National Retail Federation At The Council Of State Retail Associations Annual Meeting

The National Retail Federation has made many strides since we last meet in Nashville. We have moved our headquarters, redesigned our website and rebranded our logo. As the world’s largest retail trade association – about 12,000 members-strong - we know we need to reflect and be responsive to the needs of this cutting-edge industry as well our states partners and allies.

Retail Advocates Summit
Our annual fly-in - the Retail Advocates Summit – held two weeks ago was a huge success. We had 130 attendees from 32 states and held over 180 meetings with Hill offices on our priorities, be it sales tax fairness, patent reform, data security or labor policy. Our “Heroes of Main Street” awards, which recognized Members of Congress for their support of the industry, went extremely well, and Members of Congress – not unsurprisingly – loved the positive attention. We hosted a new program this year that many of you participated in – “America’s Retail Champions,” a program to recognize outstanding retailers and merchants for their commitment to advocacy. Our 44 retail champions – all advocates at heart – were an essential part of the Summit’s success and the 18 state retail association executives were a true asset. Thank you for making it such a success!

Small Business Retail Council
During our fly-in, NRF announced the creation of the Small Business Retail Council to organize, recruit and engage small, local and community-based retailers in the industry’s public policy priorities. The Council will serve as an important clearinghouse for policy discussions about the issues that matter most to small retail businesses and provide an outlet for genuine grassroots advocacy. I am proud to announce today that Robert Jones III of American Sale in Illinois and Debbie Schaeffer of Mrs. G TV, Appliances and Sleep Center in New Jersey have agreed to co-chair the new council with the help of a steering committee. The Council will be open to all NRF members as well as members of the state retail associations, and I encourage you and your members to become involved.

Retail Across America
NRF’s commitment to the states is unmatched. As part of our “This is Retail” campaign devoted to telling the retail industry’s story and positive impact on careers, communities and innovation, NRF launched a road-show called “Retail Across America” to help localize the story. To date, NRF has partnered with retailers and state retail associations to film in North Carolina, South Dakota and Washington, and we have made commitments to visit California, Ohio and Illinois. There is still one available road-show location this year if your state is interested or if you’d like to make sure your state is a stop next year, please let the NRF staff know.

Conclusion
The National Retail Federation truly values our great and productive relationship with each and every one of you and we look forward to working together in the months and years to come. As we continue to showcase the value of the retail industry – and launch the first-ever Retail Jobs Week this fall – as well as update the retail industry’s economic and employment figures and metrics – state-by-state and district-by-district – we encourage you to get even more involved in our shared efforts. We have a powerful story to tell – the public, the media and legislators need to hear it – and we need you to help tell that story. Thank you.