Black Friday and the entire weekend after Thanksgiving was better than retailers had anticipated, but many are afraid it won’t last through the holiday season.

Catharine Pangratz, group marketing director at Hamilton Place mall, said the Thanksgiving weekend was great for retailers, but it is not necessarily an indication that the entire Christmas shopping season will be booming.

“We are forecasting a more moderate holiday season, but we were very happy with the Thanksgiving weekend traffic and sales,” Ms. Pangratz said.

However, Chris Lykins, manager of the Learning Express toy store on the North Shore, said he is optimistic that momentum built up over the weekend will continue through Christmas.

“We have so many people coming in daily, asking questions, looking for great toys,” he said.

According to the National Retail Federation, 172 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites over the Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.

Shoppers also are spending more money this year, the federation said. Each consumer spent an average of $372.57 this weekend compared to $347.55 last year, the federation reported.

Internet sales also are up this year with PayPal, an e-commerce payment company, reporting that sales increased 26 percent this Black Friday over last year.

Carol Grist, store manager of A Novel Idea on Frazier Avenue on the North Shore, said she was encouraged by the number of Friday shoppers, but Saturday’s traffic was somewhat lighter. She attributed the lighter traffic to the weather.

She said she is unsure if there were more or less shoppers than last year, but she is hopeful that business picks up through Christmas.

Jamie Mosey, member of the St. Elmo Merchants Association and owner of Umbra Essence Candles and Gifts, said she didn’t open until December 2007, so this was her first Black Friday.

“It was much more than we expected,” she said.

Ms. Mosley said her store was “slammed” Friday morning but was fairly quiet the rest of the day. She said the afternoon lull was no cause for concern.

“I expect it to be really good (all the way up to Christmas),” Ms. Mosley said.

But Scott Krugman, spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said that isn’t likely. The current economic situation definitely will affect spending, he said.

“We are seeing a crisis of confidence from consumers,” Mr. Krugman said. “There is a lot of uncertainty, and that creates somewhat of a fear factor. Based on that, it makes it more difficult to get them to loosen their purse strings and spend.”

There are five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year than last, but Ms. Pangratz and Mr. Krugman agreed that fewer days will have little impact.

Mr. Krugman said the economy will be a much bigger drain on shoppers than the calendar.

“Overall, I think it is going to be very difficult to maintain this momentum we saw over the Black Friday weekend,” he said. “I think you will see things level out and then pick up towards the end.”