STRICTLY BUSINESS: VENTURE STORE ADOPTS NEW IMAGE

Venture Store, one of the three anchors at West Park Mall -- JCPenney and Famous are the others -- has adopted a new format and the reaction has been favorable on the New York Stock Exchange.

The new emphasis is on its "Family Value Department Store" apparel and home merchandise, rather than discount merchandise of past years.

Along the way to a new design, 10 Venture stores have been closed. A number of hard goods such as sporting goods and hardware are being cut back, some lines have been dropped and others added in the remaining 100-plus stores. One of the 10 closings was in Carbondale, Ill., in 1993, two years after the store had opened at University Mall.

The company is boosting its selection of soft goods, like apparel, and aims to sell higher quality, higher-priced items.

"See What's New For You" is the new Venture advertising theme, and an insert in Thursday's Southeast Missourian, kicked off the print campaign for the local store's "Grand Re-Opening" last week.

Venture is also in the midst of upgrading store fixtures and improving the layout of merchandise.

Venture Stores stock shot up in February, after falling from $6.50 a share to less than $4 ($3.65) during the first three quarters before posting a fourth-quarter profit. In late February, the company's common stock rose $1.65, to $5.25, and the mid-March readings have soared to more than $6.

Venture, formerly a subsidiary of May Department Stores Co., opened its 80,000-square-foot store at West Park Mall in 1984, becoming the first Venture Store to become part of a mall. At that time, all Venture operations were free-standing buildings.

Changes at the mall

A number of changes are taking place at West Park Mall.

The Limited is gone.

So is Sbarro's Italian Eatery.

The Merry Go Round store is going.

The Briar Patch is moving.

Denim Works is coming in.

Gospeland Book Store is expanding.

And Mercantile Bank is downsizing its mall facility.

"We're about 95 percent leased," mall manager Jim Govro said. The mall is observing its 15th anniversary in Cape Girardeau this year.

The Briar Patch, a temporary client at West Park Mall, is in the process of moving across the corridor to a space previously occupied by a Christmas Holiday temporary client, Leather Works, to make room for Denim Works.

"Denim Works will occupy adjoining spaces previously occupied by the The Limited and Briar Patch," said Govro. "The combined space provides about 6,900 square feet for Denim Works."

Denim Works of Denver provides all types of denim wear from Levy to Big Star, including jeans, shirts, belts and shoes, for infants through adults.

The Limited, a clothing store at West Park Mall for almost 15 years, closed recently.

Sbarro's Italian Eatery closed within the past week.

Mercantile Bank, a branch located next door to Sbarro's, will downsize its mall operation, moving the branch across Route K to the former Amerifirst Bank building. Mercantile recently purchased Amerifirst Banks at Sikeston and Cape Girardeau.

Mercantile will maintain an ATM in front of the St. Louis Bread Co.

Meanwhile, the Merry Go Round Store is in the process of closing, part of a nationwide liquidation move.

Gospeland Book Store is also considering expansion, into an area previously occupied by a temporary baseball card operation.

Meanwhile, talks with Sears Roebuck & Co. are continuing, said Govro.

Sears and mall officials have been "on and off" in talks since 1989, when Sears suggested possibilities of a fourth anchor store at the mall.

"That is still a possibility," said Govro.

Sears stores reported December sales gains. While analysts say the retail industry as a whole had a disappointing sales gain of aboaut 2.5 percent during the December holiday shopping season, Sears had gains of twice that rate.

Analysts and Sears executives credit the improved sales to marketing strategies put in place over the past three years.

Sears' strategies have included store-remodeling programs and a drive to bring more women into the stores. These moves included increasing fashionable apparel lines, improved services and an advertising campaign that Sears has more to offer than stuff for the garage.

Family Dollar to Cape

Family Dollar Store will open in a Cape Girardeau at the former Aldi Food Store building in the 200 block of South Kingshighway, possibly in April.

Cheryl Pulliam of Family Dollar marketing, said an exact date for opening will be established soon.

The Cape Girardeau store will be the seventh for the company.

Industrial park open house

Real estate, bank representatives and others attended the Six Thirty Corporation Industrial Park open house recently.

Ernie Beussink and Earl Norman, owners of the industrial park, updated the park, located along Southern Expressway, between South Kingshighway and South Sprigg Street.

Six Thirty is among the newest and fastest-growing industrial parks, created in 1987.

The park, Beussink and Norman, told the group, currently is home to Dana Corp., Mid America Distributing, Day Transfer & Storage; Mid South Steel, Federal Express, Genex Co., Cape Central Publishing, Missouri Power Transmission, All American Homes, Southeast Fabricating and Ryder Transportation.

Work is also under way on a new state office building near Sprigg and Southern Expressway. A number of tracts, from 4 to 12 acres, are still available on the south side of the expressway in Six-Thirty Park.

Also in the industrial park area are Florsheim Shoes and VIP Industries and ERB Equipment, which were situated alongside Highway 74 (now, Southern Expressway), before the industrial park was founded.

Dana Corp. was the first big tenant for the park. Dana selected a 15-acre site in the park to open its $23 million, 140,000-square-foot operation in 1989 and now employs more than 300 people.