One of the bonuses to attending the A.I.R. (Advocates for Independent Retail) Summit is that we were among the first to see Civic Economics’ latest study, the Indie City Index. Based on their always-thorough methodology, CE was able to rank the top 363 metropolitan regions (not cities, since many MSAs are in extremely rural areas) according to how “independent brick and mortar healthy” they are. The more active and supported local independent businesses are in an area, the higher the score; the less active and supported, the lower the score. Here’s how the overall list shook out: [click here to continue…]
Note: State sales tax is typically not paid unless the e-tailer has a physical presence in your state. In those cases, they’re supposed to pay sales tax, but don’t always do so. City sales tax follows the same pattern, but is even less predictable or reliable.
Another one of the interviews on Small Business Saturday…. Big thanks to Jimmie at Diamonds and Dials on Harold Square for allowing us to turn the store into a pop-up television studio. We had fun!
Please note: As of summer 2011, neither I or The 3/50 Project support SBS. For an explanation, please see this.
Credit Card Payment Problems Fall Five of the six biggest credit card companies showed fewer card holders falling behind on their payments in October and fewer balances being written off by the companies, which in the past few years have written off billions of dollars as uncollectible. Four of the six biggest issuers, including the largest, JPMorgan Chase, reported their lowest levels of bad debt and late payments this year. Only Bank of America reported an uptick in loans it gave up trying to collect, to 10.15% of balances from 9.98% in September. [click here to continue…]
“A new report finds charitable giving dropped by 11% last year because of the recession. That is said to be the worst decline in at least twenty years.”
While it’s no surprise that personal donations dropped as households tightened their belts and jobs became scarce, the reality is that another (often taken for granted) donor pipeline is over-stressed: locally owned, independent, brick and mortar businesses.
Do they want to continue helping out? Sure they do–assuming, of course, the non-profit asking for support is, in turn, supporting the merchant. [click here to continue…]
There’s been a lot of buzz about the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act recently passed in Washington, yet I’m amazed at how many small business owners know little about what’s included for them. From health insurance write offs to erasing capital gains taxes, there’s a lot to be happy about if you’re an independent brick and mortar. In my opinion, one of the best things to come from this is the influx of $30 billion pointed toward smaller, community based banks.
You know…the ones who actually loan money to small businesses (unlike their behemoth counterparts that typically don’t).
There’s a pretty concise rundown of the major points on the USA Today website. Check it out, call your accountant, and see if a piece of this pie has your name on it.
In Washington, financial reform is working its way through Congress. and in a victory for consumers, the Senate voted to reduce the fees banks charge merchants for debit card transactions. Stores could pass those savings on to you.
Now we all know that per run-of-the-mill transaction, that doesn’t amount to anything close to what consumers will expect in the way of cost reduction (remember the fees aren’t going away, they’re just being reduced, per swipe). Cumulatively, however, the savings per monthly merchant statement could be significant, depending on just how large a reduction we’re talking about.
Time will tell…not to mention the fact this is only the Senate. Until both houses pass a bill, then the Oval Office signs it, well…it’s just talk.
Still, it’s good talk, in the right direction. At last.
One of the bonuses to attending the A.I.R. (Advocates for Independent Retail) Summit is that we were among the first to see Civic Economics’ latest study, the Indie City Index. Based on their always-thorough methodology, CE was able to rank the top 363 metropolitan regions (not cities, since many MSAs are in extremely rural areas) according to how “independent brick and mortar healthy” they are. The more active and supported local independent businesses are in an area, the higher the score; the less active and supported, the lower the score. Here’s how the overall list shook out: [click here to continue…]
From USA Today:
From NBC News this morning:
There’s been a lot of buzz about the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act recently passed in Washington, yet I’m amazed at how many small business owners know little about what’s included for them. From health insurance write offs to erasing capital gains taxes, there’s a lot to be happy about if you’re an independent brick and mortar. In my opinion, one of the best things to come from this is the influx of $30 billion pointed toward smaller, community based banks.
From the CBS Evening News tonight:
