November 5, 2001
2001 Michigan Retailer of the Year announced
LANSING -- One Michigan retailer renovated two historic buildings to create housing for low-income people with disabilities. Another retailer sponsors an annual fundraiser that helps a soup kitchen provide thousands of hot meals each year for the needy. A third retailer has raised more than $35 million for March of Dimes' fight against birth defects.
All three were announced today as 2001 Michigan Retailer of the Year. The annual awards honor the most outstanding examples of community giving and involvement demonstrated by retailers throughout Michigan.
"Retailers make a huge impact on Michigan's economy by providing $128 billion in goods and services to consumers and more than 850,000 jobs for Michigan workers. They also add immeasurably to the quality of life in their communities through countless charitable and volunteer activities," said Larry Meyer, Michigan Retailers Association chairman and CEO.
"As we kick off the season of giving, it's a fitting time to recognize the retailers who display the spirit of generosity year-round. The Retailer of the Year awards honor the best of the best."
Awards are given in three categories -- small, medium and large -- based on annual sales volume. Recipients are selected by a panel composed of leaders in business, government, higher education, charitable organizations and the news media.
The awards will be presented at the fourth annual Michigan Retailer of the Year Awards luncheon, to be held Thursday, November 8, at Michigan State University's new James B. Henry Center for Executive Development in Lansing. The event is sponsored by the Michigan Retailers Association and cosponsored by the Michigan Press Association's Michigan Newspapers, Inc. and by the Michigan Talk Radio Network.
The event will also recognize the newest crop of Michigan Centennial Retailers -- retail businesses in operation for 100 years or more.
The 2001 Michigan Retailers of the Year are:
Small: Swift Printing Company, Grand Rapids; Walter Gutowski, Jr., President
Swift Printing partnered with Genesis Nonprofit Housing Corp. to turn the upper floors of its two historic buildings into 27 apartments for low-income individuals with physical and mental disabilities, people with AIDS and victims of domestic violence. The company also renovated a third run-down building nearby that is now home to a physical therapy clinic.
Gutowski's wide-ranging community support includes donating printing to nonprofit groups, spending one Sunday afternoon a month preparing lunches at a soup kitchen, coaching youth sports teams, funding scholarships and building projects at local Catholic high schools and serving on the boards of several community organizations.
Medium: Edmund T. Ahee Jewelry Company, Grosse Pointe Woods; Bettejean Ahee, Chief Executive Officer
This family business sponsors the annual "Capuchin Souper Summer Celebration" benefiting the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and Community Center in Detroit. For 20 years the company has underwritten the entire cost of the fundraiser, which includes entertainment by a dozen live bands and a raffle of jewelry prizes worth several thousand dollars. Funds raised to date, totaling some $3.5 million, have provided more than two million hot meals for the needy, as well as clothing, counseling, housing, education and recreation.
Edmund T. Ahee Jewelry has also contributed to community organizations such as St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Henry Ford Hospital "Shoot for the Cure," Toys for Tots and the American Red Cross. The company donates several hundred jewelry gifts each year to charities throughout metro Detroit.
Large: Kmart Corporation, Troy; Chuck Conaway, Chairman and CEO
For 17 consecutive years Kmart Corp. has been the first-place team in March of Dimes WalkAmerica, raising more than $35 million to fight birth defects. Michigan Kmart volunteers raised more than $289,000 this year through local walks, store events and "selling" paper sneakers to customers. These funds support programs such as Healthy Baby Services in Wayne and Oakland counties, which transports some 3,000 pregnant women and mothers with new babies to clinics for regular health checkups.
Kmart also provided supplies for the relief effort after September's terrorist attacks, promotes enrollment in state Child Health Insurance Programs, donates a portion of purchases to the K-12 school of the customer's choice through the School Spirit card and supported a traveling Smithsonian exhibit on African-American sacred music.
Members of the 2001 Michigan Retailer of the Year selection panel included: Nancy Barker, vice president of university relations and marketing, Northwood University; Rick Blanchard, assistant business editor, The Detroit News; Louis Hallacy II, LHII Consulting Services; Sandra Katt, senior development official, Van Andel Institute; Michael MacLaren, executive director, Michigan Press Association; Claude Martin, Winkelman professor of retail marketing, University of Michigan Business School; David Scott, CEO, Michigan Talk Radio Network; Brenda Sternquist, professor of merchandising management, Michigan State University; and Dennis Toffolo, director, Oakland County Community & Economic Development.
The Michigan Retailers Association is the unified voice of retailing in Michigan and the nation's largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers. MRA's more than 5,500 retail business members operate more than 12,000 stores across the state.
