Kurt Salmon personally set the tone for the culture.

On 1 January 2011, KSA merged with Ineum Consulting, another consultancy of MCG, to form Kurt Salmon.

"Big companies were modernizing, but a lot of small ones couldn't afford it," said Mr. Silva of Kurt Salmon.

"What they are doing is obviously not moving the needle," said Walter Levy, a retail expert with Kurt Salmon & Associates.

In a recent survey by Kurt Salmon of 1,700 randomly chosen consumers, 64 percent said they had heard of Arizona, compared with 32 percent in 1994.

"Three and a half percent this year would have translated to 5 to 6 percentage growth at last year's prices," said Philip Kowalczyk, a managing director at Kurt Salmon.

"This is a great brand name for Sears to associate with," said John Champion, a retail consultant with Kurt Salmon & Associates in Atlanta.

Removing a Link "Private label has to have doubled in the last five or six years," said E. Bernard Wolford, a principal in Kurt Salmon.

The company officially merged with Kurt Salmon Associates on January 1 2011 to form Kurt Salmon.

Kurt Salmon formed from the merger of Ineum Consulting (acquired 2006) and Kurt Salmon Associates acquired 2007