2 million in Bermuda stores in December, an increase of 2.5 percent in real terms over 2003.

And for the year, shoppers handed over $592 million, a 6.3 percent ? 2.7 percent after subtracting inflation ? improvement from 2003. The sales movement is very good news for retailers as consumer spending last year showed the largest annual increase since 2000.

Year-on year, December?s retail sales rose 6.3 percent before accounting for inflation. Government attributed the spending boost to buyers taking advantage of holiday discounts and promotions.

Clothing store retailers saw the healthiest sales numbers, with this sector seeing increasing by a healthy 10.3 percent.

In contrast, most other sectors saw single-digit growth. The exception was the motor vehicle sector which year-on year posted a sales drop of 0.8 percent.

There were the same number of shopping days (25) this December as last, but retailers may have benefited from an extra Sunday shopping day.

Reid Street shop owners also said consumers had been able to take advantage of an extended post-Christmas shopping period since Christmas fell on a weekend.

?Many consumers were able to take advantage of time off from work following the holiday when many retail stores ran special discounts,? a Government statement said.

Meanwhile, gas stations saw petrol sales rise in December by 9.3 percent, but that was largely attributed to the worldwide rise in fuel prices.

Building supply companies also saw higher sales in the month, with a nine percent year-on-year increase, attributed to a prolonged boom in housing construction.

For the whole year, building material sales jumped 15.9 percent, likely because of repairs following the hit of Hurricane Fabian in August, 2003 as well as many other construction projects being undertaken.

In December, food stores also saw their receipts rise by 7.6 percent,while liquor stores recorded 6.9 percent growth in the sale of beer, wines and spirits.

All other store types collectively saw sales increase by a marginal 1.3 percent in December.

But within that sector, furniture and marine supply outlets recorded what were said to be ?substantial sales gains? while there was also an increase in the sale of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

Appliance and electronic sales fell 5.5 percent in the month.

Travelling residents came home declaring $5.64 million in overseas purchases in December.

This marked a 1.6 percent increase over the same month in 2003, however this was the weakest year-over-year gain since September, 2003.

The moderate level of spending overseas may be all the more surprising considering that resident travel increased year-on-year by 14.2 percent.

In total, overseas spending in December accounted for eight percent of total retail sales.

This was slightly less than where it stood in December, 2003 when returning residents declarations accounted for 8.3 percent of total sales.