STRICTLY BUSINESS: A NEW LOOK AND BUSINESSES AT TOWN PLAZA

The Town Plaza Shopping Center is taking on a new look.

New businesses, new lighting, an improved parking lot and a new look for the entire shopping strip that fronts William Street are on the boards for the 35-year-old center.

"We're in the process of redecorating the entire strip," said Kent Evans of Greater Missouri Builders Inc., headquartered in St. Louis. Owners of the center said they refurbish the shopping center about every three to five years. It last received a facelift in 1992.

Greater Missouri Builders acquired the center in 1972. The center, which opened in August 1960, was developed by the late Burton J. Gerhardt.

One of the biggest new businesses that will occupy the center is Hastings Books, Music & Video, which will move into the more than 22,000 square feet that previously housed Plaza Gift and Office Supply. That company recently moved to 342 S. Kingshighway.

Hastings, which has more than 100 stores nationwide, is looking toward a May 29 opening here.

Deborah Jung will be store manager of the new Hasting facility here.

"We offer a wide selection of books, music, greeting cards, posters and videos for rent and sale," said Jung, who is manages a Hastings store at Benton, Ark.

Hastings, headquartered in Amarillo, Texas, has three stores in Missouri, at Joplin, Jefferson City and Springfield, and more than 100 stores nationwide.

The new store here will employ 50 to 60 people, Jung said.

There will be a lot of movement at the center in the next few months, Evans said.

The F.W. Woolworth building, vacated in 1994 with the closing of a number of Woolworth operations nationwide, will be filled with three businesses, one of them already in an existing building in the strip.

Guy's Big & Tall will move down the block, into about 4,000 square feet of the Woolworth building.

Guy's Big & Tall, which was founded 14 years ago, offers dresswear, sportswear and jeans in larger sizes.

Owner Curt Johns said, "We need more room. This is our third expansion since we have been in the Plaza." The business started with 1,600 feet and expanded to 2,400 in 1990.

Other businesses that will move into the Woolworth space are a used sporting equipment business and a Hallmark card shop.

New to the center is CHECKSplus, which moved into the arcade portion of the strip in December, and Tans-R-Us, which is in the process of moving into a vacancy adjoining Garber's Men's Store.

The strip center houses about 20 businesses.

Another building "fills up"

When everything is completed, the only empty space left in the strip will be the 4,000-square-foot space currently occupied by Roommates, which will move to the 300 block of South Kingshighway in May. The 40,000-square-foot building at Bloomfield Road and South Kingshighway, will be fully occupied soon.

Plaza Gifts & Office Supplies recently moved into the building in about 15,000 square feet of space previously occupied by Lowell's.

Plaza Gifts was previously in the Town Plaza Shopping Center.

"We were in the Plaza about 29 years," said Frank Klueppel, owner of the gift and supply shop.

Roommates and Signmaster, owned by Ed and Veronica McCormick, will move into the building that previously housed Silo, in May, absorbing 10,000 square feet for the two operations.

Other businesses that have located in the building are Hancock Fabrick with about 9,000 square feet, and Carpet Connection, about 5,000 square feet.

New on the business scene

The Saint Louis Bread Co. has opened in West Park Mall at Cape Girardeau.

The company, which offers bakery products, coffees, sandwiches, soups and salads, for in-cafe or carry-out, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Sandwiches include lean turkey, tuna salad, smoked ham with cheese, roast beef and vegetarian. Soups are served in sourdough or conventional bowls. Greek, Caesar and Healthy Choice salads are accompanied by an oven-fresh sourdough roll.

All breads and bakery items are baked fresh daily.

The Saint Louis Bread Co. was founded in St. Louis in 1987 by Ken and Linda Rosenthal.

The company is involved in the local community through its "Operation Dough-Nation" program. All bakery items not sold at the close of each business day are donated to the Cape FISH Food Pantry and the Safe House for Women. The company also supports the Cape Girardeau Community counseling Center by matching in-store collection canister contributions with fresh bread, donating both cash and bread to the center.

The "Dough for Kids" fund-raiser also helps schools raise money for computers and educational materials.

Soap 'N Suds Laundry has opened at 501 N. Silver Springs Road in Cape Girardeau.

Owners of the new business are Chris and Myra Jung.

The laundry has computerized washers and dryers.

Included at the business are video games, pool tables and dart machines.

Beer, wine and sandwiches will be available in the near future.

