For Immediate Release

October 31, 2007

LANSING—Michigan Retailers Association (MRA) Board of Directors recently elected officers for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Peter Sobelton, of Sundries Plus in Troy, was re-elected chair of the MRA Board of Directors Executive Committee. Sobelton was first elected to the board in 1998; this is his second year as chair.

Joe Swanson, of Troy, North Metro Detroit District Team Leader for Target Corporation, was re-elected chair-elect of the Executive Committee.

D. Larry Sherman, retired president of Sherman Shoes, Inc. in Birmingham, was re-elected treasurer.

Swanson was elected to a three-year term on the board at the annual meeting in June, along with three other directors: Barb Stein, owner/operator of Great Northern Trading Co., Rockford; Orin Mazzoni Jr., president of Orin Jewelers, Inc. in Garden City and Northville; and Thomas Ungrodt, president and CEO of Ideation, Inc., Ann Arbor.

The board also appointed a new member, James Walsh, recently retired senior vice president and CFO of Walker-based Meijer, Inc. He fills the seat vacated by Winfrey Smith, of Sears Roebuck and Company, who left the board last year when he was relocated to Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

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 5,500 retail business members operate more than 12,000 stores across the state.

Note: Photos of board members are available in electronic format by e-mailing Amy Buttery at abuttery@retailers.com.