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Solid 2012 Forecasts
Friends of Retail
Michigan retail sales and forecasts stalled in June but continue to show improvement over last year. Page 3
MRA designated more than 90 legislative candidates as a “Friend of Retail” prior to the August 7 primary elections. Page 4
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Golden Shoes
It’s no secret why Golden Shoes remains a successful retailer in Traverse City’s thriving downtown. Page 5
® August 2012 Vol. 37 No. 4
Negen’s next ‘camp’ planned for Oct. 4 in downtown Lansing
Thumbs up Doug Mitchell, owner/artist of UniQ Jewelry in Three Rivers, gave the boot camp “two thumbs up” and said it was beneficial to retailers large and small. “Negen had awesome ideas, strategically proven winning concepts that work for [everyone from] small, oneman-shows to large organizations,” said Mitchell. Continued on page 10
www.retailers.com
MRA urges treasurer to tax Amazon Michigan Retailers Association has opened a third front in the campaign for Main Street Fairness, by urging State Treasurer Andy Dillon to require Amazon.com to begin collecting and remitting sales tax
on merchandise sold to Michigan residents. “Other states have compelled Amazon to start paying taxes, and Michigan must do the same,” MRA President and CEO James P. Hallan wrote in a July 16
36 scholarships awarded for upcoming school year Scholarship Winners
The response to retail trainer Bob Negen’s one-day “Retail Boot Camp” in Kalamazoo was so positive that Michigan Retailers Association is teaming up with the entertaining “drill sergeant” to hold more regional boot camps across the state. The next one will be held on Thursday, October 4, in downtown Lansing. More will be scheduled in the new year. “It was great! That was the best $39 I have ever spent,” said Matt Rhodes, owner of Dusty’s Cellar restaurants, bakery and gourmet food store in Okemos. “You offered a great value to your members by subsidizing the event and only charging what you did.” Jan Haglund, of Janny’s Beach House in South Haven, said Negen lifted not only her spirit but her sales. “I left the seminar feeling pumped up and motivated to start implementing his ideas immediately, and that’s exactly what I did,” she said. “Our sales have gone up 25 percent since attending, and we’ve collected more emails than we ever have before… “Bob is a great motivational speaker, but he also understands what needs to be done in a small business to make it successful.”
The official publication of the Michigan Retailers Association
Thirty-six students will head to college this fall with a total of $33,000 in financial assistance from the Michigan Retailers Association. Each scholarship is funded by the Michigan Retailers Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization established by MRA to benefit MRA members and their employees and families. Thirty students will receive $1,000 for one year at a public or private college or university and six will receive $500 for one year at a community college. In the scholarship program’s 14year history, $331,000 has been
letter to the treasurer. “Amazon has avoided collecting taxes on its Michigan sales for years. That harms Michigan’s economy, is unfair to Michigan-based jobs providers and must stop.” MRA and the Alliance for Main Street Fairness have been pushing hard for a level playing field for in-state businesses against out-ofstate, online-only merchants on two other fronts since last year. Legislation has been introduced in both the Michigan Legislature and Congress to close the legal loophole that enables businesses
to avoid collecting sales tax in states where they do not have a physical presence. Amazon should have been collecting Michigan sales tax since 2007, when it established a physical presence in the state by acquiring Brilliance Audio, a Grand Havenbased producer of audio books, according to MRA. awarded in 356 scholarships to students who are employees or the children of owners or employees of MRA-member businesses. “The Board of Directors’ strong commitment to the scholarship program drives its success,” said MRA President and CEO James P. Hallan. “Each year the program helps dozens of students and their families afford a college education while providing an opportunity for contributors to give something back to their industry and add to their legacy of good works. It’s a valuable, added benefit of membership in MRA.” MRA’s scholarship program is managed by International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc., in Nashville, Tennessee. An independent panel of educators selects the recipients based on above-average academic achievement and extracurricular involvement. Financial
Evidence There is no doubt Brilliance Audio is tied directly to Amazon and constitutes a physical presence for Amazon, Hallan wrote. The evidence includes: Amazon lists on its corporate website that Brilliance Audio is its wholly owned subsidiary; a Dun & Bradstreet report on Brilliance Audio shows that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon; Amazon’s corporate address in Seattle, Washington, is listed as the address for all of Brilliance Audio’s officers and directors, according to Brilliance Audio’s corporate filings in Michigan. Dillon had not responded to the letter as of press time, although his spokesman told news reporters the department doesn’t consider that wholly owned subsidiaries establish a physical presence for their parent company.
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