NEW ON THE BUSINESS SCENE: K'S MERCHANDISE PLANS GRAND OPENING

A grand opening celebration will be held at K's Merchandise this week.

Official grand opening festivities start Wednesday evening when K's Merchandise hosts a Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce VIP party, for chamber members and their guests.

The festivities will continue Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the store's main entrance.

K's Merchandise opened recently at 371 Broadview, at the intersection of Bloomfield Road and Broadview. The company is family-owned and headquartered at Decatur, Ill. The Cape Girardeau store is the 14th in the group and the first location to open in Missouri.

Hundreds of people are expected for Thursday's grand opening. Shopping bags filled with more than $100 of store merchandise to the first 300 shoppers to enter the store immediately following the ribbon cutting.

The four-day grand opening will feature grand prize drawings, daily giveaways, floor bingo games, and special appearance by some special cartoon celebrities, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the American Greetings Birthday Bear.

Also scheduled during the grand opening are appearances by NASCAR drivers and cars, and a number of sporting goods demonstrations in the parking lot.

The store-opening giveaways will resume Saturday, with a random presentation of 495 one-half carat cubic zirconias and five genuine one-half carat diamonds to the first 500 shoppers.

Two-person teams from local media -- newspapers, radio and television -- will compete in a pumpkin decorating contest for charity Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Prizes are $500, $250 and $100, to be donated to the charity of the winners' choices.

K's is also working with Southeast State University and FISH for a can-building contest which will benefit the community with a food drive. "Various groups will collect canned goods and build statues of them on the parking lot," said Burgess. The canned foods will be donated to FISH.

Phil Pierce is store manager. He is also regional manager for the Carbondale, Ill., store, which opened in November.

K's will employ about 100 full-time employees, and another 100 seasonal employees through the holidays.

The store is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.