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Led be the high demand for electronics products, the holiday shopping season started off with a bang.

Other categories performing well for the weekend were toys and some clothing items; especially related to winter, with the cold weather starting to be a factor.

"This was a really good start. ... There seemed to be a lot of pent-up demand," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets.

Martin added that sales on Friday reached $10.3 billion, an increase of 8.3 percent over last year. Sales for Friday and Saturday combined grew to $16.4 billion, a 7.2 percent increase from last years' same period.

That was good news, as expectations were for about a 5 percent increase in sales for the opening holiday weekend.

For Internet sales on Friday, comScore said there was a 22 percent growth over last year. The Internet research firm also said it projects over $700 million on what is becoming known as "cyber Monday," the Internet's official holiday season launch date.

Mall operators also said sales had increased over last year, as some reported increases of 2.5 percent to the high single digits for mall sales for the weekend.

The major concern now is if this can continue, or if shoppers are in a bargain and shopping purpose mode, where discounts and very specific items are purchased.

While they still reiterate the concerns about rising energy prices and the housing problems, it's not really known if they'll cut back in reality, or are just parroting the news they have heard, while still spending.

There's enough uncertainty to still make retailers nervous. They won't relax until the numbers come in after the holidays.

I think sales will come in ok for the season, it's lower margins and earnings that will come under pressure.

With the problems inherent in the overall economy, this start to the shopping season still has to be viewed as very positive.