NEW ON THE BUSINESS SCENE: SOLAR PRESS MAY FIGURE IN EXPANSION PLAN

Plans are under way for construction of a new Solar Press, Inc. facility in 1994, and Perryville could be involved in those plans.

"At this point we don't know where the new facility will be," said Vince Adelman, general manager of current Perryville plant, which consists of 160,000 square feet and employs about 300 workers.

Solar Press, headquartered at Naperville, Ill., is a manufacturer of direct mail inserts. The company recently announced that the firm had finalized an agreement with Valassis Communications, Inc., of Livonia, Mich., for production of the Newspac newspaper sampling program.

"Under the agreement, Solar Press will print wrappers and package a variety of powder, liquid and solid product samples for delivery through newspapers," said a spokesman from Solar Press headquarters. "Initially, Newspac production will take place at the Perryville facility."

Frank Hudetz, chairman and CEO of Solar Press, said that plans are being considered for construction of a new Solar Press Newspac facility in 1994.

"At this point, we don't know whether that construction will take place at Perryville, or at another site," he said. He added that Solar Press is "ideally suited to handle this product line."

"We have a wide range of printing and packaging capabilities specialized for direct marketers," said Hudetz. "We've also had close association with the Chicago Tribune and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) in the initial design and testing for Newspac. We're well prepared to handle this product line."

Valassis Communications acquired the exclusive Newspac production rights from the Tribune and NAA in April of this year.

Solar Press's initial site for News~pac production will be in the Perryville facility, which has already had two expansions. The latest was in 1991 when the building was expanded from 100,000 to 160,000 square feet, with an addition of 80 new jobs.

Solar Press opened at Perryville in June 1988 in a 40,000-square-foot shoe factory building that closed earlier that year. Solar Press employed only a dozen people at that time.

A year later, the firm moved into a new 100,000-square-foot building in Perryville Industrial Park with an employment total of 100. Today the facility has a work force of 300, ranking in the "Top 25" industries in the Southeast Missouri area.

If Perryville is selected for the permanent Newspac site, it would require another structure of about 100,000 square feet.

Solar Press has a total of five U.S. divisions and a European plant at Aalst, Belgium. The firm also has sales offices at Bridgewater, New Jersey and Toronto, Canada.

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Bare Necessities by Carlene will open in downtown Cape Girardeau in early August.

The new retail shop, which handles children's and women's dance~wear, dance shoes, lingerie and accessories, will open at 38 N. Spanish, hopefully Aug. 1, said Ernestine Grinstead, owner of the new shop.

Bare Necessities will also maintain its current store Bare Necessities and World of Games at 226 Broadway in Paducah, Ky., where it has been located seven years.

"We offer teddies, garter belts, bustiers and dancewear," said Grinstead, who previously operated the Studio School of Dance in Paducah.

Susan Sachse of Cape Girardeau will be the manager here. The store will be open Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

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The Merle Norman Cosmetic Studios at West Park Mall is under new ownership.

Tina Jackson, of Jonesboro, Ill., recently purchased the franchise for the cosmetics center.

"This is a `Gold Medal' studio," said Jackson. "Merle Norman studios can receive this designation for a high standard of excellence."

Jackson has worked at the studio four years.

Merle Norman, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., was founded more than 60 years ago and has operations in every state.

The local operation is open from 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

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COBDEN, Ill. Heartland Harvest, Inc., a new produce packing and shipping facility that will ship Southern Illinois-grown products throughout the U.S., has opened in Union County.

Brenda Edgar, wife of Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, recently joined company officials and produce buyers from across the nation to celebrate the grand opening of the new firm, which will employ as many as 400 persons during the peak harvest season.

"As a native of Union County, I am delighted to witness the revitalization of the Southern Illinois produce industry," said Mrs. Edgar. "This facility will mean jobs for many people in this area."

The 60,000-square-foot packing house is located in the former Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange building on U.S. Route 51 near Cobden. It will pack and ship red and green peppers, squash, pickles, cucumbers and other summer produce, much of it grown on Rose Farms, a 5,000-acre operation owned by Jim Rose, who is also a principal in the packing house operation.

"Putting Heartland Harvest on line is the culmination of years of effort by the state of Illinois, area farmers and others to return this region to prominence in vegetable production," said Rose.

The state provided $1.6 million in loans and loan guarantees to assist with expansion and upgrading of the Heartland Harvest building, as well as grant for road and bridge improvements allows truck access to Rose Farms and direct access to major distribution routes.

The products will be marked through A. Duda & Sons, Inc., of Oviedo, Fla., one of the nation's largest growers of fresh vegetables.

Heartland Harvest is expected pack and ship as many as a million boxes of fresh summer vegetables.

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The makeover of Sears, Roebuck and Co. is apparently paying off.

When the company released its second-quarter financial report last week, profits were listed at $1.01 billion in its retail business and the sale of stock in its All-State Insurance subsidiary.

Sears earnings amounted to $2.63 per share for the three months ending June 30, comparing to 85 cents a share for the same period last year.

Sears is in the middle of a make-over directed by retailing chief Arthur C. Martinez. Sears slashed costs this year by killing its 97-year-old, money-losing catalog and closing 113 of its 860 stores. The Cape Girardeau store is one of the 860 stores which were retained.

The Sears restructuring also calls for renovation of its stores under a five-year, $4 billion program.