Earlier this year Bush and the boyz pumped $150 billion into the consumer economy by way of their much-hyped stimulus check package.

Despite Bush’s best efforts the National Retail Federation says US retailers will see their slowest holiday sales growth this year since 2002.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom in the retail world. Stephanie Grimmett says Japan’s Fast Retailing (PINK:FRCOF) has ambitious growth plans in fast-growing emerging markets. FRCOF’s share price is on a down trend. But it will likely bottom soon.

This from Today’s Financial News:

While the rest of the retail world is whimpering, writhing and contracting in pain, Japan’s Fast Retailing (PINK:FRCOF) is shopping around for a good takeover candidate.

Last year, the company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and traded on the Pink Sheets in the U.S., tried to take over Barney’s New York, but that failed attempt at expansion hasn’t thwarted the Japanese megabrand.

Fast Retailing operates the Uniqlo (as in, “unique-clothes,” I think.) chain, a store and clothing line as ubiquitous in Japan as The Gap is in the U.S., although Uniqlo’s design aesthetic is definitely younger, cheaper and more trend-conscious than its U.S. counterpart.

The company has 750 Uniqlo stores in Japan. And Fast Retailing plans to more than double the number of stores outside Japan to 125 outlets in the next two years.

When sales began to slip last year, chief executive Tadashi Yanai, who built Fast Retailing from a small family business, returned to oversee day-to-day operation. And the change was definitely felt in this year’s sales figures. Same-stores sales grew 2.9% in Japan, which is quite a coup in a saturated market with an aging population… not to mention the fact that retail isn’t exactly booming anywhere right now.

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And now that retail in general is suffering, Yanai is shopping the sale aisle for local and international companies that can help push Fast Retailing’s revenues to 1 trillion yen (about $9.5 billion) by 2010.

Yanai is planning for new acquisitions to meet a quarter to a third of that goal. But he’s seen a slow start to his takeover fever. It’s been years since Fast Retailing announced it was on the buyout warpath, and yet, no buyouts have resulted. All we’ve seen is the loss of Barney’s in a bidding war and the failed attempt to snap up Hong Kong’s Giordano International. Still, that $1.4 billion sitting collecting dust is enticing for investors in a market where most of retail is shrinking instead of growing.

Fast Retailing is currently on a down trend as investors cash out their profits from the last six months. But keep an eye on the stock, as soon as you see it find a bottom, consider grabbing shares of your own.

Source: Japan’s Retail Champ: Buy Fast Retailing (FRCOF)