The National Retail Federation today released its forecast for the upcoming 2007 holiday season, predicting the slowest growth in sales in five years.
The NRF foresees sales rising 4.0 percent to $474.5 billion, below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent and the slowest holiday sales growth since 2002, when sales rose 1.3 percent.
"Retailers are in for a somewhat challenging holiday season as consumers are faced with numerous economic obstacles," said NRF chief economist Rosalind Wells. "With the weak housing market and current credit crunch, consumers will be forced to be more prudent with their holiday spending."
Luxury retailers once again appear to be a bright spot as their customers have demonstrated the ability to maintain high levels of spending.
"Clearly, the retailers most affected by the economy will be those catering to the low- to middle-income consumer. This could spell trouble for discounters and some department stores whose shoppers may be looking to trade down," the NRF stated today.
The NRF, which is based in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. announced today that a special meeting of its shareholders will be held on Thursday, Oct. 25, to vote upon its proposal to spin off its Metavante Corp. subsidiary into an independent public company.
The meeting will take place at 10 a.m. at Marshall & Ilsley's headquarters in downtown Milwaukee at 770 N. Water St.
Holders of record of Marshall & Ilsley's common stock as of Sept. 19, the record date for the special meeting, are entitled to notice of and to vote at the special meeting.
Brown Deer-based Metavante, a banking technology company, has an estimated value of $4.25 billion. The transaction is expected to reap about $1.7 billion in new revenue for Marshall & Ilsley, and that additional capital could be used to help the parent company of M&I Bank continue to acquire other banks.
Marshall & Ilsley received a favorable private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service concerning the transaction on Sept. 12. In addition, the applicable Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period expired on July 24.
Assuming the satisfaction of all remaining closing conditions, Marshall & Ilsley expects to complete the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The Marshall & Ilsley board of directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders vote to approve the transaction.

The Russ Darrow Automotive Group has acquired the Renner Kia and Mitsubishi franchises of Wauwatosa
The moves strengthen Darrow's position as the No. 1 Kia dealer in Wisconsin. Mitsubishi is a new brand for the Darrow family, which now has 15 separate franchises among its 18 dealership locations.
The Renner Kia and Mitsubishi franchises had been operational on North Mayfair Road. Darrow announced that both of the newly-acquired Kia and Mitsubishi franchises will be relocated into its existing Darrow dealership location at 1901 N. Mayfair Road, also in Wauwatosa.
"We are excited about this acquisition of another Kia franchise, which has been proven to be a strong brand for us," said Russ Darrow, chairman and chief executive officer of the Russ Darrow Automotive Group. "And landing our first Mitsubishi franchise gives us a tremendous opportunity to sell the full line o f the high-quality, popular Mitsubishi autos, SUVs, the Mitsubishi Raider truck and the super sporty Eclipse Spyder as well. We look forward to having our customers visit our expanded Darrow Kia/Mitsubishi dealership."
The Russ Darrow Automotive Group, headquartered in Menomonee Falls, also operates a nationwide fleet and leasing business and has its own in-house financing company.

Ambius, the world's leading interior landscaping company, has chosen the scenting and indoor air quality technology of Wauwatosa-based Prolitec Inc. for its scent-related interior services.
Prolitec moved its world headquarters to the Milwaukee County Research Park at 10201 Innovation Drive from Paris, France, in 2005.
Prolitec specializes in aerobiology, indoor air quality and scent media technology. It services several thousand clients around the world. The company's applications include odor remediation, ambient scenting, product advertising, restroom hygiene, aromatherapy and performance, interior disinfection and chemical-bio defense.
The new ambient scenting services, which Ambius will launch across Europe later this month, include the use of scent to promote scented products at the point of sale; scent branding services to help major brands create and deploy scent signatures; performance scenting to reduce stress and create more productive office and factory environments; and odor remediation.
The range of potential customers includes hotels, casinos, supermarkets, offices, retailers and bar and pub groups.
Ambius enhances the environment of offices and other commercial spaces with plants, corporate art and other elements addressing all five senses.
"We chose Prolitec because they are the clear technology leader in the field," said Jeff Mariola, managing director of Ambius. "Prolitec is unique because it allows us to create a uniform hypoallergenic scent effect in any interior space from very small to very large. The sense of smell is arguably our most powerful. The discrete use of scent can transform and enhance the human experience of a space particularly when artfully combined with visual elements and themes."
"We are pleased to receive this technology endorsement and to play a key role in the Ambius mission," said Richard Weening, chief executive officer of Prolitec. "Ambius enjoys thousands of trusted client relationships in the U.K. and Europe who will now be given the opportunity to use scent as well as visual elements to enhance their environments."
London-based Ambius is a division of Rentokil Initial Plc, one of the largest business services companies in the world.

Kohl's Corp. reported today that its board of directors has authorized a $2.5 billion stock share repurchase program.
The Menomonee Falls-based department store chain expects to execute the share repurchase program primarily in open market transactions, subject to market conditions, and expects to complete the program over the next three years.
Funding for the new program will come from operating cash flow as well as incremental debt financing.
Larry Montgomery, Kohl's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "The share repurchase program reflects our strong balance sheet, confidence in our long-term growth and our commitment to returning value to shareholders. We look forward to updating the investment community on our future plans at our upcoming investor conference on Oct. 2, in Indianapolis."

The Wisconsin office of the World Trade Center and the Spirit of Milwaukee have helped to arrange a visit by The Honorable Li Zhanshu, vice-governor of the Heilongjiang Province in China and deputy secretary of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee.
Li Zhanshu will come to Milwaukee on Friday to meet with several company representatives who currently conduct business in or are looking to conduct business in his province. He will explore the possibility of cultural and educational exchanges between Wisconsin and Heilongjiang, and he will study Wisconsin dairy technology as part of a $500 million, five-year improvement plan for his province's dairy industry.
"Our goal is to continue to build on relationships already established for the benefit of the people, companies and educational institutions in both our regions," said Christian Bartley, chief executive officer of World Trade Center Wisconsin. "We are honored that the vice-governor has taken the time and placed significant value on coming to visit Wisconsin to meet with business, community and government leaders."
Spirit of Milwaukee has been working toward creating connections in music and the arts between the two regions.
"The more we know about each other and understand our fundamental backgrounds, the better we can live, work, learn and play together," said Dean Amhaus, president of the Spirit of Milwaukee.
Former Milwaukee business executive Einar Tangen currently lives in Beijing and is helping Chinese businesses that are interested in the United States market. Tangen's work led directly to the visit of the vice-governor.
After meetings in Milwaukee, vice-governor Li will travel to Madison to meet with Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle who recently returned from a visit to China.

Construction has begun on Arbor Gate, a $55 million office and retail project south of the Beltline and east of Todd Drive in Madison that will replace a strip of aging retail buildings that have been torn down. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com.

John Scheibel says the Healthy Wisconsin reform plan would not be so healthy for his company, and he's got some interesting alternative ideas in today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index gained another 2.40 points to close at 186.96 Wednesday, but the rally generated by the Federal Reserve Bank's interest rate reduction this week ran out of steam this morning, as stocks drifted back into the red. The largest local decliners this morning were Joy Global Inc. (down $1.21 to $47.75) and Kohl's Corp. (down $1.11 to $58.21). Only a handful of local stocks gained ground this morning, led by Strattec Security Corp. (up $2.25 to $48.32) and Weyco Group Inc. (up $1.40 to $33.00). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.