Hyundai, Saturn dealers race into town

You know Jerry Wieser, but you probably don't know Jim Butler. Wieser is a home-grown fella and Butler is a man from the Big City Up North, and both are in the car business.

They also are the two men who are separately bringing Hyundai and Saturn dealerships to Siemers Drive in Cape Girardeau this fall.

As most of you know, Wieser, who has been in the car business locally since 1956, is the owner of Wieser Honda. In September, he'll also be the owner of Wieser Hyundai.

When Wieser Hyundai opens at 386 Siemers, it will be Cape Girardeau's first Hyundai dealership. It will be right across the street from Wieser Honda.

"So there will be Wieser Honda and Wieser Hyundai," Wieser said. "It's going to be confusing, but we're going to do it anyway."

Construction on the roughly 13,000-square-foot building, which will be leased from Drury Southwest, will begin when weather permits and will feature a showroom and have space for parts and service.

Wieser said he was approached by Hyundai to see if he would be interested in running a dealership here. He found several factors intriguing. For example, Hyundai is one of the fastest-growing car lines in the business. U.S. sales were 375,000 units last year. Hyundai projects sales to increase to 500,000 units a year by 2005 and to 1 million units a year by 2010.

Hyundai is also in the process of building its first U.S. plant in Montgomery, Ala. When the plant's finished in 2005, it will produce 300,000 units a year, Wieser said.

"They're doing some big growth," he said. "They wanted a dealer here, and I guess they kind of liked our operation in Honda. After some deliberation, because it's a big undertaking for us, we decided there was definitely an opportunity."

Wieser's son, Kevin, will be the sales manager and they plan to hire about 30 employees.

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed in the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 600 dealerships nationwide.

"It's going to be a challenge, but I like challenges and I think it will be fun to make it work, see it come alive," Wieser said.

Now Jim Butler. He is from St. Louis and owns Saturn dealerships in South County, West County as well as Saturn Carbondale. He also owns a Chevy dealership in St. Louis.

His daughter, Jackie Dunne, is a retailer for the family-owned business, and she confirmed that they will be opening the Saturn dealership sometime in late August or early September just to the north of Wieser's new Hyundai dealership.

"We've been interested in Cape Girardeau for some time," she said. "We've always had customers drive up south on I-55 to our South County store. When we look at Cape, we see a community that is growing, and we're really excited about being on Siemmers Drive."

She said they like being there -- sorry, Jerry -- because there's a Honda and Toyota dealership there and Saturn's mission is to compete with the imports.

Dunne said that they will likely be hiring 15 to 20 people and will be coming to town this spring to offer a job fair.

"Our family's been in the car business 25 years," she said. "We're committed, and we want to bring that commitment to Cape Girardeau."

New newscasts

Fledgling local television station UPN The Beat!, which was recently purchased by KFVS TV, is launching a prime-time newscast at 9 p.m. weeknights.

General manager Mike Smythe said the first broadcast will air on March 24 on the station area residents can get through cable television on Channel 33. KFVS reporter Kate Scott will be the main anchor. Bob Reeves and Steve Sotak will provide weather and sports.

"News is such a critical element of our broadcasting," said Smythe, who also is general manager for KFVS.

The news cast will be designed for people ages 18 to 34, which mirrors UPN's demographic with such shows as "WWF Smackdown" and "Star Trek: Enterprise."

"That's why Kate Scott is here, she's a 20-something," he said.

Smythe said expect the newscasts to be trendy and more hip than KFVS's.

"There will be faster delivery, faster video," he said. "Don't expect to see a long-winded tax story that you might see on KFVS."

Kudos to Hahs

No matter how often I hear it, it's always amazing to me that we have so many business people in Cape Girardeau who are leaders in the community -- but also on the national scene in their fields.

David Hahs is a fine example. Hahs is a representative with Northwestern Mutual Insurance, which is the fifth-largest life insurance company in the United States. But Hahs is also the president of the Northwestern Mutual Association of Network Representatives, which is made up of all of Northwestern's financial representatives in the United States.

Among other things, the responsibility of the association is to plan and conduct the annual convention of all the representatives, about 7,000 people. Also, Hahs has been traveling to Northwestern's four regional meetings in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.

This week, David will be in Milwaukee, where he will be planning the theme and agenda for the annual meeting.

While most of the presidents come from big cities, David is proudly representing our community. But it's been a tradition for the Hahs family. In 1968, David's father, M. Luther Hahs, was president. In 1988, his cousin, T. Ronald Hahs, was the president.

Bill Beckley, executive vice president of Northwestern, said the Hahs family has been "an important chapter" in Northwestern's history.

"They've shown great influence and leadership," he said. "These three people, all from the same family, all from Cape Girardeau, have played major roles in the leadership of our field force."

The local agency was started by M. Luther Hahs in 1954. It's nice that Cape Girardeau has representatives that have duties on a national level.

Country shade

The Country Shade Craft Mall at 8 Plaza Way has been sold. Brinda Luttrull ran the business with her husband, Omer, for 10 years, renting booth spaces to crafters from around the country and around Cape Girardeau.

But they recently sold the 6,000-square-foot store to Janet Hahs of Biehle, Mo., and Mary Keller of Cape Girardeau.

"My husband and I have a construction company, too," Luttrull said. "We decided to sell the craft mall because we have seven duplexes we're building and other things. Frankly, we've just been really busy."

The new owners, Hall and Keller, own the Garden Gate in Jackson but plan to close that in August to focus on the new store. They're going to move their fresh flowers business to the new business and also are doing custom wreaths and arrangements. They also will be doing custom painting, like on teapots, windows and chairs.

By the way, people in Cape Girardeau might remember Mary Keller from her days running Petals and Bows.

"It's been good," Hahs said of business. "Of course, the economy and the weather affected us a little bit, but I'm pleased."

You've got mail

Katie Ribiat, who works at Commercial Mail Services, recently let me know that the company is celebrating its 15th year of business in Cape Girardeau. The family-owned business, led by Earl Burnett, started as one man driving around in a Honda station wagon picking up mail from businesses and hand sorting each piece.

Now it has a small fleet of vans, 15 employees and enough high-speed equipment to handle 30,000 pieces of mail a night.

Briefly

Timber Creek Homes has been purchased by American Lifestyle Homes of Pinckneyville, Ill. The company also has manufactured home dealerships in O'Fallon, Ill. The district manager is Randy Whitaker, who is from Alton, Ill.

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.