Eat this, Jared - Local Blimpie franchise No. 1 in country

Barry Bonds is the best home-run hitter in baseball. Kurt Vonnegut is the best novelist. Ozzy Osbourne is the best at slinging around bleeping four-letter words.

I wish I were the best at something.

In other words, I wish I were more like the local Blimpie.

Listen to some of these adjectives: clean, efficient, healthy, tasty, profitable. Nope, not me. No, no and no.

But those words do describe the Blimpies in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, which just last week was named the No. 1 Blimpie's franchise in the country by Blimpie International.

The three stores are owned by Kevin and Susan Stanfield, who opened the first Blimpie's in Cape Girardeau on Broadway in 1995. The Jackson couple followed that up with the store on William in 1996 and in Jackson the next year.

The Stanfields' franchise got picked at the annual Blimpie convention in Las Vegas two weeks ago. They won for the best franchise in the central region after being nominated out of 650 franchises in the United States. They then won for best in the country out of the 16 best. They were called up on stage and given a standing ovation.

Stanfield said he doesn't know who nominated him, though he suspects it was the area developer that helps local franchises get started.

"They look at your past history and your performance," Stanfield said. "They look at increase in sales, cleanliness, and how few complaints you get. We've got a really good track record. We really take pride in our stores."

The Jackson couple received an etched glass trophy, which they have prominently displayed at their Broadway store. Their central region plaque is hanging in the William Street store. Blimpie even gave the Stanfields a $1,500 check.

Stanfield, like a good husband, credits his wife, who is in charge of all operations. (My wife has that exact same title.)

"She's responsible for the award, really," he said.

Stanfield, like a good boss, credits his employees, too.

"We wouldn't have gotten this without teamwork," he said. "From the clerk that works Sunday nights to management, we have an excellent team."

Good job, guys. Maybe that Jared ought to think about defecting.

A girl's life

Susan Smith admits the name is a bit misleading.

A Woman's Life Holistic Family Health Care Center, which opened last week at 63 Doctors Park, is not for women only, emphasizes Smith, one of the three nurse practitioners.

"It might sound like it's for women only, but it's for all members of the family," Smith said. "We named it A Woman's Life because it's the women who usually bring family members in for medical care. When they come in and see our services, they'll realize it's for the whole family."

In addition to Smith, the practitioners are Dolores McDowell and Kathy Blevins. Blevins used to work for Dr. John Thomas at the same office, but he recently moved to Kansas City.

Blevins is certified in women's health and will provide gynecology services from adolescence until later years. They also will do smoking cessation, physicals, and most other family illnesses.

The center is a rural health clinic and has an emphasis on indigent care, and will accept Medicaid and Medicare.

McDowell said the main difference between their center and other family practice offices is they focus more on the "whole patient."

"We don't just treat one problem," she said. "We teach patients how to make life changes, how to prevent certain diseases and what are the consequences of certain lifestyle behaviors."

If the name is a bit misleading, it isn't totally, McDowell said.

"If we get women in, we know women set the tone for health care in the home," she said. "Early detection is the key. It's easier to control cholesterol if you're 50 points over than 300 points over."

Hairy situation

The Clip Shop has been snipped. Cut. Buzzed. Pick your own hair-cut cliché.

But no matter how you slice it, the Clip Shop at the Town Plaza is being forced to close. Or at least forced to leave its location.

"They're kicking us out," said Tracie Henry, a hair stylist at the Clip Shop, which sits behind where the Baskin-Robbins used to be. "They want to make us, Al's Barber Shop and Baskin-Robbins all one big space."

The owner, Lenora Blankenship, has opted to close the shop that has been there 25 years rather than relocate to another spot. Al's is moving to another part of the Plaza Galleria.

Two of the stylists, Tracie Henry and Jessie Turner, are going to work at Hair Port, 2033 Independence. But being evicted is still not a good feeling.

"We're not real happy about it," Henry said. "We had a feeling it was coming. Rumors were flying."

Greater Missouri Builders of St. Louis owns the plaza. Shannon Hall, property manager, did not return phone calls last week. She must have been out getting a hair cut.

Read all about it

Newspapers, despite coroner wannabes who perennially pronounce us dead, are very much alive and well. We continue to provide readers in-depth information. Readership gained momentum and studies point to increased awareness of usage of newspaper Web sites. Here are a few interesting facts that were released by the Newspaper Association of America:

More than half of all adults -- 55 percent -- in the top 50 U.S. markets read a daily newspaper, and nearly two-thirds read one on Sunday.

Newspaper advertising expenditures for 2001 totaled $44.3 billion.

Retail ad spending was $20.7 billion. Classified expenditures totaled $16.6 billion and national was $7 billion.

Nationally, more than 55 million papers are sold daily, with an average of 2.2 readers per copy. And on Sunday over 59 million newspapers are sold, with an average of 2.3 readers per copy.

More than 2,200 daily and weekly newspapers in the United States have sites on the World Wide Web. NAA operates a site that links to most of them at www.newspaperlinks.com.

The NAA also said another good thing about newspapers is they don't use words like "Heartland" every 8.2 seconds. (OK, I made that one up, but we don't ever use that word around here. Where exactly is that?)

Scott Moyers is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. Send your comments, business news, information or questions to Biz Buzz, 301 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699, e-mail smoyers@semissourian.com or call 335-6611, extension 137.