STRICTLY BUSINESS: COUNTRY MART STORES STILL GROWING

When Bob Hufford joined with Wayne Gott and Max Penner in 1970 to form Town and Country Grocers of Fredericktown Inc., they established a goal -- to operate supermarkets.

They've been doing that ever since.

The Fredericktown group has been renovating and building new supermarkets for 30 years, and now operate 39 supermarkets in four states -- Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky -- with 25 of them in the Show Me state, the latest at Poplar Bluff.

"We offer a full range of products here," said Jim Ferguson, manager of the new location, which opened last weekend.

The new store has two meat sections (for fresh meat and smoked meats), produce aisles, full-service bakery department and a deli. The cafeteria will be open for all meals, sit-down or carry-out. The customer services department will offer lottery tickets, stamps, money orders, check cashing and Western Union.

Town and Country Grocers operates five divisions with 20 stores in the Town and Country Division: 11 in Country Mart; two in County Mart; four in Price Chopper and two in ALPS (Always Low Price Store) Division.,

Each of the Country Mart stores employs 100 to 125 people.

Town and Country Supermarkets are found throughout Southeast Missouri, and is observing its 31st anniversary this year.

Hufford, after working as a youngster in supermarkets, was on the road as a Nabisco Company salesman during the late 1960s, and called on the supermarket in Fredericktown owned by Gott and the late Max Penner.

"We talked, they were looking for another partner, and I bought in," said Hufford. Penner and Gott owned eight stores at the time, but only the Town and Country at Fredericktown was included in the new corporation, which has grown to 28 stores.

"There's a lot of grocery experience in Town and Country today," said Hufford. "The founders all started in the grocery business while they were in their teens."

Carolyn Penner has replaced her late husband as the third partner in the group.

Bargains by the mile

Plans are being finalized for the region's third annual "100-Mile Yard Sale," which will run Thursday through Monday.

The event is expected to increase traffic along a 100-mile stretch of Highway 25 from Jackson, Mo., to Kennett, Mo.

The 100-mile yard sale was the idea of Ellen Lowe of Bloomfield, Mo., who organized the event in 1999 with more than 100 yard sales along the route. Cities and communities along Highway 25 include Jackson, Gordonville, Advance, Delta, Dexter, Bernie, Bloomfield, Clarkton, Malden and Kennett.

Many stores in the towns along the route conduct weekend sidewalk sales, said Paula Reeder, executive director of the Malden Chamber of Commerce, which is active in the event. More information is available by calling the Malden chamber at (573) 276-4519.

Harlan Smothers will help kick things off for the middle days of the sale, holding "Smothers Antiques Tail Gate Sale" Friday and Saturday.

Smothers has about 25 spaces for the household, antiques and collectible sales to open at 7 a.m. each day. Smothers Antiques is on Route K a short distance off Highway 25.

"Bargain hunters will be in their element," says Lowe, who will conduct her own sale Highway 25, between Aquilla and Bloomfield.

Hundreds of people along the route will hold yard sales, she said, and many stores in the towns along the route will have weekend sidewalk sales.

Lowe, who is retired and an antique and memorabilia collector, got the idea for the 100-mile yard sale from her own yard-sale visits in Kentucky and Tennessee, which features an annual 100-mile-plus yard sale, which stretches from Wickliffe, Ky., along Highway 51 to Memphis.

Heard on the street

Stooges, a restaurant between Cape Girardeau and Jackson on Highway 61, is now serving barbecued ribs, grilled chicken salad, chicken strips and appetizers.

We understand downtown Cape Girardeau will soon be the site of another restaurant. More on both of these later.

Meanwhile, a Cape Girardeau business has opened a link at Jackson. JCS/Tel-Link, which provides wireless service of all kinds, including wireless phones, two-way radios and satellite telephones, has opened at 125 E. Main St. JCS/Tel-Link has been in business 42 years in Cape Girardeau.

Greg Cook, manager of JCS/Tel-Link announced the new branch recently.

B. Ray Owen is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.