NEW BUSINESS: WELCOME WAGON RETURNS

The Welcome Wagon is back in Cape Girardeau.

The Welcome Wagon, a "new homeowner" welcoming program, was discontinued in Cape Girardeau during the early 1990s.

The program, in business 70 years, is based in Westbury, New York, and is a division of GETKO Group Inc., a source of advertising/direct mail programs and database services for the new homeowner market.

"We pleased ato off the Welcome Wagon program to the Cape Girardeau area again," said Mary Prince, account executive for the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area.

Last year, the Welcome Wagon program, sponsored by more than 50,000 merchants and professional, welcome more than 1.4 new homeowners in the United State and Canada.

"We have found that most people start a new telephone/address directory when they move into a new home," said Selina Dominguez, Welcome Wagon sales manager, who is in the area to help establish the Welcome Wagon Address Directory.

The directory will be sent to all new homeowners, and includes information and telephone numbers for a number of household products and services.

The categories include physicians, department store, convenience store, lumber/building supplies, pets supplies, sporting goods, grocery stores, banks and many categories.

The Welcome Wagon not only helps new homeowners get acquainted with local services, it also provides exposure to the business community.