November 12, 2010

GREETINGS AND SAL-UTATIONS!

Dear NJGCA Member:

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES, TRADESHOW NEWS, AND YOUR PARTICIPATION!
HAPPY VETERANS’ DAY!

As yesterday was a holiday of special significance, and I do not want its importance to be overlooked, I pause for a brief moment to wish you all a very Happy Veterans Day. We owe our Veterans a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.  They deserve both our respect and our admiration for the sacrifices they’ve endured in service to us all.  It is my heartfelt wish, on behalf of everyone at NJGCA, to extend a very sincere THANK YOU to all NJGCA Members who’ve worn our nation’s uniform.

The only assured things in life are death and taxes. We’ve all heard that expression, but have you every really thought of what that means?  At its most basic it means that things are always changing and there are no constants.  Take a look at our own industry; Are things the same as they were even ten years ago?  Not a chance.  In fact, no matter if you sell donuts, spark plugs or gasoline, the retail landscape is forever changing. 

Several years ago, in part due to their merger with Mobil and in part due to the changes in their own industry, Exxon announced that they wanted to sell the real estate beneath their retail locations around the country.  Remember that for years the established practice was for the majors to own their locations and lease them to small business owners like you.  However, as soon as this was announced, there was a ripple effect that spread throughout the country as other major oil companies were quietly doing the same thing. 

It was this change – and the threat it posed to small business franchisees – that prompted me to get a group of Exxon dealers together in September 2008 to discuss their future.  You see, just as these types of real estate divestitures by big oil were typically unheard of, so was the relatively new idea of big distributors buying up these locations in bulk right out from underneath your feet.  The result of our meeting is what prompted us to get the Legislature to pass (and Governor Corzine to sign) the most comprehensive franchise protection legislation in the country. 

That bill, our First Right of Refusal, was a huge win for you and it wouldn’t have been possible without the active participation of SOME of our members.  Specifically, it was the dedication of a group of Exxon and Shell dealers that helped us ultimately convince legislators to pass the bill. 

As of today, Exxon has divested all of their real estate in the country with the exception of New Jersey and California, which is the only other state in the US with a strong First Right of Refusal law. 

Recently, Exxon completed the sale of their Connecticut locations. At the same time, Shell has made several attempts to follow Exxon’s lead and divest their properties while trying to get around our First Right of Refusal law.  That’s how strong and resilient our law has become in protecting small business owners, but it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t use some improvement.

Again, thanks to the Exxon dealers, an amendment has been proposed that would add even more protections to the law we passed last year.  Recently I met with Senator Cardinale, who is sponsoring the legislation as I was concerned the legislation as proposed needed to be tweaked in order to make it more likely to pass thru the legislature.  These changes would permit dealers who opt to buy their property to select who their supplier will be and now I have greater confidence that it can pass. 

I will notifying you as this starts making its way through Trenton.  However, to be quite honest, it is going to take more than just Exxon and Shell dealers to get the job done.  I have been disappointed with the level of activity by other branded franchisees that could be faced with similar circumstances.  There are plenty of Sunoco and Gulf dealers who could be facing the same situation down the road.  As such, I expect all of you, regardless of brand, to help pitch in and get this law passed when the time comes.

We have recently reported on the issue of Cash/Credit Pricing and the two bills that Assemblyman Mainor has introduced to limit your ability to implement this kind of pricing program.  I’m pleased to report that, thanks to the efforts of our friends at the Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey (FMANJ), there is some good news to report.  FMANJ was helped to persuade several legislators who were cosponsoring Assemblyman Mainor’s bill to drop off the legislation as sponsors and are now helping to convince Assemblyman Mainor to drop both of these proposals from being considered.  We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

We also have reported recently on what we are calling the “lottery bill” that would allow for the electronic sale of lottery tickets over the internet and other electronic mediums.  Last week we were able to successfully convince Assemblywoman Quijano to take the proposed legislation off last Monday’s committee agenda.  This was done in part through a collective effort with our friends at the NJ Food Council.  We now have a meeting set up with the Assemblywoman on Monday in Trenton along with Food Council and the Asian-American Retailers Association, who also represents a significant number of convenience store owners.

The Assemblywoman has asked us for alternative proposals to amend her bill and make it less harmful to small business owners like you.  However, she is promising to continue to push forward after our meeting and we are not sure if we will be successful in negotiating with her.  If we are not, then it will be an all out effort to oppose her legislation both in the committee and on the floor of the assembly if required.

Again, I’ll keep you updated on how this progresses.

Lastly, as many of you know, NJGCA will NOT be participating in the NORTHEAST 2011 Tradeshow this year.  I want to assure everyone that I continue to have the utmost thanks and respect for our sister organization AASP/NJ.  In fact, I continue to work closely with my counter part there, Executive Director Charles Bryant.  Our decision not to participate is solely based on the differences in the industries we represent.  While we have similar interests in automotive repair, our vendors and our exhibitors must also appeal to our members in the convenience store and gasoline businesses.  This fact was lacking in how the show was presented overall, to both vendors and attendees. 

There is a tremendous amount of time and financial resources that goes into participating in a tradeshow like NORTHEAST 2011, and ultimately, I felt it was not a valuable use of ours.  However, that doesn’t mean that we will be abandoning the idea of a tradeshow or similar event.  In fact, I still have a vision to revisit this in future years, but with greater interest and benefit to NJGCA members. 

Bottom Line: We love our colleagues at AASP/NJ, but have just decided to go in another direction for now.

As you can see from my efforts with other organizations above and our continued pledge to cooperate with AASP/NJ, I am committed to building coalitions with other like minded organizations.  The days of NJGCA rowing alone are in the past.  However, our effectiveness (or lack there of) in working with other organizations, will hinge on your participation.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

 IN THIS WEEK'S NJGCA ROAD WARRIOR                                                      

NJGCA WANT AD CLASSIFIEDS
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NEWS AROUND THE STATE
•NJ school choice program gains seventy-four district applications
•Corporate America purchasing electric cars for fleet duty
•Move to E15 blended fuel faces opposition
•New opportunities for auto-repairers as motorists keeping their cars longer

 ON THE NJGCA HOMEPAGE                                                                               

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 KNOW YOUR TERRITORY MANAGER!                                                             

Henry Darden: Territory Manager for Middlesex, Union, Part of Essex (Southern Half)
Cell: 973-477-0057
Email: henry@njgca.org

Jack Leli: Territory Manager for Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Salem
Cell: 732-995-1637
Email: jack@njgca.org

Bob Quirk: Territory Manager for Bergen, Hudson, Part of Essex (Northern Half)
Cell: 201-214-8836
Email: bob@njgca.org

Frank Stewart: Territory Manager for Morris, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon, Passaic
Cell: 973-234-7403
Email: frank@njgca.org

Don Stohrer: Territory Manager for Monmouth, Mercer, Somerset
Cell: 732-539-2955
Email: don@njgca.org  

                                                                                                                                                                                    

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NJGCA WANT AD CLASSIFIEDS

NJGCA Member Jerry Sweet needs to relocate his shop.

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