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Ann Arbor Treasure
The Treasure Mart in downtown Ann Arbor is rated one of the 10 best consignment shops in America. Page 4
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It’s the Law
Tips on how to protect your business by monitoring workplace activity without violating employees’ privacy. Page 5
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Michigan International Speedway
Since opening in 1968, MIS has become a broad entertainment venue, major merchandiser and strong advertising medium. Page 6
® June 2017 Vol. 42 No. 3
Retailers welcome news Congress dropping plans to end swipe-fee reform Retailers across the U.S. are welcoming news that federal lawmakers changed course in late May and dropped plans to eliminate debit card swipe-fee reform. House Republican leaders reportedly abandoned an attempt to repeal limits on the amount retailers are charged to process debit card transactions. Those limits have saved retailers and their customers more than $40 billion and brought competition to the electronic payments market, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Debit fee limits were enacted by Congress as part of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. They took effect in October 2011. The fees charged by card-issuing banks previously averaged 1-2 percent of the purchase amount, and virtually all banks charged the same amount, NRF said. Dodd Frank limited large banks to 22 cents per transaction, less than half of the previous average of 45 cents. One economist’s study found the limits saved retailers about $8.5 billion in the first year alone, with nearly $6 billion of the savings passed along to consumers. Repeal of the debit card fee ceiling would have come as part of the Financial Choice Act, a broad bill that would roll back many of the Dodd Frank regulations. The House is expected to formally vote on the rollback bill sometime in June, without eliminating the current debit card reform provisions. “This is a major victory for the consumers who have saved billions of dollars under swipe-fee reform,” said NRF’s Mallory Duncan, Senior VP and general counsel.
The official publication of Michigan Retailers Association
www.Retailers.com
Big ideas, little action in legislature Eliminating the state income tax. Ending state pensions for new public school teachers. Spending state money to repair roads, bridges and other deteriorating infrastructure. Some big ideas have competed hard for political support since the
newest Michigan Legislature took office in January. But legislators don’t have much to show for their efforts. As of the first week of June, there was no consensus on what’s most important or even what the state can afford. There are also wider than usu-
al rifts between Governor Rick Snyder and legislative leaders. Those divisions are threatening to break a six-year streak of lawmakers adopting the next year’s state budget by the end of June. The governor says it’s important to continue the streak so local governments and school districts that begin their new annual budgets on July 1 will know how much they can spend. Legislative leaders say the self-imposed budget deadline is secondary to crafting important public policy. Retailers and other business owners don’t see the lack of legislative production as a bad thing. The usual onslaught of legislation that could harm retail businesses has been slow to appear in 2017, held back by debates over the big ideas. Continued on page 8
Pooches on patios bill goes to House
campers create jewelry, before she jumped into the craft herself. “I was fascinated with the intricacy of the work,” Thatcher explained. “I found working with stones, metals and other materials very inspiring.” The Maumee, Ohio, native’s jewelry design training continued with classes in high school, college work at Bowling Green State University and workshops with several fine teachers, as well as her own trial and error over more than 30 years of handcrafting fine jewelry. For 10 years she traveled the craft show circuit, creating and showing her work at up to 30 events per year.
Restaurants could allow customers on their patios to sit with their dogs, under legislation approved by the Michigan Senate on May 24. Senate Bill 122, which now moves to the House, would allow dogs to be present at outdoor seating areas where food is served if certain conditions were met and standards maintained. The proposed changes would prohibit dogs from walking through the restaurant to get to the patio. Dog owners would be required to control their animals, keep them on a leash and keep the area clear of pet hair and other waste. The measure would require a restaurant to notify its local public health department if it intended to open its patio to customers’ dogs. Local governments would have the option to adopt ordinances imposing additional regulations, including prohibiting dogs at outdoor seating areas. Individual restaurants also would have the right to deny a customer the opportunity to bring his or her dog to
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Continued on page 6
Becky Thatcher set up her first jewelry designs store in 1983 in a renovated cottage in Glen Arbor, only yards from Lake Michigan and “down the road” from Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Jeweler captures beauty, ‘moods’ of NW Michigan by Jean B. Eggemeyer
Becky Thatcher became enthralled with her future career early in life. “I designed my first serious piece of jewelry when I was 10 years old,” said the owner of Becky Thatcher Designs, located in Northwest Michigan. She was a summer student at Camp Kohahna in Glen Arbor, where her family summered each year. She recalls watching the older