CHICAGO -- Retailers faced with everything from new sugar taxes to menthol cigarette bans have a lot at stake when it comes to local legislation.
About 60 attendees at the 2017 NACS Show in Chicago listened to a panel on how to build relationships with their local lawmakers to help them avoid new laws that can impede their businesses. Retailer Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support for Kwik Trip, La Crosse, Wis., said his company has an organizational structure that supports outreach to local council members and lawmakers.
"You either come to the table or you're on the menu," he said of the need to be proactive about building such relationships.
Bradford Fitch, president and CEO of the nonprofit Congressional Management Foundation, Washington, D.C., provided three pieces of advice ...