News

Governmental Affairs: May 23, 2014

Minimum wage debate heats up

Efforts to find a compromise on the minimum wage issue and prevent the ballot proposal from moving forward have ramped up rapidly over the last week. 

Governmental Affairs: May 16, 2014

Senate passes $9.20 minimum wage tied to inflation

In a surprising turn of events, the Senate quickly passed legislation yesterday that repeals Michigan’s existing minimum wage law, replaces it with a gradual increase to $9.20 an hour by 2017 and indexes the rate to the lower of inflation or 4%.

Governmental Affairs: May 9, 2014

MRA’s legislative reception a success

Last week, Michigan Retailers Association held its annual legislative reception and had great turnout from legislators and lawmakers. This year we had 39 legislators attend and nearly 100 attendees overall.

Retail sales remain chilled during March

LANSING – A hoped-for surge in Michigan retail sales after a long, severe winter never materialized in March, building up expectations for improvement in April, according to the latest Michigan Retail Index,

License required to start a retail business

In order to sell products, a state sales tax license is required. According to state law, individuals or businesses who sell tangible personal property to the final consumer need a sales tax license.

Governmental Affairs: April 11, 2014

Spring break

Lawmakers are currently in the middle of a legislative spring break. They will return for one day over the next two weeks and resume regular session the last week of April.

Simple ways to improve store layout

A good store layout is a powerful tool in retail, with several aspects to consider.

One area that can often use improvement is the sales counter. Doug Fleener,

Governmental Affairs: March 28, 2014

Youth e-cigarette ban moves forward in House

Despite concerns by the Department of Community Health, the House Regulatory Reform Committee on March 18 reported out HB 4997 and SB 667