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Enough is enough
Amazon promotion to pay customers to “walk out” of stores is another compelling reason for Main Street Fairness. Page 2
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Good Start
The holiday season started well for most retailers. October numbers showed it also started early. Page 3
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Profit from Passion
Bo Brines turned his love for fly-fishing into a successful and fun downtown Midland retail business. Page 4
® December 2011 Vol. 36 No. 6
More than $30,000 available for 2012 scholarship awards Michigan Retailers Association’s annual competition is expected to award $34,000 in education scholarships next spring for the 2012-13 academic year. At least 34 scholarships will be available. The scholarship program benefits the employees and families of MRA member businesses. It is funded by the Michigan Retailers Foundation, which pays for the awards out of the earnings on foundation assets. New for 2012 are a scholarship established by a contribution from Board Member Emeritus D. Larry Sherman in the name of President and CEO James P. Hallan, and an additional scholarship established in Target Corporation’s name based on that company’s contributions. Sherman, a retired Birmingham shoe retailer who helped establish the scholarship program, previously established two other scholarships, including one in his parents’ names. Target now has five named awards. Also new this year, the program is offering scholarships to students of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and other approved education and training institutes. Recipients are selected for their average to above-average academic performance and extracurricular activities, which can include part-time employment. Financial need is not a consideration. Those eligible to apply are high school seniors and college freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are dependent sons and daughters of owners or full-time employees of MRA’s nearly 5,000 member businesses. Part-time employees who are full-time students may also apply. Continued on page 5
The official publication of the Michigan Retailers Association
www.retailers.com
Fairness fight expands to Congress Michigan Retailers Association took the Michigan retail industry’s fight for fairness to Washington, D.C.
on November 30, urging Congress to level the playing field for Main Street businesses.
(From left) Dan Marshall of Marshall Music, U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Detroit, and MRA’s James P. Hallan at the U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on Main Street Fairness. Photo by Pete Marovich
Rep. Lyons named first MRA ‘Legislator of Year’ Lisa Posthumus Lyons, the state representative from West Michigan who worked closely with Michigan Retailers Association in winning passage of landmark reform of the item pricing law, is MRA’s “2011 Legislator of the Year.” The first-term Republican lawmaker from Alto was recognized by the MRA Board of Directors at its October 25 meeting for her “active support of the retail industry and sponsorship of the Shopping Reform and Modernization Act.” The Board also thanked and con-
gratulated the enthusiastic and energetic Rep. Lyons for her “tireless work in caucus, in committee and on the House floor to win passage of the bills.” The reforms were signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder on March 29 and took effect on September 1. MRA had worked for more than 30 years with little success to repeal or modernize the item pricing law, which was enacted in 1976 and took effect in 1978. In recent years, Michigan was the only state that still required retailers to put a price tag or sticker on virtually every product they sold. A research paper commissioned by MRA put the annual cost of complying with the old law in the hundreds of millions of dollars and called it a “hidden tax” on retailers and consumers. The old law had been adopted Continued on page 2
Dan Marshall, MRA board member and owner of Lansing-based Marshall Music, testified before the House Judiciary Committee that businesses like his are “facing an unprecedented attack” from out-of-state online-only companies that are receiving “special treatment in the tax code to the detriment of everyone else.” Marshall’s testimony on behalf of MRA represents a second major front in the battle to require all online-only merchants to collect state sales tax from their customers, just as all bricksand-mortar retailers must do. MRA continues to be aggressive on the first front — Michigan — by working hard to persuade state lawmakers to enact the bipartisan Michigan Main Street Fairness Act, House Bills 5004 and 5005. The legislation was introduced in late September by Reps. Eileen Kowall (R-White Lake) and Jim Ananich (D-Flint). “The best solution to this crippling problem is a national one, but Michigan and other states must exert pressure on Congress by enacting their own Main Street Fairness legislation,” said MRA President and CEO James P. Hallan, who was in Washington with Marshall. “It’s doubtful Congress would be taking up this issue if states hadn’t started passing their Continued on page 6
‘Compliance 101’ assists members
Michigan Retailers Association is providing online tools to help members comply with a new data security mandate imposed by the major credit card brands, including Visa and MasterCard. Compliance with current data security standards is not only required, it’s smart. Businesses that are not PCI compliant are at greater risk for security breaches and heavy penalties. To access the tools, go to www. compliance101.com/PCI and click on the “Get Started” button in the upper right-hand corner. When the login screen appears, use your merchant number, located in the top right-hand corner of your monthly processing statement. Your password for your Continued on page 5