The North Carolina Retail Merchants Association (NCRMA) celebrated its 100th anniversary in May of 2002, marking the occasion with an outdoor reception for members and legislators held at NCRMA offices in downtown Raleigh.

NCRMA staff researched the history of the organization for a centennial book. What follows is an excerpt from the book that explains a little more in-depth of how we came to be.

The First Years – A Venerable State-Wide Organization is Born of One Man’s Interest In Aiding Merchants

In 1902, Burlington City-Attorney Norman H. Johnson was brought face to face with a growing problem for retailers in the area. The merchants in Burlington had passed along a number of accounts to him for collection. He noticed that many of these collections were against the same persons. Knowing that these persons were not worthy of the credit they received, he suggested to the merchants that they come up with a formal way of exchanging credit information. At a meeting at City Hall, he persuaded them to form the Retail Merchants Association of Burlington for the purpose of studying credit and trade abuse. The benefits were soon apparent.

Other towns soon heard of this movement and Mr. Johnson was asked to visit these towns. In every town he visited an association was formed. In July of that year, nine associations met in Raleigh to form the North Carolina Merchants Association (NCMA). At this meeting Mr. Johnson was elected Attorney General and organizer. During the next year 47 local associations were formed.

The successful NCMA became the pattern for other state associations throughout the United States. During this time, Mr. Johnson was also chosen to serve as General Counsel for the Virginia Merchants Association and the Southern Retail Merchants Association.

As Attorney-General for NCMA, Mr. Johnson was the author of many laws and reforms that benefited business. In 1905 the Raleigh Evening Times in its legislative edition paid this tribute to his work:

“We have endeavored to give brief sketches of the career of the preeminent members of the General Assembly and of their work in promoting the growth of the state’s industries. The busiest of this sketch, Norman H. Johnson, was not a member of the General Assembly, but was one of the most active members of the “Third House” – The Lobby – and his work in that capacity was most effective.”