Mark your calendars

by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

Plans for "Hail and Farewell: Larry Meyer Member Appreciation Tour" are well underway.

As I explained in last month's column, the tour is a way for me to thank all of you, during my last year at the helm of Michigan Retailers, for your business and support. We'll also talk about the past and future of retail and what our organization can do to help your business thrive.

We have now firmed up the tour dates for the breakfasts, so please pencil in the event for your city or the city nearest you. If you would prefer to attend a different breakfast than the one you are invited to, call us (800.366.3699) and let us know which one you would like to attend.

As you can see, the kickoff is later this month and runs through the fall—perfectly aligned with road construction season, so I'm prepared to see more than my share of orange cones as I travel the state. But I look forward to it and to meeting you in your communities.

April
23: Ann Arbor

May
8: Livonia
10: Battle Creek
21: Cadillac

June
4: Sault Ste. Marie
5: Marquette
6: Escanaba
7: St. Ignace
11: Birmingham
18: Wyandotte

July
16: Midland
17: Mt. Pleasant
23: Auburn Hills
30: Kalamazoo

August
6: Alpena
7: Traverse City
15: Port Huron
20: Holland
22: Lansing
27: Flint

September
10: Grand Rapids
17: Bay City or Saginaw
20: St. Joseph
24: Brighton

Last month I told you about my move to Michigan and my gradual realization that this was a beautiful state and we'd made a good decision.

The most memorable story about my very first day on the job, in late December 1972, was the moment my young secretary came to me with a large pile of papers she had found in a desk drawer in the office I was taking over.

"What do you want me to do with these?" she asked. I started sorting through them to figure out what they were. I quickly realized they were a stack of unpaid bills that had never been recorded in the books.

What a feeling in the pit of my stomach. On top of the Michigan Retailers debt I had known about coming into this venture—which totaled about $400,000—there was yet more debt that had been swept under the rug, or in this case into a drawer.

I did manage to dig out from that pile of debt by cutting back all nonessentials, from programs and company cars to staff. But more disturbing than the debt itself was the idea some folks have that if you just push things out of view they might go away.

On that day, I made it a policy to sign every check myself and to personally monitor the finances of the Association. As everyone around my office has heard me say countless times, "the numbers mean something!"