BUSINESS MEMO: NEW LOWE'S CENTERS

Lowe's home improvement centers are expanding in Southern Illinois.

A 160,000-square-foot supercenter is under construction at Carbondale, and the company recently announced that a similar-sized store will be built on a 16-acre plat just west of Interstate 57-U.S. 15 at Mount Vernon.

Lowe's, the nation's second largest home center chain, expects to open 60 stores over the next year with future plans to increase from 380 to more than 600 stores by the year 2000. The Carbondale store is expected to open early next year.

Lowe's opened a 150,000-square-foot retail center in Cape Girardeau in 1994 on a site southeast of Cape Girardeau's Wal-Mart Supercenter, west of Interstate 55, in Cape West Business Park.