Independent retailers from Thousand Oaks to Paso Robles are breathing a sigh of relief as they tabulate their Black Friday sales results.

The traditional post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy never quite materialized for tri-county merchants — who mostly managed to break even despite big box competition and cautious consumers — but it could have been worse.

A report from the National Retail Federation expects sales to drop 1 percent this holiday season, but the forecast looks sunnier for independent store owners.

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