Some big Wisconsin’s department stores are busier

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Some of Wisconsin’s largest department stores are getting busier, in another sign that the recession is easing up.

Kohl’s of Menomonee Falls reported a 5.5 percent sales increase from last September in stores open at least a year.

That’s much better than the decline of 0.6 percent projected by analysts from Retail Metrics.

Bon-Ton Stores, which owns Younkers, Herberger’s, Elder-Beerman and Boston Stores, had a 4.8 percent sales drop, better than the projected decline of 7 percent.

Ignatius Smetek, who heads a Milwaukee capital management firm, says the Gross Domestic Product will show an improvement for the third quarter. And he expects widespread revenue growth for October-December.

But Smetek and other analysts also say things could look much rosier than they really are.

That’s because September’s numbers are the first to be compared to last year’s economic meltdown which hit about this time in 2008.

Smetek says any business activity will have easy comparisons for the next six months.

Many experts say the economy will turn around, but at a low level. A more timely comparison of growth came yesterday, when the U.S. Labor Department said new unemployment claims went down 33,000 from the previous week, to their lowest levels since January.

Tags: department stores, wisconsin, sales, recession