Good news for retailers adds up to parking hassles for shoppers.

If you find yourself circling the parking lot looking for a space at a local shopping mall this coming weekend - the last before Christmas - you can take solace in two things:

You're not alone - and it's a good indication that the economy has made a comeback.

While a lack of spaces in a shopping center's parking lot is always a good "problem" for the center's retailers, it can mean frustration for shoppers, who may not come back for a follow-up shopping trip.

"When we know a mall is doing very well is when people are circling a lot looking for a parking space. You know then that people are really in that mall," said Richard Giss, a partner in the trade retail services group at Deloitte & Touche LLP.

But Giss added that if customers have a hard time finding a space during their first holiday season visit to the mall, they may not make a second.

"Where it really impacts them is when they need to go a second time. They will put a lot of thought into that," he said.

Anne Hoadley, who was shopping at the Brookstone gadget store at the Century City Shopping Center & Marketplace last week, agreed with the premise.

She said she didn't return to the Beverly Center to shop because of parking problems she experienced there last year.

But Century City is not proving to be much of a relief.

Hoadley, who lives in West L.A., said that when she tried to park at Century City mall on a recent Saturday, she circled the full garage for so long that she turned her car over to a valet.

Indeed, valet parking is one way malls seek to minimize the hassle for shoppers who hate to circle the parking areas.

The Century City Shopping Center has 2,933 spaces in two underground levels - hardly enough to handle the 30,000 to 50,000 customers who visit the complex on weekend days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Not helping is the recent arrival of Bloomingdale's to the center, bringing with it a throng of additional shoppers.

Even so, Linda Frost, the center's marketing manager, insists that parking there is no worse than at other local malls. "Parking is difficult everywhere once you get past Thanksgiving," she said.

At the Northridge Fashion Center, which has 7,496 spaces for its estimated 75,000 customers each weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas, free valet parking is reserved for the mall's "Select Shopper Club" members (free to anyone who signs up at the mall), while all others pay $3.

But even when it is free, valet parking is not the perfect solution, Giss said.

"By having a valet, you absolutely remove the concern that you won't have a parking place, but a lot of people don't like handing their keys over to somebody," Giss said.

So several centers, including Century City and Glendale Galleria, also offer off-site parking with shuttles to and from the mall during the holidays.

Several malls have hired Department of Transportation workers and Los Angeles Police Department Explorer Scouts to direct traffic and help shoppers find spaces.

But for some shoppers, such as Rita Wattson, who was shopping at the Century City Macy's last week, the solution is much easier. "I don't like the crowds, so I come during the week," she said.