LANSING, Mich. – Food retail stores, which includes supermarkets, gas stations and convenience stores, are often the anchors of commerce in urban and rural communities across the state. The Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers (AFPD) commissioned a study by Michigan State University (MSU) Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) to better understand the industry’s contribution to the state’s economy.
“We commissioned this study because we believe that people often take grocery stores for granted,” said Auday Arabo, president and CEO of AFPD, in a press release. “Everyone talks about the auto industry and health care, but the grocery industry is the anchor to every community in the state of Michigan and around the country.”
The study highlights the contribution of Michigan’s food retail industry to its economy, estimating the jobs created and supported by the industry—both direct and indirect—as well as employee income and the contribution of taxes. “Using State Treasury data as the foundation of our analysis, we estimate the food retail industry contributed $15.4 billion to Michigan’s gross domestic product and supported 273,000 jobs in 2014,” said Laura Goddeeris, MSU CRFS specialist. “This accounts for not just the industry’s direct sales, but its purchases from other Michigan industries for things like real estate and utilities, as well as the spending patterns of its employees.”
“The premise of the analysis is to remind people that the grocery industry is a major contributor to the state’s economy,” Arabo said. “Grocery stores are part of a community’s infrastructure. They are just non-government infrastructures, but still very important to the viability of a community.”
Michigan grocers agreed. “Just about every community in the state has some sort of retail outlet that provides good-paying jobs and often careers for the family bread-winner,” said Phil Kassa, co-owner of Heartland Marketplace and AFPD board chairman. “Grocers also have several entry level positions for people living in the neighborhoods in which we serve. We become part of the community in so many ways. Also, every community benefits from the tax dollars generated from payroll taxes, and property taxes collected, not to mention the charitable contributions that are made by a lot of businesses.”