Cape Shoe relocates

Business Today

Cape Shoe Co., the region's only shoe manufacturing company, has recently moved into its new facility at 2555 Rusmar in Cape Girardeau. The building was acquired through a property exchange with RM Coco Fabrics, which formerly occupied the building. But RM Coco purchased the former Florsheim Shoe Manufacturing building from Cape Shoe last year.

Tom Kelsey, commercial broker with Lorimont Place, Ltd., handled the transaction for both parties.

Eli Fishman, owner of the shoe manufacturing company, said the current building, consisting of 25,760 square feet, better suits the company's needs. The new facility has 3,640 square feet of surplus office space that Kelsey's Lorimont firm is looking to lease to a prospective tenant.

The former Florsheim building was nearly 100,000 square feet and was built to accommodate a larger-scale operation with dozens of different shoe lines. Cape Shoe's focus is 100 percent American-made boots with a few other shoe styles.

In addition to their regular line of boots and shoes, Cape Shoe is currently making a military boot for the armed forces, many of them used by American solders in Iraq.

The Cape Girardeau business has been nationally recognized for its products, which are unique in that all the materials come from the United States.

Cape Shoe employees about 40 people. The new facility's size and equipment will allow it to increase that to as many as 200.