ELKHART — With only a handful of hours left before Christmas, many Elkhart County residents headed out over the weekend to complete their holiday shopping.

Saturday was an especially busy day at Concord Mall, with vehicles packing the parking lot as people rushed to finish crossing off their gift lists.

Despite national concerns over the looming “fiscal cliff” and the effect those worries might have on holiday shopping, spending in 2012 has been up from last year.

“Stable employment rates, lower gasoline prices and a recovering housing market have all contributed to a holiday shopping season that is on target to meet our original expectations,” said National Retail Federation chief economist Jack Kleinhenz in a release from the organization.

The NRF estimated holiday sales this year would increase 4.1 percent over the 2011 season.

The organization also found that people generally had much of their shopping out of the way early, leaving less rush as Christmas day neared.

Elkhart County residents seemed to fit the NRF’s characterizations of shoppers, as many seemed to be mostly done with their shopping, coming out only to finalize their gift purchases.

Andrea Fry of Elkhart said she had done most of her shopping before the last week before Christmas and came to Concord Mall to find stocking-stuffers.

Osceola resident Jadan Brown also said his shopping was nearly complete, needing only “one or two presents” to round out his list.

But while the fiscal cliff did not seem to influence sales as much as predicted on Saturday, personal financial circumstances did for some.

“Yeah, we’re spending a little less this year,” Brown said. “We just don’t have the money this year.”

Fry, who said production has been down at work, said she shifted her gift-buying strategy as well. “I’m looking for more sales,” she said.

Several shop owners in Elkhart said they hadn’t heard customers talking about the burgeoning economic fears and had enjoyed a good week before the holiday.

“The beginning of the week was far busier than the end,” admitted Mod Closet owner Doni Funkhouser, but added she’d had a pretty steady stream of customers all week.

“We started to pick up more,” in the days leading up to the holiday, said Chris Seminario, a sales clerk at Bethza Professional Makeup Artist Studio. Seminario added that Bethza customers were probably not concerned with the ongoing fiscal cliff talks but were more interested in beauty products and stocking-stuffers.

Funkhouser said she also hadn’t heard talk of the current financial discussions. “People shop here knowing it’s not going to be a price gouge,” Funkhouser noted. She suggested, however, the situation may be different at larger stores with more “big ticket” items.