Subscriber exclusive — Business Notebook: Rally's in Jackson to open soon; safety tips for Christmastime shoppers

A 40-year banking career will draw to a close later this month when Henry "Butch" Holyfield retires as president of First State Community Bank in Cape Girardeau. The bank, owned and operated by First State Bancshares Inc. of Farmington, Missouri, announced last week Butch has decided to make Dec. 31 his final day on the job.

The bank has also announced Marvin Adams Jr. will succeed Butch as FSCB's Cape Girardeau branch president.

An open house in Butch's honor will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Friday at the bank's William Street location.

I've known Butch for many years as we both attended Grace United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. He started his banking career in 1975 at First Federal Savings and Loan in Sikeston, Missouri, before moving the Cape Girardeau in the early 1980s, which is about the time I first met him. He has been with FSCB for 15 years and has been in his current role as community bank president since August of 2006. Before that, he was in commercial and mortgage lending.

According to a news release from FSCB, Butch played a critical role as bank president by helping the bank adjust to significant changes in management and leadership and, in the process, he served as "a champion for establishing new partnerships throughout Cape Girardeau and contributing significantly to the community."

Marvin Adams

"I love helping people and this organization has given me the opportunity to do so," he said in the release.

Butch's successor, Marvin Adams Jr., has more than 17 years of banking experience in Southeast Missouri, previously serving as vice president and commercial lender at FSCB. He was previously at Wood and Houston Bank and joined FSCB on April 1. He will take over as president of FSCB's Cape Girardeau market Jan. 1.

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JohnsonJackie

I also learned over the weekend Jackie Johnson is retiring from the Bank of Advance after a 42-year career there.

A retirement reception in her honor is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. today at the bank.

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The new Rally's fast food restaurant in Jackson is set to open shortly after Christmas. Brent Anderson, vice president of operations and business development with PAJCO in Cape Girardeau, told me Friday the franchise outlet at the intersection of East Jackson Boulevard and South Hope Street has a target opening date of Dec. 27. The opening date, of course, could vary depending on the weather.

"Rally's made a whole lot of sense for us because it fits into our business model," Anderson said. "It's affordable and its fast."

He said just about everything on the Rally's menu can be prepared in 45 seconds or less and served within two minutes. The Jackson Rally's will offer drive-through service and an outdoor patio eating area and will especially cater to lunch, dinner and late-night customers, open until 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and until 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

I also spoke last week with Bruce Kim, director of franchise development in this region for the Checkers and Rally's brands (the two franchises merged a few years ago and go by one name or the other depending on what region they're in; in Missouri they're known as Rally's).

Rally's has 17 locations in the greater St. Louis area. Nationwide, the company has 872 locations, of which about two-thirds are Checkers and a third carry the Rally's brand.

"We're a burger franchise, offering delicious fast foods, shakes, fries, chicken and fish sandwiches," Kim said, adding, "our fries are our thing." Although the company hasn't had fast food locations in this area until now, it's french fries have been available at Walmart, Sam's Club and Target stores.

In addition to the Rally's in Jackson, PAJCO also plans to open a Rally's in Sikeston, possibly as soon as early February, Anderson said.

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With the end of the year -- and the decade -- approaching, its time to look back at a few economic statistics.

Even though the data is almost a year old, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week 166.4 million people worked in the United States at some point during 2018, meaning 64.4% of the nation's civilian population, age 16 and older, worked sometime between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2018. That percentage was up slightly from the 64.2% mark in 2017.

Meanwhile, the number of people who experienced some unemployment during 2018 declined by 1.3 million to about 13.2 million.

These statistics are based on information collected in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

Highlights of the 2018 survey:

• The proportion of workers who worked full time, year-round in 2018 was 70.4%, up 0.9% from 2017.
• The "work-experience employment rate," defined as the number of people unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number of people who worked or looked for work during the year, declined by 0.8% to 7.8% in 2018
• About 2.2 million people looked for a job, but did not work at all in 2018, compared with 2.4 million in 2017.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics last week also released monthly and annual consumer price comparisons.

Prices in the Midwest, as measured by the consumer price index for all "urban" consumers edged down 0.2% in November, influenced by lower prices for gasoline and apparel.

Over the past 12 months, the consumer price index increased 1.9%. The CPI for all items except food and energy rose 2.1% over the year while food prices increased an average of 2% and energy prices inched up 0.2% during that period.

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I touch base every now and then with Scott Colbert, chief economist at Commerce Trust Company in St. Louis, to talk about the outlook for the nation's economy in the foreseeable future.

You may remember Scott was in Cape Girardeau earlier this year to speak with Commerce Trust clients, and at that time, he said contrary to popular opinion, he did not expect a recession anytime soon.

