Shoppers spent more time – and money – in malls last month, with many retailers posting on Thursday strong results in what tends to be the final month of their fiscal year. The rich are doing a better job of prying open their wallets, as RetailMetrics, a research firm that covers the industry, reported that luxury retailers such as Saks (SKS) enjoyed larger gains in January than bargain stores. Signs of life in financial markets have made wealthier consumers more willing to spend ... and we all know that a recovery has to start someplace.

Imagine taking the personal connections and interactions that occur every day on the likes of Facebook and Twitter... and bringing them to bear on an education. To a large extent, this hasn't been done yet, but the potential is profound. In a new report by the Center for Community Survey for Student Engagement, two-year programs aren't taking advantage of the tools at their disposal -- plenty of growth is still possible. Kay McClenney, director of the CCSSE, says, "Colleges are not taking advantage of that particular set of tools for making connections with students to the extent that they could."

MasterCard Advisors (NYSE: MA) service SpendingPulse says luxury and electronics sales headed upward last month, in a pleasant deviation from what became the norm all too long ago. A few other product categories posted gains as well – showing stability, if not a recovery. But, at this stage of the game, we'll take what we can get, right?

Luxury sales, not including jewelry, gained 3.4% year-over-year – that's an increase of $891 million. Last September, luxury goods suffered a 9.4% decline. Yet, this category is still below its September 2005 level of $94 million. Jewelry sales gained 1.2% relative to last year, compared to a year-over-year decline of 5.8% a year ago. Compared to apparel sales, this is a profound turn. In September 2008, the clothing category was off 5.7%, and this September, it was down only 2.9%.

The recent media attention has focused on the current "failings" of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT). The company seems to be having trouble pleasing the investment community, its customers, or anyone else for that matter. So where are sales headed? Nowhere for the time being, is my guess -- regardless of its recent near-term results and the depression of its stock price.

Why? There are so many scores of Americans that are "hooked" on Wal-Mart beyond what the perception of "always low prices" means -- and Wal-Mart doesn't always have the cheapest price. The perception is that it does, and that perception drives customers into stores every single day out of habit and other things. Lower sales? Lower projections? Stock dropping? These things do not matter at all to the standard Wal-Mart consumer -- and most likely, they will keep supporting Wal-Mart with their shopping dollars.

How can the largest company in the world get larger? That's a question of epic proportions and there is probably no single answer without lining up some Ph.D. economists and merchandising experts for a week-long session.

It's true that Wal-Mart has made many public missteps in recent years and today's announcement that its head of advertising is leaving after less than a year is yet another. I don' t think Wal-Mart sales are going down, though. But if it's growth you're looking for, it may come slowly.