Business briefs

SEWING STORE OPENS IN P.B.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Sew Much More opened Jan. 1 at 1103 Cherry St. The store, owned by Paula Hefner, sells fabric, quilting and sewing supplies, and offers sewing and quilting classes for all skill levels.

COFFEE SHOP HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting to open Hot Shotz Coffee Haus, 2201 N. Westwood Blvd., Suite 5.

LEARNING CENTER HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING

DEXTER, Mo. -- The Dexter Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting Feb. 3 for the official opening of Bright Beginnings Creative Learning Center on the corner of Chautauqua and One Mile Road in Dexter. The day care facility has been renamed and is now owned by Venna Smith.

STEAKHOUSE HOLDS RIBBON CUTTING

HOLCOMB, Mo. -- A ribbon cutting was held for Strawberry's Backyard Steakhouse, located on Main Street in Holcomb. Jerry Holsten and Karen Vandiver own the business.

FARM BUREAU GETS EXCELLENCE AWARD

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Scott County Farm Bureau received an Award of Excellence during the 96th annual meeting of the Missouri Farm Bureau at Lake of the Ozarks. Kenneth Westrich, president of the Scott County Farm Bureau, accepted the award from Charles Cruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau. Only one award of excellence is presented in each category of the organization's gold star program. The five categories include membership, marketing/commodities, public policy/FARM-PAC, Young Farmers and Ranchers/leadership development, and public relations/promotion and education. Scott County won the award for exceptional work in marketing/commodities.

PHARMACY GETS AUTOMATIC PILL DISPENSER

John's Pharmacy is the first independent pharmacy in Cape Girardeau to install an automatic pill dispenser, freeing the pharmacy team to focus on patient care and service. Parata Max fully automates the dispensing of pills, tablets and capsules, which are typically about 60 percent of a pharmacy's prescriptions. The machine selects and labels each vial, counts the right number of the right medication and strength, caps the vial and sorts the finished prescription by patient name, all in a few seconds.

CITY CENTRE BUSINESSES OPEN

LeBounce Indoor Inflatable Play Centre opened Feb. 4 in the former Rust & Martin building, now called City Centre, at 2502 Tanner Drive, Cape Girardeau. LeBounce has more than 6,000 square feet of inflatable play elements, a 400-square-foot toddler play area, a parents lounge and private party rooms. The Source Yoga 'N' More also opened in the City Centre. Owner Lauren Jones is an instructor and also teaches yoga at HealthPoint Plaza. The Source offers yoga, pilates, dance, qigong, tai chi and meditation classes, as well as private sessions. Cafe Soupe, a restaurant specializing in soups, sandwiches, salads and gourmet coffees, will open in late March. The restaurant's seating area will be in the indoor courtyard of City Centre.

DINO'S PIZZA NOW OPEN

Dino's Pizza opened at 1034 Broadway, Cape Girardeau. The restaurant, owned by Kostas "Gus" Demopoulos, is known for its pizza, Greek food, fried chicken and mojos.

ELITE TRAVEL RECOGNIZED FOR SERVICE

Elite Travel Inc., Cape Girardeau, was certified as a Gourmet Inclusive Vacation agency, with elite diamond status, by El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels by Karisma, Mexico's premier, gourmet inclusive beachfront resorts in the Riviera Maya. The achievement indicates a high professional commitment exceeding service standards. Elite Travel was honored with diamond status at the Gourmet Inclusive Vacation Consultant Awards and Sales & Marketing Forum Dec. 1-4 in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Elite Travel has also been inducted as a member of the exclusive Funjet Vacations 500 Club, a program recognizing travel agents who have had outstanding sales and service achievements in the last year.

DOCUMENT SHREDDING BUSINESS NOW OPEN

Delta Docment Shredding opens (Submitted photo)

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Delta Document Shredding, 2516 E. Malone Ave. Brothers Jay and Marc Leible own the business with Chuck Leible. The business offers shredding of documents and discs, as well as pickup of the items.

