FREEPORT – Despite gloom-and-doom forecasts from the national press about a looming fiscal cliff that threatened the country’s slowly recovering economy, local merchants in Freeport both large and small are reporting a healthy holiday season.

“On the whole, it was up,” said Janet Dutson, the executive director of the FreeportUSA merchant’s association, adding that sales stayed strong even in the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Freeport’s largest merchant, L.L. Bean, had “a very good year,” according to Carolyn Beem, the company’s manager of public affairs.

Beem said L.L. Bean had especially strong sales in outdoor gear and equipment, and sales ticked up as the weather got colder.

“The last bit of snow we had was just fabulous,” she said.

Beem said Bean’s sales were up over the 2011 holiday period, with the company’s Freeport retail store seeing a “huge post-Thanksgiving weekend.”

Many of Freeport’s smaller, locally owned merchants also experienced a good holiday season.

“We did well, (we were) above last year for the month of December,” said Mea Zamora, the manager of Sherman’s Books and Stationery on Main Street in Freeport. “(We did) surprisingly good. Nationwide, they said retail sales were down, but I didn’t feel that was the case here.”

In the age of electronic books, some booksellers have had trouble competing, but, Zamora said, she has seen people sticking with print, and in some cases, returning to it.

“It’s interesting, because we get people, even though they have Kindles, they do go back to print,” she said.

Zamora said the store’s expanded toy and gift selection also helped to drive the strong sales.

“We expanded our Lego selection this year, so I think that helped,” she said. “We looked into our buying patterns and (saw) what was selling better, and we based it on last year, and that’s why we expanded our toy selection.”

Island Treasure Toys on Bow Street also reported a good season.

“The holiday season was great, we had a really good year,” said Kat Moraros, the store manager.

The store opened in May 2011 and Moraros said she believed that more people have learned about the store and have begun to seek it out.

“I think people know that we’re here more than last year,” she said. “Word got out and we’re doing really well.”

Like Sherman’s, Lego sets were a big seller at Island Treasure Toys, and Moraros said that fit in with the store’s mission.

“We’re really into imaginative play,” she said. “That’s what we base our store on, so it’s all lot of non-electronic stuff (that we sell).”

Bridgham and Cook, the British goods store on Main Street in Freeport, has a much different focus from Island Treasure Toys, but one thing is the same – it, too, reports strong sales this holiday season.

“We had very good sales,” said Jay Paulus, the store’s buyer and manager. “We tend to have a very good last-quarter sales. Our business tends to grow from January to December due to the holidays.”

During the holidays, traditional Christmas treats from the British Isles are popular sellers, Paulus said. “It fluctuates, during the holidays,” he said. “We sell a lot of Christmas puddings, cakes, pies, tarts, crackers, all those traditional holiday pieces.”

Colin Lindley, the owner of The Salty Lobster, located underneath Linda Bean’s Maine Kitchen restaurant at the corner of Main and Bow streets, said his store, which opened in June, had a good first holiday season.

“It went pretty decently,” he said. “I was expecting it to be as busy as summer and it wasn’t quite as busy, but it was still pretty good. I was still very happy. It all seemed to come at the tail end, in the last weeks.”

Lindley describes his shop as a “Maine arts and crafts store,” selling made-in-Maine goods. The first few months of the Salty Lobster’s existence proved to be encouraging for Lindley.

“These six months have been awesome. It was enough to encourage me to go on,” he said.

One factor that could have helped to drive sales in town this holiday season was the arrival of the Amtrak Downeaster, bringing shoppers to town from Boston and other towns south of Freeport.

But the service began in November, so local merchants still aren’t sure how much impact the train had on business.

Paulus believed it was a factor.

“We had lots of people tell our clerks and staff that they came upon the train, so I think it was good for business,” he said. “I’m thrilled that the train came to town. It’s great for us here and also to go south, as well. We’re excited about the train.”

Some other merchants weren’t so sure about how much the train helped, as they didn’t have much evidence.

“I had a couple people mention that they come in off the train, but not a lot of people,” Moraros said.

“I can’t really say that I know the train (helped sales),” Zamora said. “It’s hard to say, it’s the first year and we’re coming off some years where (we had slow sales).”

Dutson said the train did bring people into town, but she said the marketing that Amtrak does regarding Freeport drives people to town, even if they don’t ride the train. “It really helps spread the word,” she said.

While having more tourists come in off the train can only be good for Freeport stores, one thing that Lindley would like to see as his business goes forward into 2013 is to have more local customers, as his customer base is skewed toward out-of-towners.

“I would like to get more exposure from people around town because a lot of people know these artists (whose goods I sell),” he said.

Moraros agreed.

“You can’t beat the value of the small business and coming in and having someone help you pick out toys,” Moraros said. “It’s really hands-on here.”

“These six months have been awesome,” says Colin Lindley, the owner of a made-in-Maine crafts store, The Salty Lobster, which opened in June. He and other Freeport retailers say they were pleased with holiday sales this year.