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Solid Sales Outlook
Sales growth slowed across Michigan’s retail industry in spring, but retailers’ forecasts for summer remain solid. Page 3
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‘Wonderful Experience’
Petoskey booksellers Matthew and Jessilynn Norcross make their store relevant to modern customers. Page 5
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Gift Card Responsibilities
Time for a short refresher on gift card do’s and don’ts, including expiration dates and unused balances. Page 7
® June 2012 Vol. 37 No. 3
MRA eye care plan will change to VSP effective July first MRA will change vision insurance providers on July 1, switching to national leader Vision Service Plan (VSP). VSP is the largest vision benefits company in the U.S., with more than 56 million members. The change from current provider DeltaVision will be seamless for MRA members who participate. Rates will remain the same and the switch will be automatic. Enrollees will receive their new policy number in writing; no cards will be issued. There is no minimum group size to participate in the MRA/VSP program. Previously, groups needed at least two persons in order to qualify. Benefits when seeing a VSP doctor of your choice include an annual eye exam and prescription glasses, with no copay. Lenses covered include single vision, lined bifocal and trifocal, and polycarbonate lenses for dependent children. There is a $125 annual allowance for a wide selection of frames, and 20 percent off the amount over the allowance. When choosing contacts instead of glasses, there is a $60 annual copay for the exam and fitting, and a $90 allowance for the contacts. There are also additional discounts and savings on sunglasses, non-covered lens options and laser vision correction. Coverage, with different allowances, is available from non-VSP providers. For more information or to enroll, please contact MRA at 800.366.3699, ext. 681.
The official publication of the Michigan Retailers Association
www.retailers.com
More states act on Main St. Fairness While Michigan retailers continue waiting for Lansing to act on Main Street Fairness legislation, New Jersey has become the 25th state to help level the playing field for home-state businesses. The leveling in each state has come through legislative action or a negoti-
ated agreement with out-of-state, online retail giant Amazon.com to begin collecting the state’s sales tax. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced a collection agreement between his state and Amazon on May 30. The wait in Michigan is expected to
Think your business can’t get a loan? Think again!
continue at least until fall, because lawmakers are scheduled to return to their districts in June for most of the summer. A large loophole in state and federal laws enables out-of-state, online retailers to avoid collecting Michigan’s 6 percent sales tax on goods they sell to Michigan residents. The loophole gives nonMichigan merchants a 6 percent price advantage over Michigan companies and, researchers say, costs in-state retailers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales and hundreds of lost jobs. “The governor and legislature have made major improvements in Michigan’s retail climate over the past 18 months by reforming item pricing and repealing the Michigan Business Tax,” said James P. Hallan, MRA president and CEO. “However, action to ensure fair competition Continued on page 4
Insurance survey to help members
Steve Pricco (left) of Capitol Bancorp Ltd. and Dave Feldpausch of Capitol National Bank in Lansing are helping get the word out that lenders have money available for business loans. Photo by David Trumpie
by Doug Henzie Nearly two years after the Great Recession officially ended, the perception persists: Businesses can’t expand because lenders aren’t looking to lend. But while underwriting standards for conventional loans remain tight, lenders increasingly are priming the economy using loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The loans re-
duce risk by guaranteeing that the government will pay back most of a loan if the borrower defaults. “People have the belief that credit is not available,” said Dave Feldpausch, vice president of Capitol National Bank in Lansing. “But we’ve been pretty aggressively trying to place money in our market for two years now. People have gotten frustrated and they really aren’t searching out all of the opportunities available to them. Right now, we have quite a bit of money available to lend.” Capitol National currently is trying to distribute in excess of $10 million into its market using conventional financing as well as SBA-backed loans, he said. Continued on page 8
How are you handling health insurance? You can help MRA get an up-to-date handle on how members are dealing with health insurance by completing an online survey that will take less than five minutes of your time. We’re interested in knowing which carriers members are using; whether employees are given access to health insurance; and what kind of cost sharing may be place. We also wonder what your longer-term approach to providing health insurance to employees might be. How will we use the information? We’ll use it to help build better solutions to meet your health insurance needs, and to enable MRA to better participate in state-level discussions about health insurance issues from retailers’ perspectives. Information will be shared with MDA Insurance, MRA’s endorsed health insurance agency. The survey will be available from now until July 15. Please visit www. retailers.com and click on the health insurance survey link on our home page. We appreciate your participation!