Business

I received a note the other day from Richard Proffer of the University of Missouri Extension Service office in Jackson. Richard and I have known each other for 10 or 15 years, dating back to the days when we were both very active in the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), which was commonly referred to back then as the "Tri-State Ad Club."...

Across the United States and right here in Southeast Missouri, bicycle sales are off the chain. "We've been here 43 years, and this is the highest sales demand and repair volume we've seen -- ever," said Eric Gooden, owner of Cape Bicycle and Fitness. "The news is using the term 'unprecedented' a lot, and this is truly unprecedented."...

There's been a leadership change at Alliance Bank. It was announced last week the bank's president and CEO, Cord Polen, would retire, effective this week. His retirement was announced by Wade "Pee Wee" Bartles who is succeeding Polen as the banking organization's president and CEO...

Missouri has 13 casinos total in the state, four each in Kansas City and St. Louis and five outside metropolitan areas. Several small Missouri towns rely heavily on funding from local casinos. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the casinos to shut their doors in mid-March, the money ran dry. Now, city governments are scrambling to adjust...

A popular Cape Girardeau entertainment venue, Dogwood Social House, will reopen next month with limited operating hours. Owner Andy Patel told me last week Dogwood will open June 5 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic spread into Missouri...

It should come as no surprise online shopping has been growing in popularity. Three years ago, it was estimated e-commerce accounted for about 10.4% of retail sales in the United States, and by last year, that number had increased to just over 14%. In 2019, online retail sales in the U.S. totaled just under $587 billion, second only to China's $1.9 trillion worth of online commerce...

If you think people were driving less last month during the COVID-19 pandemic, you're right. According to data provided by Cape Girardeau County Treasurer Roger Hudson, the county received significantly less CART (County Aid Road Trust) funding this month than it did a month ago and 20.9% less than it received in May 2019...

It appears Century Casino Cape Girardeau — and all other gaming operations in Missouri — will remain closed until at least the end of May, extending the casino's closure to a full two-and-a-half months, due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Missouri Gaming Commission extended its emergency order last week that temporarily closed all 13 of the state's casinos, including those owned by Century Casinos in Cape Girardeau and Caruthersville...

It's often said necessity is the mother of invention. That adage could have been applied recently when a national hotel chain approached a local company with a need for "health shields" to help protect its guests and employees from the COVID-19 pandemic...

The coronavirus outbreak has had an enormous impact on business communications — locally, nationally and around the world. With millions of employees staying home, firms have had to replace face-to-face meetings with new ways of allowing workers to talk to each other, leading to a surge in the use of web conferencing platforms...

You go to work each day, you solve problems, you complete tasks, you devote your time, talent and ingenuity to advance your company. You give it your best, 12 months out of the year. But for two and a half months, you're not paid for it. It might sound ridiculous -- after all, when it gets down to it, earning a living is the reason we keep jobs -- but for the average woman in Southeast Missouri, this is her reality...

The 2020 Census is our chance to make sure our hard-earned tax dollars make their way back to Southeast Missouri. According to Melissa Stickel, chairman of the Cape Girardeau Census Complete Count Committee, "For every adult and every child that is not counted in the census, Missouri will lose $1,300 in federal dollars every year. That's money that can go into roads and bridges, hospitals and schools...

A Jackson family is bringing a bit of Cajun culture to Southeast Missouri through SEMO Crawfish Co. Boilhouse & Market, set to open later this month. For more than 20 years, AmyJo and Ben Hunter have farmed and sold crawfish from their Sikeston, Missouri, farm, producing some 10,000 pounds each year. They own a 180-acre farm, 10 acres of which are used for crawfish...

J.C. Penney has been part of the business community in Cape Girardeau for nearly a century, but its future here could be in doubt because of the company's uncertain financial picture. According to published reports, the company is planning to file for bankruptcy protection, possibly later this week, and will close about 200 of its 846 locations in the United States. J.C. Penney has closed about 250 stores since 2012, when the retailer had more than 1,100 U.S. locations...

As the Southeast Missourian reported over the weekend, West Park Mall has reopened after being closed more than a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. About a dozen mall tenants opened Friday with additional retailers opening in the coming days, according to Stacey Keating, senior director of public relations and corporate communications with CBL Properties in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which owns the shopping center. ...

It's often referred to as the "Information Superhighway," and over the past few decades, the internet has become an indispensable part of our daily lives -- from information and communications to entertainment and online shopping. Most people use the internet every day in one form or fashion, and in homes and businesses across the nation, it has become as common as electricity and indoor plumbing...