Boatmen's Bank recently held a "Foundation Celebration" at 320 W. Main St., in Jackson to announce construction of its new main facility.

The new structure will serve as a full-service facility including commercial and real estate lending and Boatmen's Investment Services. It is expected to open next fall.

Drury Inns Inc. has opened another property, an 80-room Drury Inn at Sikeston near Interstate 55 and U.S. 62.

Drury already owns a Holiday Inn Express at the same intersection.

From 20 to 25 new jobs were created in the Sikeston area with the opening of the motel.

The motel is a five-level structure.

Drury Inns Inc. owns and operates more than 60 Drury Inn, Pear Tree Inn by Drury, Thrifty Inn, Hampton Inn, and Holiday Inn Express hotels in 11 states. Twenty-four of the properties are in Missouri, including Cape Girardeau, Hayti, Poplar Bluff, St. Louis, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Joseph, Troy and Joplin.

"Tippers Anonymous"

"Tippers Anonymous," a national organization dedicated to improving services and restoring tipping to its rightful status, may take on new members soon.

When the organization was mentioned during a recent Missourian article on tipping, a number of requests for the group's address were received.

For $2, a person can become a Tippers Anonymous member. Members receive a book of report cards that can be removed and left with their tip.

"You have just served a member of Tippers Anonymous," the card reads. "This group is dedicated to improving service and restoring its reward -- tipping -- to its rightful status. Based on experience in other establishments, I have rated your service as indicated (excellent, good, fair, poor) and tipped accordingly."

The address? Tippers Anonymous, 77 Leland Farm Road, Ashland, Mass., 01721.

Americans tip more than $12 billion a year.

Hotel/motel occupancy rate up

The occupancy rate for U.S. hotels rose to 65.2 percent in 1994, up 3.3 percent from 1993, and the highest level since 1982.

These are figures from Smith Travel Research, a Gallatin, Tenn., company that tracks the lodging industry.

Cape Girardeau's motel occupancy rate fall within the national level, ranging between 65 and 70 percent, which translates into more than 200,000 filled rooms a year here.

Cape Girardeau currently has more than 800 motel rooms, ranging from basic lodging in "no-frills" budget motels to apartment-size hotel suites featuring all the amenities -- health clubs, game rooms, gift shops and lounges with live entertainment.

A total of 806 rooms listed here, and two more motels, scheduled for 1995 opening, will add another 125 rooms.

The Hampton Inn, scheduled for a midyear opening, is a three-story, 82-room hotel, a block south of the Drury Suites near the Interstate 55-Route K interchange. The hotel to be located at the Interstate 55-Fruitland exchange, will consist of about 40 rooms, and is scheduled for a late-September or early-October opening.

Elsewhere:

MARBLE HILL -- Three business awards will be presented by the Bollinger County Chamber of Commerce this year.

Chamber officials will select a "Business of the Year," and service company awards in two categories, 10-years and 35-years.

The chamber's annual Business Appreciation Banquet will be held Sept. 9. Paramount Headwear was selected as the 1994 "Business of the Year."

POPLAR BLUFF -- Steak 'N' Shake opened recently at 1417 N. Westwood Blvd. in Poplar Bluff.

Owners of the restaurant is In-Sight Partners, a Farmington-based company that specializes in Steak 'N' Shake restaurants.

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. -- Wooden railroad ties may become a thing of the past.

Nucor-Yamato Steel of Blytheville has signed a multi-year exclusive steel supply agreement for the production of hot-rolled steel sections that will be made into steel railroad ties.

Steel ties have been used in many parts of the world for more than a century, but the steel ties have been used only in modest quantities in the United States over the past five years.

Although the project is still in the development stages, Nucor-Yamato said it could account for 20 percent of the output of one of its mills, or about 200,000 tons of rolled product.

Nucor-Yamato is the largest structural steel producer in the United Stats, with a capacity of more than 2 million tons a year.

POMONA, Ill. -- Classic Garden Ornaments Ltd. has relocated to Southern Illinois.

The company, founded in Evanston, Ill., in 1990 by garden designers Charlotte Peters and Daniel Ward, recently moved to Pomona, a small community of about 200 people north of Alto Pass off Route 127.

The business features a number of garden ornaments from around the world, including Minoan Urns from Crete and English planters, figures, birdbaths and fountains.

Classic Garden Ornaments also manufactures its own brand, Longshadow Gardens, of yard and garden ornaments.