The winners and losers of the annual battle for Britain’s high street are starting to emerge.
Retailers traditionally make the majority of their cash in the run-up to Christmas, so it is little wonder when things descend into a rather unedifying bunfight as the biggest shopping splurge of the year kicks into gear.
Capture the imagination of the customer and you find yourself in clover miss the boat and you quickly find yourself holed below the waterline, in some cases fatally.
And as the Christmas 2013 totals are totted up, there have been some pretty spectacular triumphs and some even more spectacular tragedies.
When all is said and done, retail performance of the year will likely go to high street stalwart Next.
Not content with whipping the opposition at the tills, the retailer was so excited that it told the world it literally had more cash than it knew what to do with.
Cue special dividends all round and the spreading of Cheshire cat-like grins across the face of executives and investors alike.
Other notable mentions go to supposed takeover target House of Fraser and to John Lewis, which both also enjoyed a festive season to remember.
However, for others, the past quarter will have been one of pain and will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.
So far and it will take something unbelievable to top it the unwanted award for the stand-out Christmas nightmare of 2013 goes to Debenhams.
As others looked forward to popping the Champagne corks to toast a new year, the department store giant found its drinks cupboard bare.
There was no way of disguising what had happened.
They simply had to hold their hands up to an unmitigated sales disaster and take their medicine as the share price plummeted, knocking almost £125 million off the company’s market value in a single session.
If experience of the last five years is anything to go by, Debenhams will not be alone in suffering new year agony.
And that is where my real concern lies.
Large companies like Debenhams may have the financial firepower to hit back from difficult situations but for hundreds of independents up and down the UK there will be only bleak times ahead if the tills did not ring at Christmas.
Small and medium-sized retailers are the bedrock of the UK economy and will play a role at least as large as the big names in the UK’s ultimate economic recovery.
They are vital to the health and vibrancy of the high street and each boarded up shop unit masks a story of personal pain and livelihood lost.
As the Christmas bubble fades, the long hard slog for independent retailers begins again and for many it will be case of “use them or lose them”.
My New Year message to all readers would be think before you shop and offer support to the independent sector wherever possible.