Preparing to find the best deals on Black Friday next week?

After three-straight years of trimming their holiday budgets, Twin Cities shoppers have reversed course, according to data collected in the ninth annual University of St. Thomas study released today of Twin Cities holiday shopping trends.

The University of St. Thomas Holiday Spending Sentiment Survey was conducted in late October and is designed to measure how much Twin Cities shoppers think they will spend for holiday gifts, what they will spend it on, and where they will spend it. The research is conducted by Dr. Lorman Lundsten, Dr. Dave Brennan and Dr. John Sailors at St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business.

According to the survey, household spending for holiday gifts is predicted to be 6.8 percent more in the Twin Cities this year than in 2009.  This marks the first year since 2006 that holiday shoppers predicted they will spend more rather than less.

This year’s predicted household spending for holiday gifts, $680, compares to last year’s $637, which was the lowest since St. Thomas began the study in 2002. The highest predicted outlay, $796, was in 2004. Read the full report in the Bulletin »