By Holly Menino

EUGENE, Ore. -- Retailers are hoping this holiday season will shed some light at what many hope is the end of a long, dark, and dismal tunnel.

Economists say retailers are anticipating sales to be flat this holiday season, but there's a chance they will see a one or two percent gain over last year's sales, which is far better than a decline. Retailers are trying even harder this year to give customers what they want.

As retailers struggle to ride out this recession, they are counting on this holiday shopping season to give them a solid push out.

On the national scene, online sales are becoming a much larger portion of sales over time.

In Lane County, with a lagging economy and big hits in unemployment, Knight Professor of Social Science Bruce Blonigen doesn't expect retail sales to do as well as the national level.

"I would expect that retail sales might be a little bit below last year's retail sales here locally, that they might not follow those national trends and might not be quite as good," says Blonigen.

He also says despite what economists predict, "We have great history, great notes from last year. We know how many people we need that day, we know from our notes from last year where some opportunities are at. We'll zero in on those for 2009."

Retailers are bound and determined to make sure Black Friday lives up to its reputation as the biggest shopping day of the year.

Blonigen says when it comes to a recession, Oregon falls a lot further in terms of growth and unemployment growth compared to other states. The state though typically tends to rebound a lot quicker.