APRIL 24 - 30, 2017 Alibaba takes Dissident aim at Michigan shareholders Chinese giant’s CEO look to shake Jack Ma said up Rockwell to attend promo event. Want company to move Page 3 faster on drug. Page 4 Retail Real Estate The Macy’s store at Eastland Center in Harper Woods A er false What’s closed in March, as part of a plan announced in starts, an in store August to close 100 stores across the country in a move opportunity for retail? to cut costs and Closings, job losses free up capital for for McLouth investment in aren’t the whole story growth areas. By Kirk Pinho as business evolves [email protected] Dozens of trees, with their white By Dustin Walsh blossoms greeting spring, line West [email protected] LARRY PEPLIN Je erson Avenue’s median in Tren- e future of retail isn’t as simple ton, a startling contrast to what im- as “the internet is taking over.” mediately lies to the east. e supposed bricks-and-mortar A mammoth 180 acre-plus indus- retail apocalypse is overstated. But trial property, housing a 1 million- the face of the industry and its jobs is square-foot building with shattered changing drastically, in ways that are windows, has confounded local, likely to bene t city centers like De- county, state and even federal o - troit at the expense of rural and sub- cials for more than a decade. urban shopping centers, reversing a It may nally be on its way to be- decades-long trend. ing transformed. e question is: Nationally, the retail sector lost Into what? 30,000 jobs in March, a decline that’s It wasn’t all that long ago that its expected to be exacerbated by the waterfront location along the Detroit winddown of several major depart- River prompted a developer to con- ment stores like Macy’s and Sears, jure up plans for a sprawling mixed- which are expected use development with more than Keith Crain: to close 218 locations 2,000 residences and hundreds of Will brick and this year. is led to thousands of square feet of commer- mortar go headlines last week cial space, but local real estate ex- away? Page 8 like “ e Silent Crisis perts generally believe it’s best suit- of Retail” and “ e ed for industrial use. retail apocalypse is creating a Whatever developer ends up with ‘slow-rolling crisis’ that is rippling the site best through the U.S. economy.” known as the “ e people that work in retail former McLouth stores will lose their jobs, then spend Steel Products less money in retail stores because Corp. property they are no longer employed,” Mark — now that Cohen, the director of retail studies at Wayne County Columbia Business School, told Busi- has foreclosed ness Insider last week. “ at creates a on it for $3.7 mil- cascade of economic challenges.” lion in unpaid Local experts, however, say the re- property taxes — Jim Roberts: The tail jobs picture is more complicated, will have to grap- site is “a toughy.” calling the job losses a correction or ple with envi- blip in the overall market as retailers ronmental issues stemming from shift from rural and suburban centers decades of use as a steel manufac- to the city. turing plant. Alarmists point to the rise of “You’re asking a $1 billion ques- e-commerce, which has risen rough- tion, and I think everybody is ly 40 percent year-over-year, but still scratching their heads,” said Jim only accounts for 9 percent of total ANNALISE FRANK/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Roberts, a senior vice president of in- SEE RETAIL , PAGE 18 The 1,700-square-foot Bonobos location on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit opened in February. The store carries a dustrial brokerage for the South eld slim inventory for customers to see and try on, then have purchases shipped to them. SEE MCLOUTH , PAGE 19 © Entire contents copyright 2017 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved crainsdetroit.com Vol. 33 No 17 $2 a copy. $59 a year. Selling done right Wells Fargo case raises question: How do companies design culture and incentives that don’t encourage unethical behavior? NEWSPAPER Page 10 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS // APRIL 24, 2017 INSIDE MICHIGAN BRIEFS BANKRUPTCIES 20 CALENDAR 14 Business leaders urge ply contaminated with lead, e CLASSIFIED ADS 17 ending public pensions Associated Press reported. Karen Weaver's announcement DEALS & DETAILS 14 Michigan should get out of the Tuesday is a reversal. KEITH CRAIN 8 business of oering government Last year, Weaver said the city of MARY KRAMER 9 workers pension and health care 100,000 residents would stick with benets in retirement, under new a plan to draw from a pipeline to OPINION 8 recommendations from the state's Lake Huron that is under construc- RON FOURNIER 8 top business executives. tion. But she re-evaluated that de- RUMBLINGS 23 Instead, the state should move cision as a condition of receiving all newly hired public school teach- $100 million in federal funding to WEEK ON THE WEB 23 ers and municipal employees into address the manmade disaster. COMPANY INDEX: dened-contribution, 401(k)-style, Weaver said switching the water SEE PAGE 22 retirement plans, stop oering source again is too risky and staying health insurance to new hires and with Detroit's water supply from give retirees incentives to buy cov- Lake Huron is less expensive. workforce continued to grow, the erage from private insurers, ac- Flint returned to that source in state said Wednesday, according to cording to a report released Mon- October 2015 after it was discov- e Associated Press. day by Business Leaders for ered that Flint River water was not e Michigan Department of Michigan, the state's business treated to reduce lead pipe corro- Technology, Management & Bud- roundtable. sion for 18 months. get said the rate fell from 5.3 per- Business Leaders for Michigan, Flint’s mayor recommended Tuesday that the city continue getting its drinking Under a 30-year contract agree- cent in February compared with a led by President and CEO Doug water from a Detroit-area system for the long term. ment with the Great Lakes Water national March rate of 4.5 percent. Rothwell, issued the report the Authority, Flint will get a $7 mil- Last month's jobless rate in Michi- same day it held a summit on state group wrote, a position motivated if schools, municipalities and the lion annual credit from the GLWA gan was two-tenths of a percentage and local scal stability in Lansing. by the possibility that the U.S. and state are to be able to withstand to pay toward its portion of bonds point higher than the state's year- Lansing-based Public Sector Con- Michigan economies could dip economic trouble. for the Karegnondi Water Authori- ago rate of 4.9 percent. sultants conducted the research back into recession within a few ty's $300 million pipeline from e agency said the state's work- and analysis for BLM. years after a lengthy, if slow, recov- Flint mayor wants to keep Lake Huron. force rose by 6,000 with an increase e organization believes any ery. city on Detroit water in total employment of 17,000 jobs. benets restructuring should be Central to that is promoting poli- State jobless rate up e number of unemployed work- done in a way that preserves cover- cies to improve Michigan's long- Flint's mayor recommended from a year ago ers fell by 11,000. age promised and oered to exist- term economic growth, the report Tuesday that the city continue get- “While these latest numbers are ing retirees. suggests. Addressing employee leg- ting its drinking water from a De- Michigan's unemployment rate certainly promising, we must not "It's time to make Michigan gov- acy costs, both for pensions and re- troit-area system for the long term, fell to 5.1 percent in March while become complacent," Gov. Rick ernments recession-proof," the tiree health care benets, is critical following a crisis that left the sup- the number of people entering the Snyder said in a statement. FEATURED LISTINGS ANN ARBOR HIGH TECH LIVONIA EXECUTIVE PARK Multiple Addresses 5210 & 5220 S. 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Licensing: https://www.ten-x.com/company/legal/licensing Backed by CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS // APRIL 24, 2017 3 Retail Commerce Jewelry store renovation nds gems Simmons and Clark Jewelers refreshes store, bridal business By Chad Livengood BLOOMBERG [email protected] Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder and one of When a contractor began reno- China’s wealthiest people, is expected vations last fall at Simmons and to attend an event in Michigan this Clark Jewelers, third-generation summer.