Report: Tampa Bay shoppers are spending more so far this holiday season

Despite a pandemic and high unemployment rates for much of the year, Tampa Bay residents are spending more so far this holiday season. A report from Mastercard looked at year-over-year growth in consumer spending in the 20 most populated cities in the U.S. between October 2019 and 2020. Tampa Bay, listed as Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota) on the report, had the fourth largest year-over-year growth with consumers spending 4.6 percent more than last year. Only Atlanta, Houston, Texas and the Orlando…