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 Friday
Facts - Archives -
Month of September 2007Current
Week
September 21, 2007
Annual Meeting Invitations to go
in the Mail
New Morning Session with Legislative Leaders to Kick off the
Day
News and Notes from the State Capitol
Member Services Update
Retail News and Notes
• CRMA’s Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon will be held on
November 15, 2007 at the Bushnell’s Autorino Great Hall in
Hartford CT.
• Invitations are being finalized and will be sent to all
members next week.
• The highlight of the luncheon, which will once again be
catered by the Max Restaurant Group, will be the Retailer of
the Year and Excellence awards.
• We are currently reviewing 7 nominations for these awards.
• In the past the Excellence Awards have been given to
retailers who have excelled in the areas of marketing,
community service, and customer service.
• Please keep an eye out for our invitations and return the
registration form to us ASAP.
New Morning Session with Legislative
Leaders to Kick off the Day
• This year we are very pleased to announce that we have added
a morning session to our Annual Meeting and Luncheon.
• From 10:00 to 11:30 am, four of the General Assembly’s top
Leaders will participate in a panel discussion previewing the
2008 legislative session. We are very excited about this panel
and are honored that the leaders have agreed to participate.
• In addition to having the House Majority Leader, the Sen.
President, the Sen. Minority Leader and the House Minority
leader, Tom Monahan, WVIT - NBC Channel 30, one of the states
top Political Reporters, has agreed to moderate this
discussion.
• The legislative panel will take place in the Seaverns room
which is down the hall from the Autorino Great Hall. There
will be no charge to attend the event but space is limited so
please send in your registration forms as soon as possible.
• Again, we are very excited and proud that the legislative
leaders have agreed to attend and look forward to an
informative discussion.
News and Notes from the State Capitol
• Last night the CGA finally finished its business for the
year by adopting legislation that they could not finish in the
regular session.
• Specifically they adopted a bond package that includes money
for a number of pet projects in member’s districts, a “clean
contracting bill’ which tightens the rules for who can do what
state jobs and a technical revisers bill which cleans up some
bills from the regular session.
• The special session was not without its usual delays and
controversies. Especially with regard to the bond package
which is not guaranteed to be signed by the Governor.
• Also this week we learned there may be a showdown developing
between the special committee that has been formed to review
Sen. Deluca’s actions and Sen. Deluca himself.
• The Committee has asked Sen. Deluca to waive his federal
privacy rights and allow the Committee to review many aspects
of the FBI investigation of him.
• Yesterday afternoon, DeLuca’s lawyer responded that they are
“considering” releasing the information.
• Finally, here is one issue we are sure will get some
attention next session: security breach.
• Within the last 2 months two separate incidents involving
STATE EMPOLYEES losing sensitive personal information on state
taxpayers – including the House Majority Leader Donavon, have
made headlines and lots of finger pointing.
• Both the State Tax Department and a third party firm that
helps handle payroll functions for the state have had
sensitive personal information lost or stolen and it has
opened a public fight between the Governor and the Democrats
over her response to the events.
• At the State Tax Department an employee’s car was stolen
which had a laptop in it containing 106,000 taxpayers
information.
• Welcome to our world folks! Retailers handle customer
information everyday and take tremendous precautions to ensure
it is kept safely, yet are penalized when it is stolen.
• The issue should make for an interesting public hearing when
the Legislature begins in 2008.
Member Services Update
• CRMA’s Bank Card program is on the march! Call us today.
Remember, our rates are as good as any you will find and our
service is the best. Call Cathy today for more information at
860-527-1044.
• Also, we are continuing our efforts to form a Retailers only
Workers Comp SIG. We have a meeting with the DOI next month to
review our status.
• Finally, although summer is over, our Demand Response
Program with Consumer PowerLine remains a viable option for
members.
• That program is still available to members and is a great
way for them to earn money by curtailing energy usage during
peak periods.
• Please call us today for more information on this program.
**New Member Service
• The CRMA Foundation has partnered with Castle Branch to
offer CRMA members 15% off background check services when you
mention the CRMA Foundation in your correspondence with them.
• For more information on Castle Branch please go to
www.castlebranch.com.
• To get started, please contact Charlie Kessler at
1-888-723-4263 ext 7118. Don’t forget to mention the CRMA
Foundation to receive the 15% discount on your services!!
Retail News and Notes
•
Citing economic concerns, NRF forecasts holiday sales gains of
4%
NRF released its forecast for the upcoming 2007 holiday
season, predicting that sales will rise 4% this year to $474.5
billion. The 2007 holiday sales increase is expected to fall
below the 10-year average of 4.8%. It would represent the
slowest holiday sales growth since 2002, when sales rose 1.3%.
Read more here
•
T.G.I. Friday's rolls out new menu
T.G.I. Friday's, which faced a slump three years ago as focus
groups reported the chain was falling behind its competitors,
has been scouting restaurants in major U.S. cities for ideas
to help enliven its menu. Changes this year have included
smaller portions and new dishes, and this month the chain
launched a new 70-item menu that offers high-resolution
photographs and extensive food descriptions.