Last week, he was quoted on the Contrarian Investor Podcast saying he expects "as much as four more years" of economic expansion and the U.S. economy is in much better shape than many believe.

He said leading economic indicators put the timing for the nation's next recession at February 2023.

Stay tuned.

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Don't look now, but Christmas is next week!

If you're planning on hitting the stores between now and Dec. 25 to finish shopping for people on your list, the City of Cape Girardeau offers shoppers the following safety tips -- that apply any time of year:

• Don't shop alone at night. If you must shop alone, park in a well-lit area as close to the store as possible.
• Put packages in your truck. Leaving packages in your car for all to see is like hanging a sign on your car that reads, "Please break glass and help yourself."
• Take your keys out of your purse or pocket before you leave the store. People who want to rob you or do you harm need you to be distracted so you can't see them coming. They often target women who are distracted by digging around in their purse for their car keys.
• Don't text when you're walking to and from your car. In the same way hunting for your keys takes your eyes off your surroundings, texting is a signal you're an easy mark.
• Try not to use the ATM or carry lots of cash. ATMs are to criminals what candy shops are to children. In most cases, it's easy for them to walk up to you or to your car and force you to hand over your money. If you absolutely must use cash, go to the drive-through teller at your bank. Every time you check out at a store, there is a potential for someone to notice cash in your wallet.
• Never leave your purse in the front of a cart. Zip up or close your purse and then put the child seat belt through the straps to make it difficult for someone to take it from the cart.
• Don't wear expensive jewelry while shopping. Leave it at home for obvious reasons.
• Lock your car doors as soon as you're inside. The very first thing you should do when you get in is to lock the doors. Don't put your seat belt on or start your engine until you've hit the lock button.

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Now on to the rest of this week's Business Notebook ...

Commission reaffirms SEMO accreditation

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) has reaffirmed its accreditation of Southeast Missouri State University for 10 years with no interim reporting or monitoring required. The action came earlier this month during a meeting of the commission's Institutional Actions Council.

"Reaffirmation is the culmination of a rigorous, two-year HLC comprehensive quality review process that validates the quality of our work and virtually every aspect of our institution," said university president Carlos Vargas in a news release about the accreditation. "Reaffirmation of our accreditation underscores the quality of this institution and a long tradition of excellence and service to our region and beyond."

The reaccreditation process at Southeast began in the spring of 2018 and included site visits to Southeast's campuses in Cape Girardeau and elsewhere throughout the region as well as the submission of various reports by the university, a student opinion survey and the gathering of third-party comments from community members, alumni and other stakeholders.

Southeast was last accredited by the Higher Learning Commission in January 2013.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened an office in the former home Steve-Mark Decorating Center, 2125 William St.Submitted

FEMA opens operations office in Cape Girardeau

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has opened a regional office in Cape Girardeau's Heritage Center development, 2125 William St., the former location of Steve-Mark Decorating Center. The regional FEMA office opened a few weeks ago and provides federal aid to local governments and not-for-profits in the Southeast Missouri region to help repair public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, damaged by flooding and storms earlier this year.

Tom Kelsey and Chris Cole, brokers with Lorimont Commercial Real Estate, said the agency will use the 8,000-square foot space as an operational office to oversee any claims in the Southeast Missouri region affected by flood and storm damage incurred between April 29 and July 5. They said FEMA would occupy the Cape Girardeau office space for an undetermined amount of time, adding it will likely be for several months.

In the meantime, Lorimont Commercial Real Estate continues to pursue long-term tenants for the Heritage Center development.

Shawnee College receiving donation of a semi truck

ULLIN, Ill. -- A trucking company in Kentucky is giving Shawnee Community College a 2014 Freightliner and tanker trailer for use in the college's trucking program. The vehicle is intended to make the program more inclusive for drivers who may have disabilities that might prevent them from entering the trucking industry.

The donation by Schwerman Trucking of Calvert City, Kentucky, was made after Shawnee truck driving coordinator Kelly Jennings reached out to terminal manager Tim Hodges in an effort to help prospective students who were unable to complete the college's truck driving program due to physical limitations.

"We are grateful to Mr. Hodges and Schwerman Trucking for agreeing to provide this generous donation," said Jennings. "It will open so many doors of possibility to local residents."

Travel agencies merge to form new travel firm

Bethany Byrd

A pair of travel agencies -- Bethany Byrd's Dream Vacations of Jackson and Dream Vacations-Jessica Slater and Associates of Acworth, Georgia -- have combined operations and will operate under the name Dream Vacations Jessica L. Slater & Bethany Byrd.

"It has always been a dream of mine to own my own business, and I look forward to this next chapter in my career as a travel agent," said Byrd, Dream Vacations franchise owner and vacation specialist.

