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Upbeat About Holiday Shopping
Michigan retailers went into the holiday shopping season expecting better sales, with forecasts blending optimism and caution. Page 3
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MRA Scholarship Competition to Begin Applications will be accepted from January 5 through April 1 for the approximately 35 college scholarships available for 2015-16. Page 5
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Lottery Unveils Online Game Cards
To enable retailers to benefit from online games, the Lottery has launched an Online Game Card sold only at Lottery retailers. Page 10
® December 2014 Vol. 39 No. 6
Main St. Fairness bills top retail’s Christmas list of legislative issues MRA is urging retailers across the state to tell their individual lawmakers what’s at the top of retail’s Christmas list: passage of Main Street Fairness legislation. “ M i c h i g a n re t a i l b u s i n e s s e s cannot afford to suffer through another Christmas season of unfair treatment,” said Amy Drumm, MRA’s manager of government affairs. “There is no excuse for Michigan to continue giving an unfair advantage to out-of-state retailers that do not hire Michigan workers, do not pay Michigan taxes and do not invest in Michigan communities.” The legislature is meeting in its socalled lame-duck session, the period between the November elections and the end of the year. It’s the last chance in the current two-year legislative session for passage of bills that would go a long way toward fixing the 6 percent price advantage Michigan currently gives out-of-state businesses. The 6 percent advantage comes from the fact that “remote sellers” – out-of-state merchants with no physical presence in Michigan – are not required to collect state sales tax on items purchased by Michigan consumers. Instead, residents are required to pay the tax when they file their income tax, but very few pay it. Less than 2 percent of the tax liability was collected in 2012, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. The fairness legislation, House Bills 4202-03 and Senate Bills 658-59, would update the definition of physical presence to include certain practices that out-of-state companies are using to generate sales in Michigan either online or through phone or catalog sales. Continued on page 9
The official publication of the Michigan Retailers Association
www.retailers.com
Economists predict growth for 2015 Steady growth in the state’s economy will produce more jobs, higher incomes and greater retail sales in 2015, according to the latest forecast from
University of Michigan economists. The university’s annual Economic Outlook Conference, held November 20-21 in Ann Arbor, provided a gener-
Buy Nearby Guy with Santa at the Silver Bells in the City light parade in downtown Lansing.
Retail feeds creative soul of Hastings entrepreneur by Doug Henze
Running her own retail store wasn’t a lifelong dream of Kristina Jacobs. But once she got the chance to do it, she knew she’d found her calling. Jacobs, who owns The Hanger and Jilly’s – two stores under one roof in Hastings – was working as a restaurant manager in Grand Rapids when a tiny consignment shop in Lowell became available. “That’s something I might like,” she recalls thinking at the time.
So she created The Hanger by buying the business and switching the format from consignment to the sale of brand-new women’s clothing. Eight years later – nearly six of them in Hastings after she was recruited by the town’s DDA – Jacobs knows she chose the right course. “I’m here for a reason – I have a great connection with all of my customers,” said Jacobs, who closed the Lowell store in 2010. “Every day, I’m thankful I get to do something I love. The creativity feeds my soul. Not every day is easy, but I’m thankful I don’t work in a cubicle.”
ally upbeat picture of the Michigan economy over the next two years, including forecasts of: • 59,400 new jobs in Michigan in 2015 and 73,200 more in 2016, raising the number of new Michigan jobs to 462,200 since the end of the Great Recession. 2014 should end up producing 37,000 new jobs. • A drop in the state’s unemployment rate from the current 7.1 percent to 6.7 percent by the end of next year and 6.3 percent by the end of 2016. • 3.7 percent growth in state sales and use tax revenue in 2015, a reflection of increased personal income growth and retail spending. • 4.6 percent growth in personal income next year and 4.7 percent in 2016, with real disposable income rising 3 percent next year and 2.8 percent the year after. In 2014, personal income should end up rising 4.3 percent and disposable income growing 2.5 percent. • Inflation remaining low by growing 1.1 percent in 2015 and 1.4 percent the following year. 2014 is projected to finish with a 1.4 percent gain in prices. • 20 percent of the new jobs during 2015 and 2016 will come in the areas of trade, transportation and utilities, with almost three-quarters of those gains in retail. Continued on page 8
Retail wages top other industries’
Made in U.S. When Jacobs moved into the
Careers in the retail industry are financially rewarding, and employees who decide on full-time careers in retail can rise rapidly from entry-level positions into well-paying management and executive positions. That’s according to a new study done by University of Georgia economist Jeffrey H. Dorfman for the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation as part of an initiative aimed at Washington lawmakers. The campaign is designed to “push back against long-held misperceptions about working in the retail industry,” NRF said. Dorfman’s study also found that
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