WIESER POWERSPORTS CLOSES

Wieser PowerSports, Cape Girardeau, closed at the end of February. Owner Jerry Wieser said the PowerSports industry has suffered in the economic downturn. The store had been open for about two years.

SEAFOOD RESTAURANT TO OPEN IN CAPE

Fisherman's Bay will open at 1015 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau. Owner Lorenzo Martin said he hoped to open by March 1. Martin previously operated EJ Roni's in West Park Mall. The menu at Fisherman's Bay will feature fish, chicken, coleslaw, hush puppies and fries, Martin said.

BBBS GETS COMMUNITY HERO AWARD

Safeco Insurance announced that a Community Hero award of $6,500 has been given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri in Cape Girardeau, on behalf of Capital Insurance & Associates. Safeco's contribution was presented to Big Brothers Big Sisters by Safeco agents Deborah and Chris Gross of Capital Insurance & Associates in Cape Girardeau, who were named Safeco Insurance Community Heroes for making a positive difference in their community. The agents nominated Big Brothers Big Sisters for a grant through the Safeco Insurance Agent Giving Program.

MASSAGE BUSINESS OPENS IN FARMINGTON

FARMINGTON, Mo. -- Healthy Touch Massage and Wellness opened at Bauer Chiropractic and Acupuncture, 301 N. Washington St. Susan Stimpson, a licensed massage therapist, offers seated and table massages, body-balanced detox systems and body wraps.

CHICK-FIL-A COMING TO CAPE

A free-standing Chick-fil-A is coming to 3333 Gordonville Road, at the intersection of William Street and Saint Francis Drive in Cape Girardeau. The Pizza Inn restaurant currently located there will be torn down to make way for a new 4,596 square-foot Chick-fil-A, according to plans filed at Cape Girardeau's city hall. The restaurant will have indoor seating for 138, plus a drive-thru. There will be 50 parking spaces on the nearly one-acre site. Construction is expected to start this spring.

MENARDS WILL BRING 150 JOBS TO CAPE

The nation's third-largest home improvement retailer, Menards, is coming to Cape Girardeau. The $8 million-plus development will be at the southwest corner of Siemers Drive and Bloomfield Road, according to a preliminary site plan filed at city hall. Developers plan to employ 150 people, with 60 to 70 of those being full-time, according to Ken Eftink, assistant city manager. This is the first large retail development in the city since 2005, a year that brought Sears Grand and Kohl's, also in the Siemers Drive area. Thomas O'Neil, of Menards' real estate division in Eau Claire, Wis., did not yet know when construction would begin on the 16-acre site. Plans include a 162,340-square-foot retail store, outdoor garden center and lumber warehouse building, Eftink said.

ALOHA POOLS OPENS CAPE STORE

Aloha Pools and Spas opened at 1749 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau. The store specializes in in-ground pool construction. It offers vinyl-liner, fiberglass and Gunite pools in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as pool chemical care, accessories, hot tubs, tanning beds and Primo Grills. The company's other locations are in Paducah, Ky., Union City, Tenn., and Jackson, Tenn.

BRYANT OPENS INSURANCE OFFICE

Tim Bryant opened a Farmers Insurance Group office at 1928 Golden Eagle Court, Suite 3, Cape Girardeau.

Bryant is also licensed to sell health and Medicare supplemental insurance.

SELF-HELP GARAGE CLOSES

LEADINGTON, Mo. -- East Missouri Action Agency's C.A.R.S. Self-Help Garage closed its doors Jan. 31 because it was unable to sustain itself, reported the Park Hills Daily Journal. The garage, which opened in June, provided low-cost auto maintenance and repairs, and offered hourly garage bay rentals for people who wanted to do their own repairs. The project was funded with federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and provided by the Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division. The garage employed a full-time mechanic and a full-time receptionist.

