Here’s a look at five surprises that took place over a shopping weekend that while marred by violence, was a good one overall for retailers.

A big Thanksgiving Weekend Increase

Gas prices might be up, but consumers seemed undeterred from spending. Drawn in by deep discounts and early store openings over Thanksgiving weekend, retail sales were up 16.7 percent over the same four-day period a year ago to $52.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. People spent an average of $398.62 over the four days, up significantly from $365.34 last year, the NRF said.

Turkey, Stuffing, Shopping?

Thanksgiving remains a day to get together with family and friends to feast, but it's also increasingly becoming a day to shop. According to IBM Coremetrics fourth annual Black Friday Benchmark, Thanksgiving 2011 online sales were up 39 percent over Thanksgiving 2010. The NRF reported that 28.7 million people shopped online and at stores on Thanksgiving Day, up from 22.2 million last year. What’s more, according to Responsys, 75 percent of major retailers sent promotional emails on Thanksgiving Day, up from 60 percent in 2010 and 45 percent in 2009.

Department Store Coup

Online sales for department stores, spurred by deals and promotions, were up 59 percent on Black Friday compared to last year. That’s according to IBM Coremetrics fourth annual Black Friday Benchmark which tracks more than a million transactions a day, analyzing terabytes of raw data from 500 retailers nationwide.

Going shopping on Facebook

According to online comparison shopping site Nextag, 5 percent of shoppers spent Black Friday doing their shopping on Facebook.

Mobile Shopping

PayPal saw a six-fold (516 percent) increase in global mobile payment volume on Black Friday 2011 compared to Black Friday 2010. During the two-day period of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Usablenet, which powers the mobile sites for more than 100 top U.S. retailers including JCPenney, Aeropostale, PacSun and REI, said mobile traffic was up 160 percent from the same period in 2010 with mobile usage heavier on Thanksgiving day than Black Friday, as consumers used mobile devices to find the deals online Thursday.