Jack Robinson is editor of The Sacramento Business Journal. He says a big winner among shopping centers in the region will be the Westfield Galleria mall in Roseville.

"Part of that is because it's reopened portions of the mall that were closed a year ago by an arson fire. And it's part of our region with high incomes and a lot of households with disposable cash. A couple of others - Fountains at Roseville and Palladio at Broadstone in Folsom - are both even newer shopping centers that are likely to do well because of the surrounding demographics."

Robinson says the losers are likely to be shopping centers that have a lot of empty storefronts, or are in neighborhoods with high unemployment numbers.  

The National Retail Federation expects sales to be up nearly three-percent this year, which isn't as strong as last year, but still considered respectable.