In 2017, Lindsey Radcliffe, MABC, BT, CFPRS, QIDP, DDP, DSPT and CEO of Morning Star Behavioral Associates, won the Codefi 1st50K competition and brought her business, Morning Star Behavioral Associates, to the Marquette Tech District in downtown Cape Girardeau...

I'm a huge Simon Sinek fan. When I got the opportunity to see him speak at the Global Leadership Summit, I assumed it would be content from one of his earlier books, "Leaders Eat Last" or "Start with Why." Instead, he discussed his upcoming book, "The Infinite Game."...

I was first introduced to jiu-jitsu approximately nine years ago by some local enthusiasts and then joined the Gracie Humaita family seven years ago when my instructor, Professor Brian Imholz, first-degree black belt, moved here and opened Gracie Jiu-Jitsu of Southeast Missouri. I have always been a fitness enthusiast and first started training primarily for the fitness aspect...

Have you had a hissy fit lately? What about a tantrum? After weeks confined to our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have come close to having a meltdown. If you haven’t had one, and if you need to blow off some steam now that Missouri’s “stay-at-home” order is over, you can do it at The Breakroom, a new business in Cape Girardeau where you can break things to your heart’s content...

We live in a fragile economic ecosystem in which a change in one sector of the economy can have a devastating ripple effect in many other sectors. We all know the COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous business closures -- both permanent and temporary -- which has, in turn, contributed to an economic contraction and ballooning unemployment...

May 1 is the traditional date by which most high school seniors are asked to notify a college of their plans to enroll and so the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development has created a program called "Decision Day" to mark the occasion...

So this is what lab rats must feel like. They run mazes hoping to find the exit and score a dopamine hit. We post things on social media hoping to get a "like" and score a dopamine hit. Safe at home while we wait out the pandemic, our every move online is tracked, compiled, tabulated, aggregated, correlated and analyzed, plus other verbs we don't understand. We're in the middle of the greatest sociology experiment in the history of sociology experiments...

Several major government and health care construction projects are in various phases of completion in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The following is a thumbnail roundup of five of them — the new Cape Girardeau County Courthouse, the Jackson Police Department new headquarters, Cape Girardeau’s City Hall complex project, the new Veterans Affairs medical facility being planned in southwest Cape Girardeau and SoutheastHEALTH’s behavior hospital project.

Kathy Schlosser, owner of Appraisal Consultants, a real estate appraisal company, celebrated 25 years in business in February. Schlosser's company was the first woman-operated appraisal company in the area. Bolivar Bancshares, Inc. merged with Reliable Community Bancshares, Inc. ...

In the time of COVID-19, those fortunate enough to still be working are facing changes in the workplace, and for many, that means their homes have become their offices. Here, six Southeast Missourians share their thoughts on the experience.

Fresh Healthy Cafe owners Rick Hetzel and Cheryl Mothes hope to combat food uncertainty in the Cape Girardeau community while also keeping employees on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple, who also run the Southeast Missouri satellite of Kids Against Hunger, have redirected employees to package 100,000 meals for distribution to local organizations...

Do you think we need another round of COVID-19 stimulus checks? If you do, you’re not alone. According to results of a national survey released last week, 84% of Americans want another wave of government checks similar to those that were part of the $2.2 trillion CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act approved by Congress and signed last month by President Donald Trump...

Southeast Missouri State University is planning to extend its Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) program to its regional campuses in Sikeston and Kennett, Missouri, as well as the university’s educational delivery site in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, starting with the fall semester...

Schafer's Electric Enclosures has produced an intubation shield for hospital workers. The shield is designed to protect health care professionals from possible exposure to the virus from patients. The idea for a medical enclosure came after Cliff Brooks, chief financial officer for the company, read a Facebook post from a friend in health care. "Two hours after seeing the Facebook post," Brooks told the Southeast Missourian, "we had an idea for a prototype."...

What if we told you: a local nonprofit foundation has raised $3.4 million in the last few years? What if we told you during that time, a group of local technology companies has attracted nearly $22 million in private equity investments and created more than 200 new jobs, and some of those jobs were filled by the 150 adult software programmers that received locally-developed, hands-on training? And what if we told you more than 1,000 fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders in the region have participated in a youth coding league teaching them coding and other analytical skills and is on its way to being a national program?. ...

In 1972, beagle breeders and professionally-trained dog handlers Bill and Cecile Busch opened Busch's Kennel, one of the first boarding facilities in Cape Girardeau. In 2019, Stacy Busch-Heisserer and her husband, Chris Heisserer, took over the kennel from Busch-Heisserer's parents. They have added on, building a new office complete with luxury cat condominiums, the only ones like them in this area...

