Cape store closure will leave 'big' void

Curt and Penny Johns have a big customer base. Literally.

For more than four decades, Curt and Penny have owned and operated Guy's Big●Tall in Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza Shopping Center, catering to the clothing needs of men who are taller and heavier than most. They also own Guy's Uniforms in the back half of the store, providing for the uniform needs of police officers, firefighters and paramedics and school uniforms for boys and girls.

"We'll start our 41st year on Nov. 2," Penny told me last week.

It will be the store's final anniversary.

Curt and Penny plan to close the store and retire later this year, but they aren't "going out of business."

Guy's Big●Tall and Guy's Uniforms will close later this year when owners Curt and Penny Johns retire after 41 years in business.JAY WOLZ

"I don't want anybody to say we're going out of business, because business is still here," Penny said. "It's just time for us to retire."

Over the years, the couple has developed a loyal customer base and are now serving second and third generations of families.

"Some of them have been customers for so long they've become friends and family to us," Penny said.

Curt and Penny have been married almost as long as they've been in business together (they celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary in August), and while they look forward to many more years as husband and wife, they say its time for their "business partnership" to end.

"We're just a mom and pop operation," Penny added. "We just started out and found out if we worked real hard we could make a living at it, and that's what we did."

But their successful business and all that hard work came with a price of long hours, day in and day out, for many years.

"It's been good for us, but working six and seven days a week is getting a little old," Curt said. "The older I get, it gets rougher every day."

"We have to be here from 10 o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening six days a week and a lot of times you have to take work home with you or come in early to do work, and it's just time to retire," Penny said. "It's just time."

This week the store is temporarily closed through Thursday while Curt and Penny prepare for their retirement sale, which will start Friday.

Asked how long the sale will last, Penny said there's no specific end date, "but before Christmas would be nice."

Curt and Penny have no plans to sell the business, but they say there's a need for a niche clothing store like theirs.

"I wish only the best for whoever decides they want to open a store like this," Penny said. "I mean, go for it, because people need to be serviced."

Just don't call it Guy's Big●Tall.

"No, I've got that wrapped up," she said. "They'll have to figure out a different name for it."

Your opinion matters

As I've reported several times recently, the Cape Girardeau Area Magnet board is formulating a strategic plan to help guide the organization in its industrial recruitment and retention efforts. As part of that process, Magnet wants to hear from you about where you think it should focus its efforts in the future.

The deadline for Magnet's online survey has been extended through Thursday (the end of the month). It only takes a few minutes to complete and survey participants are eligible to win one of 10 $25 gift cards as a "thank you" for sharing their thoughts.

The survey link is surveymonkey.com/r/DFX8YWY (if you're reading my column on the Missourian's website, you can click on the link to go directly to the survey).

Cuba Financial Group planning office relocation

The Cuba Financial Group in Cape Girardeau confirmed plans last week to move its offices to a new location next year.

Company CEO and senior adviser Tyler Cuba told me Friday the company is building a new office at 3224 Independence St., on the northwest corner of the Independence and North Mount Auburn Road intersection, about four blocks west of the firm's current offices at 8 S. Silver Springs Road. He said they plan to occupy the new space in March.

Tyler's father, Richard, founded Cuba Financial Group in 1983 and serves as the company's president. The firm offers financial planning services with a specialization in retirement income and wealth accumulation strategies.

Administrative vacancy at SEMO

Sonia Rucker is leaving her position as Southeast Missouri State University's dean of students effective later this week after submitting her resignation earlier this month.

Rucker, who has also served as SEMO's vice president of equity, access and behavioral health since September of last year, is moving to New York, where she will become associate vice president of Cornell University's department of inclusion and belonging and will serve as an adviser to Cornell's administration on matters of diversity and equity.

SEMO has not indicated whether a search has begun for Rucker's replacement.

Gifts from beyond?

Is it a brilliant business idea or a creepy concept? I'll let you decide.

Shawn and Kate Lavin, a couple in the Buffalo, New York, area, have launched Forever Present, a posthumous gift delivery service allowing people, after they die, to send messages and gifts to friends and loved ones.

"A gift from beyond the grave is one of the most timeless treasurers that a grieving loved one can receive," Shawn Lavin said in an email I received from him last week about the unique service.

The idea, he said, came from the tradition he and his wife had of buying flowers every year for their daughter's birthday. Shawn said his deployment with the New York Air National Guard during the COVID-19 pandemic helped him decide to start the online business.

"That deployment underscored the importance of being able to express sentiments of gratitude and love to those we care about after we pass," he said.

Forever Present customers can choose from one-time gifts such as a handwritten or typed letter, a video message or recurring gifts such as roses, tulips or sunflowers. The company then begins watching databases and public records, waiting for customers to die. When deaths are confirmed, gifts are delivered as pre-directed.

According to the Lavins, Forever Present is the only business of its kind in the United States.

If you want to know more, the company's website is foreverpresent.com.

Looking for more business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Go to www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.