Kohl's not coming to Albertsons building

Bad news for those of you who were pushing for Kohl's department store to move into the Albertsons building: It's not going to happen.

South Star, the Memphis-based company that owns the building, is still four to six weeks away from closing any deals to sell or lease the roughly 60,000-square-foot building.

But a spokesman did confirm that Kohl's isn't even on the radar screen.

"They weren't interested," said Steve Stanley, director of leasing for South Star. "It's not big enough."

Not big enough? What do they need, the Astrodome?

Almost.

A Kohl's spokesman in the company's Wisconsin headquarters told me that they generally need at least a 90,000-square-foot building for the department store that sells everything from apparel and shoes to bedding and luggage.

Anyway, Stanley said South Star is still in discussions with retail interests. For example, one that I know about was Elias Ace Hardware, which was semi-interested in opening another location in Cape Girardeau. But Fred Elias said they decided against it in favor of focusing on their existing store.

But here's an interesting tidbit: Stanley said a grocery store is still interested in the building, but he wouldn't say which one. (Kroger?)

"It keeps saying Cape is on its map," Stanley said of the grocery store. "They want to come to Cape, but we don't know whether that will happen or not."

The mystery deepens.

Like a big pizza pie

Papa Murphy's pizza is coming to Cape Girardeau this summer. The national pizza chain will have a store in the strip mall at 2510 William, the same center that has Blockbuster Video.

Franchise owner Joe Rice is relocating to the area from Washington state. I couldn't reach him, but a Papa Murphy's spokesperson said the Cape Girardeau store is scheduled to open in May or June.

Based in Vancouver, Wash., with some 660 restaurants across the country, Papa Murphy's is a pioneer in the take-and-bake pizza industry.

Customers buy a premade pie or place a custom order and watch as it's prepared Subway-sandwich-style before their eyes, then take it home and bake it whenever they want.

Audio/video store moving

Q-The Audio & Video Store will be one of Shawnee Center's first tenants. Tom Kelsey, a commercial broker with Lorimont Place, Ltd. is handling the leasing for the 27,900-square-foot retail/office development at Shawnee Parkway and South Silver Springs Road near the Interstate 55 and Highway 74 interchange.

The audio and video business, owned by Bill Green, has leased 1,950 square feet of space next to Station West, a two-level kitchen, bath and decorating showroom, which will anchor Shawnee Center with 8,600 square feet.

The store specializes in the design and installation of home theaters, home automation and custom car audio.

The business is expected to be moving to its new location sometime in May. It is presently at 1477 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

Kelsey said they are working with several prospective tenants for various sized spaces in new center and expect to have further announcements in the near future.

Scott City bread

Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes will soon have a new warehouse facility in Scott City. Tom Kelsey -- full of good news this week -- tells me the national wholesale food company has leased a warehouse and office building located at 1301 Warner St. in Scott City.

Kelsey said the new 5,000-square-foot facility would be the headquarters for the bread and cake division's distributing operation for much of Southeast Missouri.

Wonder Bread is part of Interstate Bakeries Corp. With headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., IBC is the largest national wholesale baker and distributor of fresh delivered bread and snack cakes in the United States. The company currently has 34,000 employees at 63 bakeries, including St. Louis.

Space Walk

For years, Space Walk has been supplying area children with those floats that they jump in for birthday parties or other special occasions. But the business has largely been seasonal because the floats are generally used only during the summer months.

Now, owner Mac McConnell tells me they are expanding by opening a party room and play room at 2525 State Highway 177, about a mile north of Lexington Avenue. Space Walk: Parties and More is scheduled to open this weekend.

The party and play rooms can hold as many as 100 people and can be used for birthday parties, baby and bridal showers.

The play room will have floats, a video arcade, music lights. McConnell has even put up a disco ball. McConnell emphasized these are private parties, so parents don't have to worry about two or three parties going on at once.

They are offering different packages in which renters can decorate it themselves or have what McConnell called a Space Walk party with many of the items provided. There can even be themes, such as Scooby-Doo, Barbie or -- my 2-year-old daughter's favorite -- Blue's Clues.

Briefly

Effective today, the Mailboxes Etc. stores in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston will be known as The UPS Stores. UPS bought Mailboxes Etc. two years ago. Lou and Barbara Hagler are the local owners and have been Mailboxes Etc. franchisees for 12 years.

Dr. Chris Jung has sold Soap 'N Suds Laundry to Sarath Gunawardhana, who is a resident of Chesterfield, Mo. He has changed the name to Waterworks, which is still at 501 N. Silver Springs.

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.