BUSINESS MEMO

Mary Caldwell of the Southeast Missourian, Chris Hutson of Furniture Fair, and Scott Shivelbine of Shivelbine's have been elected to three-year terms on the Greater Downtown Merchants Association Board of Directors.

The association meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at Port Cape Girardeau.

Other board members are: John Boardman, Charles Hutson, Chuck McGinty, Jayne Ervin, Roger Lang, Jim Cairy, Kent Zickfield, Joe Low, Steven Gregg and Dennis "Doc" Cain.

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Boatmen's Bancshares Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, reported first-quarter net income of $70.3 million, an increase of 27.1 percent over the $55.3 million during the same period a year ago.

Income per share increased from $1.16 a year ago to $1.45 during the first quarter of 1993.

Boatmen's Bancshares, with assets of $23 billion, is one of the 30 largest U.S. bank-holding companies. It operates more than 400 facilities in eight states, and has banks in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

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A seminar designed to help top management teams understand the importance of the customer satisfaction process, and how it impacts business growth, will be held at Southeast Missouri State University's University Center June 9, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

James C. Schmitt, president of the Better Business Bureau, will instruct the seminar, which is sponsored by the Small Business Development Center and Small Business-Business Research Committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

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Dollar General Corp. has reported a 53 percent increase in earnings for the quarter ended April 30.

Chairman Cal Turner Jr. said net income for the quarter rose to a record $5.9 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with $3.8 million or 11 cents a share for the first quarter of 1992. Total sales increased a first-quarter record of $221.8 million.

The company, which operates 1,642 stores, has operations in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.