COMFORT INN GETS PRESTIGIOUS HONOR

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Comfort Inn and Suites of Sikeston earned the 2010 Gold Hospitality Award from world lodging leader Choice Hotels International Inc., franchiser of Comfort Inn. As a top-performing property among the company's more than 4,900 U.S. franchised hotels, the Sikeston hotel is among the top 10 percent of properties within the Comfort brand. It is only one of eight in Missouri to receive Gold Award status.

UPDATES

RIVER EAGLE BUYS NEW WAREHOUSE

Anheuser-Busch Inc. wholesaler River Eagle Distributors bought a new warehouse to store its growing nonalcoholic product lines. The 10,000-square-foot warehouse, 2027 Rust Ave., Cape Girardeau, is almost directly across the street from its present facility. Tom Kelsey, commercial broker with Lorimont Place Ltd., represented the seller, Blattner Steel Inc., in the transaction.

NEW OWNER AT BLOOM STUDIO

Michaelyn B. Ross of Cape Girardeau purchased Bloom Studio and Gifts from Carrie Tracy. Ross has been manager of the store for three years, and it will continue to operate at 2121 Broadway, Cape Girardeau.

MALDEN BUSINESSES RELOCATE

MALDEN, Mo. -- Byrum, Culp, Davis & Dell moved to 2103 N. Douglass, the former Malden Chiropractic office. Malden Chiropractic and J&F Storage moved to 123 W. Main St., next to Rick's Hairworld in Malden.

COUNSELING BUSINESS MOVES

Regional Counseling and Employee Assistance Services moved to 2907 Independence, Suite F, Cape Girardeau.

MALL OWNER SELLING PROPERTIES

Australia-based Centro Properties Group confirmed March 1 that it will sell its 588 U.S. shopping malls, including West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau, to BRE Retail Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI, LP, for $9.4 billion. Blackstone is an asset management and financial services company based in New York. Its purchase of Centro's malls is Blackstone's first major retail investment, company spokesman Peter Rose said. The company also has a minority interest in General Growth Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns, develops, and operates regional shopping malls across the U.S. Centro purchased West Park Mall 2006. It expects to close on the sale of its U.S. malls this summer.

1ST CLASS RELOCATES

1st Class Travel holds grand opening (Submitted photo)

The Perryville, Jackson and Cape Girardeau chambers of commerceheld a ribbon cutting March 1 for 1st Class Travel. The agency moved to 3443B William St., Cape Girardeau, just a few doors down from its previous office.

DEVELOPMENT

NOTRE DAME FINISHES $1.4M CENTER

Notre Dame Regional High School, Cape Girardeau, completed construction of its new $1.4 million multipurpose center in February. The 12,000-square-foot addition has a court for basketball and volleyball, a walking track, a multipurpose room with seating for about 250 fans, a wrestling practice room, storage for sports equipment and high-tech digital connectivity. Work is now underway for phase two of the school expansion project, which will include additional classrooms. Phase three will upgrade the auditorium, and the final phase will add about 600 seats to Notre Dame's 1,400-seat gymnasium. The total project is expected to take about five years to complete.

HOUSING COMPLEX TO BE RENOVATED

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A multimillion-dollar project to renovate a 50-unit housing complex in Charleston, Mo., began Feb. 18, reported the Sikeston Standard Democrat. The Business Research Institute of Community Economic Development, a not-for-profit organization based in Sikeston, Mo., bought and will rehabilitate the 40-year-old complex after receiving loans totaling $3.73 million. The property, formerly owned by the local housing authority, began to deteriorate in 2000, resulting in closure of the 50 rental units. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's housing agency will make a $3.46 million loan to BRI and provide rental assistance to help low-income tenants pay rent. The Housing Assistance Council, a national not-for-profit group, will lend up to $270,000. The property will be completely renovated, inside and out, and will include energy-efficient features. It will be renamed the Jerry D. McDowell II Subdivision. Lisa Lane, executive director of BRI, said the three-phase project should take about 270 days, with rental for some units beginning in May. Phases one and two will take place on Warren, Wallhausen and Lon Moore streets, and phase three will encompass West Cypress, West Market, Elm, West Commercial and Locust streets.