Black or bleak?

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Stores in the Dan River Region and across the country were filled with holiday shoppers.

Meanwhile, at the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, members determined — once and for all — that the current recession actually began last December.

Talk about tossing a lump of coal into everyone’s Christmas stocking.

This has been a tough year, but people always want to put something under the Christmas tree. A big chunk of annual retail sales will take place over the next few weeks. That’s the way it is every year, and that’s the way it will be this year.

With the recession’s start now officially confirmed, continued strong holiday sales are signs of faith in the future and people’s individual financial circumstances.

“It was the best day we’ve ever had,” reports Michelle Bender, co-owner of Dixie Bags and More on Ridge Street, about Black Friday. “We’re positive and encouraged by it. I think it’s going to be a good season.”

At Piedmont Mall, Belk manager Shane Markham said, “We feel pretty good about the way things went and we look forward to the rest of the Christmas season.”

Once merchants close the books on November and December sales, it will be easy to see how the entire city did during the Christmas shopping season by studying the monthly sales tax reports. That will definitively tell the community if crowded stores translated into strong retail sales.

Those numbers will also give the community its first look at how Coleman MarketPlace affects shopping in Danville. Even if local retail sales are up over last year — which is a strong possibility — will that increase beat inflation? Will the numbers reflect that the city has more stores, or that the recession held down overall retail sales?

It’s too early to tell, of course. For now, the best advice we can offer is for people to shop locally, because the stores they support today will have a chance to be around tomorrow — and into the future. The Dan River Region has never had as many shopping opportunities as it has right now. That fact alone should put shoppers in the holiday spirit.