Byrd began as an associate with Dream Vacations in April 2018 and has attended several travel conferences and seminars, which have helped her obtain various certifications with cruise lines and land-based vacation vendors.

Dream Vacations-Jessica Slater and Associates opened in September 2000 and specializes in honeymoons, all-inclusive resorts, ocean and river cruises, Disney vacations and European land vacations. With the addition of Byrd, the combined agency now has 10 travel experts.

The agency's website is dreamvacations.com/jslater.

Space still available for business strategy series

There's still time to sign up for BOLD Marketing's monthly series of business strategy sessions scheduled to start in January.

The Small Business Best Practices series is intended to help individuals and businesses with fewer than 75 employees develop and execute effective marketing strategies.

Each four-hour session at the BOLD Marketing offices in Cape Girardeau will include hands-on training dedicated to a different topic each month ranging from brand development and online marketing to crisis management and employee engagement strategies.

More information is available at BOLDSmallBusinessTraining.com.

People on the Move

Pamela Sander has been appointed by the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents to serve as the university's representative to the Show Me Center Board of Managers. Her appointment was approved Friday during the regents' meeting on the university campus.

Sander, the university's controller and assistant treasurer, will serve a three-year term ending Dec. 1, 2022. She replaces Kathy Mangels, SEMO's vice president for finance and administration, whose term expired Dec. 1.

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Amanda Baert

Amanda Baert has been promoted to the position of commercial relationship manager at U.S. Bank. In her new position, she will manage the bank's commercial relationships in the Missouri markets of Sikeston, Dexter and Poplar Bluff.

She has been with U.S. Bank for 10 years and lives in Chaffee, Missouri.

Janet Jansen

U.S. Bank has also announced the appointment of Janet Jansen to be commercial team lead for Southern Missouri. She will be responsible for sales team leadership and driving revenue as well as management responsibilities for the commercial loan team. She will manage markets in Southern Missouri including those in Rolla, Washington, Poplar Bluff, Dexter, Farmington, Cape Girardeau and Jackson, as well as Springfield, Joplin, Branson, Lake of the Ozarks and Warrensburg.

Her office will be at the U.S. Bank branch office on North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

She has 22 years of banking experience, a master's degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University, and lives in Leopold, Missouri.

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Andrew Boldrey

The Saint Francis Foundation recently added four new members to its board of directors. They are Dr. Andrew Boldrey, Tucker Davis, Barbara Mueller and Angie Womack.

Tucker Davis

Boldrey has been a pediatrician with the Ferguson Medical Group in Sikeston since 2005 and became affiliated with Saint Francis Healthcare System when the Ferguson group merged with Saint Francis in January.

Barbara Mueller

Davis is senior vice president at First Midwest Bank of Popular Bluff and has been in the banking industry for 23 years.

Angie Womack

Mueller, a registered nurse, is director of clinical applications in Information Technology at Saint Francis and has supported the Saint Francis Caring Fund since it was created 26 years ago.

Womack is a real estate associate and former Saint Francis employee who also has experience in medical device sales. She has a strong history with the Saint Francis Foundation, having served on the Friends of Saint Francis board, the Friends development and golf committees, and having worked on the Friends Gala.

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Brooke Homann

Brooke L. Homann has joined the Saint Francis Healthcare System's emergency department as a physician assistant.

Homann earned a master's degree in physician assistant studies in 2019 at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

She is board-certified through the National Commission of Physician Assistants.

Chamber Notes ...

The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the chamber's offices, 125 E. Main St. in Jackson, in observance of Safe Families for Children's membership in the chamber.

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The next Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours will be from 5 until 6 p.m. Tuesday at Laughing Gas Comedy Club, 2106 William St., Suite 400. Attendees are asked to enter through the N2O Lounge on the north side of the building.

Business After Hours gatherings are free and open to chamber members and their guests.

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The Scott City Chamber of Commerce will host a 2019 Holiday Evening Social from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at The River House, 11500 Route N in Scott City. Appetizers and tastings will be provided with additional food and beverages will be available for purchase. RSVP by email at ScottCityMOChamber@gmail.com.

Business license applications

Rosemary Campbell of Cape Girardeau has applied for a business license to operate Cut Master's at 3049 William St., Suite 246, inside Cape Girardeau's West Park Mall. According to the license application, the business is scheduled to open in early January.

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Josh and Ashley Uchtman of Jackson have applied for a business license to open Body by Cryo Midwest, a weight loss and nutritional consulting business at 1131 N. Kingshighway, Suite G, in Cape Girardeau. The business is expected to open by mid-January.

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Aaron Eades of Cape Girardeau has filed a business license application to operate Green Grass Guys, 2811 Wintergreen Drive, Unit B, in Cape Girardeau. The residential and commercial lawn service expects to open in early January.

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