More retailers are going back to the past this Christmas season, and offering layaway to help customers manage their holiday gift buying. Read More
IRMA In The Media
Layaway: An Option for Cash-Strapped Shoppers this Holiday Season
November 22, 2011 – 10:58 pm
By Claudia Lenart
The Algonquin Patch, Nov. 21, 2011
Editorial: Durbin’s Bill Would Help States Collect Sales Tax From Internet Retailers
November 18, 2011 – 2:06 pm
The Chicago Tribune – Editorial
November 18, 2011
Maybe the recently shuttered Borders bookstore chain did not perish in vain.
After years of wrangling between online retailers and states uncertain about how to collect sales taxes from Internet transactions, a welcome breakthrough has arrived — though it’s too late to help Borders. Read More
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association disagrees with Ald. Moreno’s proposed ban on plastic bags
November 18, 2011 – 7:50 am
Time Out Chicago, Nov. 16, 2011
by John Dugan
Chicago uses some 3 billion polyethylene bags every year. Progressive 1st Ward Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno wants to decrease that number significantly. Moreno introduced a proposal earlier this month to prohibit plastic bags at retailers larger than 5,000 square feet. The legislation would put the city in company with San Francisco—which banned plastic bags in 2007 and reduced consumption to a trickle of 3 million a year. Besides plastic grocery bags handed out by the likes of Jewel, it also would forbid all plastic carryout bags, but not the bags on rolls in the produce aisle.
If the proposed ordinance passes, does this mean environmental progress or more unneeded guidance from the nanny state? We spoke with Moreno and Tanya Triche, senior counsel at Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which strongly opposes the bill. Read More
Unemployment Insurance Reform
November 17, 2011 – 3:31 pm
ABC News Channel 20, Springfield, November 17, 2011
IRMA Senior Vice-President Rob Karr discusses unemployment insurance reform in Illinois. Read More
Business Owners: Tax Internet Retailers To Keep Real Stores Alive
November 17, 2011 – 3:24 pm
by Bernie Tafoya
CBS Radio: WBBM Chicago (LISTEN), November 16, 2011
The Naperville Sun contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
The Naperville Sun contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Local business owners are looking for a more level playing field, and are backing legislation that would require Internet retailers to collect sales taxes too.
As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, David Vite of the Illinois Retail Merchants’ Association says all retailers want is for state laws to be applied equally. Read More
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