For Immediate Release
December 8, 2003

LANSING — Michigan retailers’ sales via credit and debit cards increased 11.1 percent through the first nine days of the season, according to the Michigan Retailers Association (MRA).

"Sales remained strong through the first two days of this past weekend," said Larry Meyer, MRA chairman and CEO. "Overall, retailers have been able to maintain the momentum of the Thanksgiving weekend’s fast start."

MRA’s figures are based on same-store credit and debit card sales for the nine days after Thanksgiving this year and last year. Increased consumer use of credit and debit cards over cash and checks accounts for a portion of the overall increase, Meyer pointed out.

Through the first weekend, these sales had increased 11.45 percent. Through the Friday and Saturday of the second weekend (Sunday’s numbers are not yet available), cumulative sales were up 11.1 percent.

MRA, the oldest and one of the largest non-bank credit card processors in Michigan, processes more than a half-billion dollars in merchant transactions each year for some 5,000 businesses.

Retailers went into the season projecting a 5 percent increase for the period, according to the Michigan Retail Index, a joint project of MRA and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. That forecast is based on a survey of MRA members, not on actual transactions.

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 nearly 6,000 retail business members operate more than 13,000 stores across the state.

Note: William Strauss, Senior Economist and Economic Advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, can be reached at 312.322.8151