Retailers invigorated by the Black Friday weekend in southeastern Connecticut said Monday the seasonal kickoff brought in more shoppers and, in many cases, more money than last year.

At Olde Mistick Village, three stores owned by Suzanne Lane beat expectations: the Gray Goose Cookery, Gray Goose II and Elizabeth & Harriet, a shop featuring handcrafted Americana.

"Our sales were up over last year at all three stores for the whole weekend," Lane said. "It just tells me we're carrying stuff that people want, and that's because we listen to our customers and stock what they want or need."

As Cyber Monday took up where Black Friday weekend left off, the region appeared to buck a nationwide trend. For most of the country, weekend spending declined compared with last year, despite an increase in traffic, according to Washington-based National Retail Federation.

With people still struggling in an economy rife with unemployment, the overall decline in spending was not surprising, NRF spokeswoman Kathy Grannis said.

"More people spent less," Grannis said.

"Not for us," countered Charles Chappelle, manager of Bed, Bath and Beyond at the Crystal Mall in Waterford. "We did twice as much in sales as we did last year for the whole weekend."

Chappelle believes the economy is recovering.

"Also, we're a destination. Our customer service is far superior (to) the retail norm," he said. "People get that."

Keurig and Tassimo pod coffee makers priced at $129 to $199 were hot sellers, Chappelle said, especially when coupled with a 20-percent off coupon offered between 5 and 10 a.m.

At K&M Sports at the mall, promotions meant breaking even or posting only a small profit, when owner Sam Romanella offered up to 60 percent off for winter sports jackets to "get people noticing us." The store moved to the Waterford mall from Norwich on Halloween.

"We saw sales go up on Friday, settle down on Saturday and stay the same on Sunday," he said. "I'd rather charge less and do more volume than charge more and see people walk out unhappy."

At the mall, "Black Friday was driven by promotions," said Mall Manager Karen Tarantino. "We had two stores that had 50 percent off the entire store - Aeropostale and New York & Co. That definitely caught the customer's attention. If you had big displays, that's what customers were looking for. They were looking for deals."

Benny's of Smithfield, R.I., which has 32 stores in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including Waterford and Groton outlets, could not say whether revenue was up or down, but noted that unique bargains proved wildly popular.

A $4 glove compartment tool kit sold for 88 cents, said Benny's spokesman Arnold Bromberg. Battery-operated window candles cost a mere 75 cents. Book cases went for $10, and 20 AA batteries could be had for $6.88. All of those items sold well, he said.

"We tried to have a little different twist on different items, and people do respond to that," Bromberg said.

Target, Toys "R" Us and other large national retailers said revenue results are proprietary and in some cases the companies don't distinguish between online and bricks-and-mortar sales.

As for the reason behind national reports of a drop in sales, Grannis cited deeper discounts.

"A lot of the shoppers that were out were only buying small to mid-priced gifts," she said. "Toys and small appliances were heavily discounted. So if you're buying $8 toys and $3 toasters, your expenditures will come down as well. But we knew people were cutting back on spending this year."

Tim Phelan, president of the Hartford-based Connecticut Retail Management Association, said he would not know until the end of the week how his members made out, but believes based on some conversations he's had that the holiday shopping season got off to a good start. The trade group has 350 members representing more than 2,000 stores.

Phelan said that online sales are unfair to storeowners who have to pay sales tax.

But Grannis noted that cyber sales only accounted for 5 percent of total sales last year, though that's projected to rise by 1 percent this year.

"What we're hearing is, retailers don't care where people shop as long as they shop with them," she said. "Some retailers have posted tremendous increases in e-commerce this year while their bricks-and-mortar stores posted only modest increases. But at the end of the day it goes to their bottom line."