McDonald Company, Inc. has been a staple of Cape Girardeau construction since 1946. The ready-mix company is a family business, locally owned and operated for four generations and renowned for their dependability as well as the quality of the concrete they deliver. From backyard DIYs to homes, streets and bridges, McDonald Concrete can accommodate all projects...

The mission of Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET is to foster a strong economic environment resulting in the retention, expansion, creation and attraction of jobs and new investment in the area. MAGNET serves as the lead organization for area economic development efforts. The organization was established in 1992 as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization...

With the member directory listed on the Cape Chamber's public website at capechamber.com, opportunities to be featured on the Chamber's social media accounts and the Chamber referring your business, we do the networking for you so you can focus on your business and what you do best...

"Our customers have come to rely on our consistency, next-day delivery and nationwide service," says Tyra Reppert Johnson, president. "Since my father, Jerry Reppert, founded this business in 1969, we have grown to more than ink pens and paper clips."...

In 1966, Rental Land began as an equipment rental company. They offered one punch bowl, two candelabras and a card table for rent. Today, the equipment side is gone, but Rental Land Special Events has grown exponentially, offering several hundred thousand items to rent for your wedding, anniversary, holiday party, birthday party or carnival...

When the School Sisters of Notre Dame established St. Mary's High School in 1925, eight students attended. Nearly a century and a few name changes later, Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau has grown to an enrollment of more than 500. Since 2005, it has annually been ranked among the Catholic Education Honor Roll's "Top 5% of Catholic High Schools" in the nation...

Being the leader in commercial and industrial roofing takes experience. Riverside Roofing has been that leader in Southeast Missouri for sometime with 196 years of combined experience, providing high-quality, long-lasting systems throughout the region...

With a close eye on the needs of the Cape Girardeau Public School District, Foundation Director Amy McDonald works collaboratively with her executive board, district administration and community supporters to provide both extras and essentials to support district success...

Cape Kil was founded in 1949 by Dr. Charles E. Knote, a Purdue graduate and Board Certified entomologist who researched and developed Cape Kil's solution to local pest control problems. In 1963, Charles discovered a unique method to control brown recluse spiders and in 1983 invented the Mouse Maj-Ik-Box system that eliminates mice on structures' exteriors...

The way young people absorb information and connect to curriculum and each other has been modified by technology. At the Foundation, we're constantly seeking ways to collaborate with educators to help facilitate real learning. Without compromising standards or core education principles, we are working to help bridge the gap between the traditional classroom and the realities of today's world. With your help, we're keeping our classrooms relevant and our students engaged...

You might know Dr. Greg Pursley, DC, owner of PC Wellness Centers, as #TheSingingChiropractor. It's the moniker given to him by someone who heard him play a show at the casino, where he often plays acoustic guitar and sings. Since it brings together his two passions, he decided to claim it as his own...

A single word defines Connection Point Church: authentic. Being real is a trait that personifies Pastor Chris Vaught and his staff as they lead with genuine care and love for people, community and, most importantly, Jesus. It's that love for Christ that drives them to reach into this region's various neighborhoods to help unconditionally. ...

Ramsey Branch, the area's first 55+ active adult community, is expanding into the next phase. Currently, Phase 1 is 80% built, including several custom homes being constructed. Homes range in price from $175,000 to around $250,000, depending on features...

Downtown is the heart and soul of Cape Girardeau and home to hundreds of unique restaurants, boutiques, museums and more! Over the last several years, our rich history, historic buildings and heritage have been beautifully coupled with innovative technology and modern amenities allowing start-ups and mom-and-pop businesses the perfect environment to grow and thrive...

Honesty, integrity and family -- those related by blood and those not related by blood -- are the pillars of business at Roy's Tire & Auto in Jackson. The growth of the business speaks to the respect and trust the Southeast Missouri community places in owner Roy White and his employees: what began as a four-bay garage with five employees in 2003 has grown into a 10-bay garage with 15 full-time employees in 2020. ...

Kasten has been focused on building family memories since 1895. From brick and stone for a new home, a fireplace or stove to keep your family warm over the winter, or creating a summer backyard getaway with a pool, hot tub and landscaping, Kasten can create something beautiful that will last for generations...

We believe in entrepreneurs. We believe in the value of local businesses, which create jobs and support the community. That's why we're proud to help business owners succeed. Whether a business is just starting out or is ready to scale, we work to find the right solutions...

At the beginning of 2020, no one could have imagined the situation we would be facing by the end of the first quarter. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) arrived as an invisible threat that has disrupted our lives as we knew them just a few short months ago. The only thing certain at this particular moment is uncertainty itself. From a financial standpoint, these are the moments for which a retirement plan is so important...