BusinessSeptember 6, 2016
Business notebook: Huckstep body shop marks its 70th year
Businesses come and go in Southeast Missouri. Particularly this year, it seems a considerable number of national chains have departed, and several decades-old local businesses have closed or been sold. But though their departures are noticeable, many businesses in the region are standing the test of time and carrying legacies through generations...
Businesses come and go in Southeast Missouri. Particularly this year, it seems a considerable number of national chains have departed, and several decades-old local businesses have closed or been sold.
But though their departures are noticeable, many businesses in the region are standing the test of time and carrying legacies through generations.
Huckstep Body and Paint Shop is one of them.
Opened in 1946 by Albert Huckstep, the shop has stood at the same location for 70 years. The building has grown and expanded over the decades, as has the city around it. In the lobby hang photos from the shop's history. An aerial view of the building just years after it opened paints a completely different picture of Kingshighway. Over the decades, homes and businesses filled what was once empty land around the building, and at least one has been removed.
"My grandma and grandpa had a house out there," Gordon Huckstep said, motioning out the lobby window to the yard just in front of the building.
Gordon Huckstep recently retired from the business his grandparents started, and now his son, Zach Huckstep, is running it. Zach began working in the shop from a young age, as like his father before him, and he hopes to watch his two sons, ages 5 and 7, carry on the tradition.
The shop has grown from two bays to six, and employees have come and gone, but little else has changed as the business passed through generations -- except for one particular service.
"We used to pull people from cars," Gordon Huckstep said, holding an old newspaper with a photo of his father, Gene Huckstep, armed with a circular saw, cutting into the wreckage of a car.
In the 1960s and '70s, Gene Huckstep offered extrication services. Where emergency personnel now use the Jaws of Life to remove people from crashed cars, Huckstep Body and Paint would use a saw with an orbital blade. It was a service to the community done voluntarily for over 20 years. Cape Girardeau firefighters began offering extrication service in 1977.
Huckstep continued the service in Cape Girardeau County until an agreement between Cape Girardeau and the county was reached in 1988 to extend the service.
But all the other services within the business have remained the same, though the technology they use to provide them has not. Huckstep Body & Paint offers auto-body work, dent repair, hail-damage repair and paint matching to customers new and longstanding.
Just as the business is made up of generations, so are their customers who help keep the business open decade after decade. Gordon Huckstep said the success of the business is built on customer relationships: taking care of people and "kiss[ing] a lot of a--."
Port Cape now prohibits smoking
A big change is coming to Port Cape Girardeau. Starting today, there will be no smoking allowed in the entire facility.
The restaurant side of the business has been smoke-free since 1989, but the smoking policy is being updated to include the bar and banquet facilities as well.
An announcement about the policy was made on the restaurant's Facebook page and signed by the "Doc Cain Family."
Cain and Port Cape were at the forefront of the hotly contested smoking ban in 2011, when Cape Girardeau residents narrowly voted against a smoking ban, allowing businesses to continue setting their own smoking policies.
"We still believe that choice belongs to business owners and not government or special interest," the restaurant's Facebook post read. "... This is strictly a business decision for Port Cape Girardeau."
The Facebook post stated the owners feel the elimination of smoking within Port Cape will enhance the restaurant's appeal.
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The Doc Cain family promised to do its best to accommodate smoking customers as Port Cape transitions to a smoke-free facility and stated it looked forward to bringing in new business while keeping the regulars.
EBO opens in Doctors' Park
Essential Benefit Offerings (EBO) has opened at 37 Doctor's Park in Cape Girardeau.
The health-care facility offers a direct-access clinic where customers can visit a physician, obtain lab results and fill most generic prescriptions.
The facility also offers access to TeleHealth, a round-the-clock health-care line connecting patients to primary-care, pediatric, internal-medicine, dermatology and mental-health physicians.
"The mission of EBO is to help health-care consumers to become better educated about resources available to them, the actual costs involved and how to keep more money in their pockets," EBO co-founder Tony Thompson said in a news release.
Clients of the EBO clinic are scheduled for 30-minute appointments.
Lab work is done on-site, and results are received in less than 24 hours in most cases.
Labs and generic prescriptions are offered at wholesale pricing.
"Dr. Judee Bland is committed to providing these positive experiences for patients, and we are thrilled to have her as a partner at the EBO MD clinic," Thompson said.
New services planned for EBO in September include a Center for Diabetes and other diabetic services under the guidance of Dr. Sandra Bollinger.
Imo's Pizza Parlor opens in Scott City
A new Imo's Pizza Parlor opened in Scott City. Inside the Rhodes 101 Travel Center at 3508 Nash Road, the 4,000-square-foot facility is managed by Jenny Powers and will offer a complete Imo's menu.
Dine-in and carryout service will be offered. In the future, alcohol will be sold there by the drink.
"We are very excited to offer Imo's Pizza to our customers in Scott City," Brent Anderson, vice president of operations and business development for Rhodes 101, said in a news release. "We did our homework and found out how strong the Imo's brand is -- not only in St. Louis, but in other areas of Missouri."
Woodmen honors area representative
Ken Volkerding, a financial representative with Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial, was named district representative of the month for August.
He has been with Modern Woodmen since November 2004.
bbrown@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3630
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