Retail sales, adjusted for seasonal variation, rose almost 5 percent in January compared to a year earlier, according to advanced estimates from the Census Bureau.
Americans spent $355 billion in January, according to the bureau, which is less than a 1 percent increase from a month earlier when adjusted for the holiday shopping season.
Total sales from November 2009 to January 2010 also increased by about 4.3 percent compared to the same time period last year.
Non-store retail sales jumped more than 12 percent compared to a year ago while gasoline same store sales increased almost 30 percent.
