December snowstorms chimed a less-than-merry final note to holiday shopping.

Results varied widely among metro-area shopping centers though, with some going into December down and others seeing wild jumps after an autumn full of grand openings.

Sales tax collections in the last two months of 2006 fell at Cherry Creek North and Cherry Creek Shopping Center, though the exact figures may be revised, the city's treasury office said Friday.

A store-by-store count of Cherry Creek Shopping Center's top-grossing retailers shows sales were up about 1 percent in November before falling about 6 percent the next month, a spokesman said.

The mall's drop in December makes sense, since snowstorms forced the center to close on three days, General Manager Nick LeMasters said.

It's possible that store closures, including Tower Records - which shut all its U.S. stores after a bankruptcy- related liquidation - affected overall collections, as well, he said.

Across First Avenue in Cherry Creek North, there may have been a clearer correlation between filled stores and filled coffers.

Sales tax collections in the district dropped in November and December, city records show. On Dec. 31, the district's vacancy rate stood at 7.6 percent, up from 5.6 percent a year earlier, Executive Director Julie Bender said.

She said there is a silver lining.

"If you look at this property by property, the major factor is the amount of redevelopment," she said, adding that much of the district's empty property is either under construction or slated for construction.

At some centers the numbers came in about where expected. At Aspen Grove, an outdoor lifestyle center in Littleton, sales were up 6 percent in November, then down 9 percent for December.

That drop is purely due to the snowstorms, General Manager Jill Kobe said.

Two of the area's large enclosed malls also saw sales tax revenue decrease over the previous holiday season.

At Broomfield's FlatIron Crossing, sales tax collections dropped 2 percent in November and 1 percent in December, not huge given that the center also closed during the snowstorms.

At Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree, collections dropped 1 percent in November and 12 percent in December.

Weather-related closures and a subsequent lack of inventory as stores waited for snow-delayed deliveries accounted for much of the December drop, said General Manager Pam Schenck.

November's smaller decline is mostly due to the loss of the 18,000-square-foot Musicland store, which closed in May 2006, she said.

Much of the overall decline is obviously attributable to snow.

But for some there's also the question of new competition. The area added more than 3 million square feet of new stores at outdoor lifestyle centers last year, including phase three of Southlands in Aurora, where sales tax rose 98 percent in December.

Newer centers generally fared well, although it's impossible to know how much better they might have done if the snowstorms hadn't hit.

At Belmar in Lakewood, sales tax collections shot up 55 percent in November, a jump attributable, at least in part, to the Whole Foods Market that opened in December 2005.

December sales tax collections rose 12 percent at the outdoor center despite the snow.

"I really think it's a combination of factors," said marketing director MC Genova. "We have more retailers, restaurants and more people living here. It's becoming a neighborhood and people are discovering it."

In 2006, the center added more than 46,000 square feet of retail and has 25,000 square feet under construction, she said. Office space is 100 percent full, while 249 residences are occupied and 510 are under construction.

In Aurora, Southlands debuted its most touted feature - a Main Street section with smaller retailers in a pedestrian- friendly setting - in October.

That not only pushed overall sales from the new stores but also boosted revenue at big-box stores open about three years, said Joe Bellio, principal of Southlands developer Alberta Development Partners.

"Sam's and Wal-Mart were up a considerable amount over the holidays," Bellio said. "People came to see the center and they discovered (all of) Southlands."

It likely will take at least a full year's worth of data to tell whether the new centers have pulled significant shopping dollars from existing centers, some experts say.

Meanwhile, established regional centers see some advantages.

"I think that sales are always impacted by competition," said Park Meadows' Schenck. "However, if you take a look at what retail competition opened in 2006, while it was some duplication, most are still not stores of the size and magnitude of Park Meadows."

forgrievej@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5191

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