After reviewing dozens of applications from across the state, the Minnesota Retailers Association is pleased to award Mall of America the Social Responsibility award in the 2019 Minnesota’s Retail Champions program.

“Minnesota businesses are at the forefront of social responsibility and sustainability, and Mall of America is a distinct leader when it comes to innovative programs and modeling what it means to do the right thing,” says Bruce Nustad, Minnesota Retailers Association president. “At Mall of America, sustainability is a way of doing business, and it’s not only important to them, but important to their tenants and guests. Just walking around the Mall, you can see so many ways it works to encourage recycling and reuse while reducing waste. And for every sustainability program you can see, there is another behind the scenes that you can’t, but they are equally important. We congratulate Mall of America on receiving our Social Responsibility award.”

“Mall of America was built with sustainability always at the forefront,” said Jill Renslow, SVP of Business Development & Marketing at Mall of America. “We strive to include a sustainability perspective in all that we do. For example, we have worked hard to design a system that makes recycling easy for our tenants and guests. Few people know we are also home to 30,000 live trees and plants, all while maintaining a pesticide-free environment. Mall of America aims to continue leading efforts in being a good steward of the environment and is honored to accept the 2019 Minnesota Retailers Association Social Responsibility Award.”

Jill Renslow and other Mall of America representatives will accept the award in person during the Retail Rally event on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, at Brookview in Golden Valley beginning at 2:00 p.m. The event features seven 20-minute practical, game-changing, cutting edge retail innovations strategies and ideas. Speakers include local favorite and award-winning news anchor-reporter Robyne Robinson with fiveXfive Public Art.

Mall of America is the sole recipient of the Minnesota’s Retail Champions Social Responsibility award. Seven other organizations will be recognized in other categories such as Retail Community of the Year, Retail Employee of the Year, Social Responsibility, Retail Innovation, Outstanding Achievement, Best Place To Work, and Retailer of the Year.

Retail Rally event information can be found at www.retailrally.com.

After reviewing dozens of applications from across the state, the Minnesota Retailers Association is pleased to recognize Branch with its Vendor Partner of the Year award in the 2019 Minnesota’s Retail Champions program.

“Branch has embraced Minnesota since its move in 2016 and has made a name for itself in a big way,” says Bruce Nustad, Minnesota Retailers Association president. “As a partner to retailers, Branch is helping the industry and its employees adapt to the ever-changing way we work and serve communities. Through its innovative mobile platform, Branch is dedicated to the financial wellness of hourly employees as well as helping retailers  retain their workforce .  We congratulate Branch as the Vendor Partner of the Year.”

“At Branch, we partner with retail employers and their employees to help overcome obstacles hourly workers face,” says Atif Siddiqi, CEO and founder of Branch. “We are constantly analyzing trends and talking to retail employees about what they need and want so we can work collaboratively with our retail partners to open up opportunities in the  employee-employer relationship.”

Atif Siddiqi will accept the award in person and discuss what retail employees want today during the Retail Rally event on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, at the Brookview in Golden Valley beginning at 2:00 p.m. The event features seven 20-minute practical, game-changing, cutting edge retail innovations strategies and ideas, including local favorite and award-winning news anchor-reporter Robyne Robinson with fiveXfive Public Art.

Branch is the sole recipient of the Minnesota’s Retail Champions Vendor Partner of the Year award. Seven other organizations will be recognized in other categories such as Best Place To Work, Outstanding Achievement, Retail Employee of the Year, Social Responsibility, Retail Innovation, Customer Experience, and Retailer of the Year.

Retail Rally event information can be found at www.retailrally.com.

While the Shakopee Police Department has said it is not the intention of the City to issue citations this weekend, we take complying with the new law seriously. The reality is retailers were only given 11 days to implement changes and that simply isn’t enough time to train each and every employee, change point of sale systems, and re-write operating procedures to ensure the proper checks and balances exist. While retailers do check identification in some instances, there is no routine situation today where the name on a card is verified as the same on a valid government-issued identification.

Out of concern that front-line retail workers could be cited for breaking the law, a number of Shakopee retailers have removed third-party gift cards from their shelves. The last thing a retailer wants is any employee mistakenly selling a regulated card, which would be a violation of the law and be punishable as a misdemeanor.

In addition, as expressed to the Council at its May 7 meeting, the Shakopee ordinance may conflict with agreements between retailers and their business partners. Some retailers have removed cards from their shelves out of concern that the City’s action may lead to a breach of their agreements.

These cards are an important convenience to customers, especially as Minnesotans celebrate graduations and other special occasions this time of year. We hope retailers can get these cards back on their shelves soon, but the City has put some retailers in the position where that won’t happen until there is no risk to employees or liability with their business partners.

Retailers in Shakopee have taken steps to reduce fraud, including moving cards and increasing employee training. It’s unfortunate the City chose to pass this regulation as opposed to continuing to work in partnership with retailers. Our concerns remain that shoppers will take their business to a neighboring community and career criminals will use fraudulent credit cards to obtain other high-value items.

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For interviews, contact:

Bruce Nustad
President, Minnesota Retailers Association
(651) 288-1640
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.