The forecasts were for doom and gloom this holiday season due to high fuel prices and an uncertain economy that made shoppers reluctant to open their pocketbooks.

And some economists estimated that Los Angeles sales were harder hit than the rest of the U.S. because of the impact the writers strike and the housing crisis had on the area.

Although sales rose only about 2.5 percent pre-Christmas nationwide over last year and didn’t increase drastically with the post-Christmas sales push, not all local retailers are bemoaning the season those offering deep discounts say they did well.

Sales showed up earlier and prices were lower than usual this season at Glendale Galleria, said Janet Lafevre, senior director of marketing for the more than 400-store shopping center.

Though some of its stores, such as Target, posted lower than expected holiday sales nationwide, Glendale Galleria was busy for most of the season, Lafevre said.

“Sales weren’t necessarily 25 percent, they were 30 percent to entice people on a few key items,” she said. There were hundreds of events on key days around the holidays to attract shoppers. JC Penney, for example, gave out free snow globes to the first 1,000 people that passed through the doors one morning.

The Citadel Outlet Center saw steady crowds before and after the season.

“We were pretty busy most of the time,” said Jess Irwin, marketing director for the outlet center. “We didn’t notice slowing like the rest of the world in that sense. We are an outlet center and people are looking for deals. You can get more for your money here.”

Sales were up at the outlets, where prices are already 30 to 70 percent off the original. On top of that, stores were advertising an additional 40 to 50 percent off to draw in customers, Irwin said.

The strategy seems to have worked. In post-Christmas sales, the Outlet saw some of its largest crowds of the season, Irwin said. In the week after Christmas, some stores experienced double-digit increases in sales over last year, she added. Shoes and clothing were top sellers in post-Christmas sales, as people focused on buying for themselves.

Gift cards, which aren’t counted by stores as sales until they are redeemed, may put a positive twist on the holiday season, according to some analysts.

Malibu-based Jakks Pacific Inc., a maker of a variety of toys that distributes to stores nationwide, is hoping that’s true.

The company focused heavily on replenishing the stock of Jakks toys to stores around the country immediately after Christmas in order to capture a share of after-Christmas shopping, especially gift-card spending, said Genna Rosenberg, the senior vice president for corporate communications at the company.

She said that the company’s sales fared well over the holidays in spite of market uncertainties including those associated with several mass recalls of toys from China by rival Mattel.

Their Hannah Montana-themed toys and their EyeClops Bionic Eye games, both of which made hottest toys lists, were high points of the season, Rosenberg said.

“There are elements of concern over consumer buying patterns this year, but the popularity of many of the toys within our lines make up for that,” Rosenberg said.