As expected, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one of the stragglers, falling short of Wall Street's expectations and warning about its fourth-quarter profits.

As stores reported their monthly results, the winners included Target Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Nordstrom Inc., while Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Gap Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and Kohl's Corp. were among the other disappointments.

It was clear that consumers, mindful of the rising costs of energy and borrowing money, were particularly cautious during the holidays.

In Utah, retailers big and small reported decent results, although there were pockets of disappointment.

D. Grant, a locally owned men's clothing store in Salt Lake City, experienced a strong holiday period. The high-end retailer had a 5 percent increase in sales in December from the same month in 2004, according to store manager Sky Grant.

"Our business has been terrific. We hope that it continues going in that direction."

RC Willey met its holiday projections with a 10 percent increase in December sales from the same month the previous year, according to president Jeff Child.

South Towne Center also had a healthy turnout of holiday shoppers. The mall hasn't crunched its December numbers yet, but November sales - excluding department stores - were up more than 10 percent from November 2004, according to senior property manager Celeste Neil.

Traffic at the mall between Thanksgiving and the end of December also increased by more than 10 percent from the previous year, Neil said. During that period, South Towne had close to 1 million visitors and sold $1 million in mall gift cards - a 40 percent sales increase from 2004.

"We had a very strong holiday season," Neil said. November "was the strongest month of the year yet."

On the other end of the spectrum, Overstock.com reported last week that its holiday sales were less than expected. The Salt Lake City-based online retailer predicts 2005 revenue growth of 60 percent to 100 percent, but a net income loss for the year.

"We've had a nice holiday season, just not as nice a season as we've had in the past or as I'd hoped for," President Patrick Byrne told The Tribune last week. "We spent a few dollars more than we had hoped, but in my experience, over time, those dollars will pay large dividends."

Retailers could face a tougher environment over the next couple of months because higher heating bills and rising interest rates are expected to curb consumer spending.

One potential bright spot is a steadily improving job market, whose gradual recovery helped boost consumer confidence last month. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in more than five years last week. That provided more data that the labor market is rebounding from the effects of a string of devastating hurricanes.

''As long as people can find the right merchandise, have a job and borrow a little bit, they are going to go shopping,'' said Richard Hastings, an analyst at Bernard Sands LLC, who was positive about consumer spending. ''Overall, the holiday season was good. Retailers who had it all nailed down were the winners.''

After an uneven start to the holiday season, many retailers struggled in December as shoppers appeared to prolong their buying even later than in the past. The exceptions were those selling hot consumer electronics items like Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, digital cameras and digital music players, all of which were snapped up by shoppers early in the season.

Gift card sales also pushed December business into January or even later; gift card sales are only recorded when they are redeemed.

Another factor that depressed December figures was robust online spending, which is excluded from retailers' same-store sales. According to comScore Networks, online spending excluding travel rose a better-than-expected 25 percent to $19.6 billion from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, compared to the year-ago period.

Wal-Mart, which was more aggressive with its discounting and marketing this year than last year, still disappointed, posting a slim 2.2 percent gain in same-store sales. The results, the weakest December performance since 2000, missed the 2.4 percent estimate from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Total sales rose 6.3 percent.

Wal-Mart also said its fourth-quarter profits would come in at the low end of expectations.

Rival Target, which had a slow start to the holiday season, rebounded with a 4.7 percent gain in same-store sales in December, better than the 4.6 percent estimate. Total sales rose 11.6 percent.