Chain Leader (free registration) (9/19)
•
Researchers disclose
"tightwads," "spendthrifts," "unconflicted"
Researchers at Wharton and Carnegie Mellon University have
developed a scale that measures "individual differences in the
pain of paying," and Scott I. Rick, a visiting professor at
Wharton, says the results could be of use to retailers. "For
example, it could help stores determine which of their
customers will be more sensitive to sales and/or to marketing
schemes, or which customers are most likely to put items in
their shopping cart online, but then not bother to check out,"
Rick said. "Our paper presents a scale that can diagnose those
tendencies. The four questions can be easily administered
online or even in stores as people are entering and leaving."
Knowledge@Wharton (free registration)
(9/19)
September 7, 2007
CRMA Annual Meeting & Luncheon Date Set
Retail Crime Symposium
Capitol News & Notes
Member Services Update
Retail News & Notes
• Final details for the CRMA Annual Meeting and Luncheon are
coming together.
• Please mark your calendars for November 15, 2007 for this
year’s event.
• We are holding our event at The Bushnell’s Autorino Great
Hall and hope you will be able to join us!
• As you know the Annual Meeting & Luncheon is the time of
year in which we honor Connecticut’s finest retailers with our
annual Retailer of the Year awards.
• At the time of this posting, we are reviewing 7 nominations
for this year’s award and will announce the winner in the very
near future.
• But in the meantime, please mark your calendar to attend
this year’s event on Nov. 15th. We have a new wrinkle we are
adding which we hope to announce in next week’s Friday Facts.
Retail Crime Symposium
• By now, many of you have received an invitation to attend
the first New England Organized Retail Crime Symposium and
Trade Show that is being held Sept. 13th in Worcester, MA.
• If you are still interested there are still some spots
available. Tickets cost $25 and include lunch and
refreshments.
• The day will feature speakers and guests from retailers to
prosecutors to law enforcement officers to talk about the
growing problem of organized retail theft that affects all
retailers.
• For more information about the event, which as of today has
over 200 people attending, you can go to
www.retailersma.org
or call our office at 860-527-1044.
Capitol News and Notes
• Even when they are not in session they can still make news!
• We are speaking of course about the Connecticut General
Assembly.
• Democratic leaders of the General Assembly continue to spar
with Governor Rell over a Bonding Package and have yet to
reach an agreement on a Transportation Bill.
• We hear that the Democrats would like to go into session
next Friday to take on these issues but that is not set in
stone.
• Also, the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee is holding
a special hearing on Monday Sept 10, 2007 to review the
State’s Parole Board.
• This could be a highly emotional hearing in the wake of the
tragic home invasion in Cheshire this summer.
• And finally, the special Senate Committee formed to review
the actions of former Sen. Minority Leader Lou Deluca met
again this week.
• The committee is made up of three Democrats and three
Republicans and has held 2 hearings so far dealing mostly with
procedurals matters.
• The committee is scheduled to meet again next week and may
begin to take testimony, including that of Sen. Deluca
himself.
Member Services Update
• This summer we continued our slow and steady march towards
forming a Self Insured Workers Compensation Group for members
of CRMA.
• Recently, we reached out again to the Department of
Insurance and hope to sit down with them within the next two
weeks to review our status.
• This is a very important project we are working on which
could have dramatic effects on members. If you are interested
in learning more about this project or would like to share
your workers comp. information with us as part of our group,
please call our office today.
• Another important project we are working on is selecting an
energy supplier for our members. As we have mentioned many
times in previous Friday Facts, it is our goal to have an
endorsed energy supplier for our members.
• We want to make sure we have the right supplier and are
reviewing a number of proposals.
• Finally, CRMA’s Bank Card program is taking a little
different look these days. Cathy Peruccio in our office is
beginning the process of handling sales and administration of
OUR bankcard program.
• CRMA will continue using Global Payments as our processor,
they remain the best overall processor in the business, but
with Cathy’s help we hope that our program will better serve
our members.
• Not to mention that Cathy can offer members GREAT rates!
• Call her today for a free look at your bankcard statement so
that she can show you ways to save money, 860-527-1044.
Retail New and Notes
•
Circuit City exec moves to PetSmart,
PetSmart has announced that Lawrence "Chip" Molloy will serve
as the company's new senior vice president and CFO, effective
late this month. Molloy most recently spent four years with
Circuit City Stores.
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
(9/5)
•
Apple unveils new iPod lineup, cuts iPhone price,
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced a revamped iPod lineup
Wednesday, including the company's first Wi-Fi-capable iPod
"Touch," which will allow users to browse and purchase songs
while on the go. Jobs also used the occasion to announce a
$200 price cut to the 8-GB iPhone, as well as a new
partnership with Starbucks.
 ClipSyndicate
(9/5) ,
Yahoo!/Reuters (9/5) ,
International Herald Tribune/Associated Press
•
Casual Male introduces online shoe store,
Casual Male Retail Group has launched Shoes XL, an online
footwear store that sells 570 shoe styles in sizes 12 to 17,
offered with wider widths than are found in average footwear.
"Our goal is for shoes to represent 10% of our sales
assortment in a couple years," said CEO David Levin.
Brandweek (9/5)
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