Convenience stores change gasoline brand from BP

If you've driven around town lately you may have noticed several convenience stores no longer carry the BP brand of gasoline.

BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told me the company decided to stop providing their product from the Scott City terminal recently.

"Those who own stations that carry our gasoline brand had the choice to rebrand or pull our product from St. Louis," Beaudo said. "It was purely a business decision on our part."

Laura Younghouse, owner of Midwest Energy, a company with numerous stations in the area, said her company decided to stop providing the BP product because it wasn't a viable option for them. They've switched to Phillips 66.

Other stations have decided to change to the ZX brand owned by JD Street of St. Louis.

* Scott City diner rebuilt: When January's winter storm caused Berghoff's Cafe to collapse, co-owner Eric Berghoff vowed to rebuild the diner at a new location. After months of construction on a building at 408 Rose Con Road, the Scott City cafe has reopened.

Berghoff was excited about once again serving his former customers.

"It's good to be back and see many people I hadn't seen since January," Berghoff said. "I appreciate all my loyal customers coming back."

The diner is open 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A closed door separates the smoking and non-smoking sections.

To reach Berghoff's, call 264-2221.

* Two businesses close: A video game club and sandwich shop are the latest businesses to shut their doors in Cape Girardeau.

Playmoors, a place for video game fans to gather, had opened in early November inside the former El Durango location inside West Park Mall. The video game club allowed patrons to pay one price to play a variety of games on Wii, PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Gamecube for an entire day.

However, after a month in operation the store shut its doors.

Blimpie sandwich shop recently ceased operations at 1001 Broadway. The owner still has stores in Advance, Mo., and near Best Buy at 3036 William St.

Both owners were unavailable for comment.

* Grace Cafe location not idle: Fans of Grace Cafe will find it hard to believe that the coffee shop has been closed since October 2008.

If you've driven past the building that once housed Grace Cafe at 818 Broadway, you may have noticed that the lights are on yet again, but for another reason. Parry said at least four churches are using the building on different nights while she awaits a buyer.

* Small Business of the Year nominations: Just a few days remain until nominations for the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year are due. Chamber president and CEO John Mehner said that to be eligible, a business must be 51 percent locally owned, have no more than 50 employees and have been in operation for five years or more. Last year's winner was ServPro.

To nominate a business, call 335-3312 or e-mail info@capechamber.com. Deadline for nominations is Jan. 5.

Southeast Missourian business reporter Brian Blackwell may be contacted at 388-3628 or bblackwell@semissourian.com.<I>