Rhodes' venture into 'coaching' a missed shot

The good people at Rhodes 101 Shop had big plans for their building at 1036 N. Sprigg. My longtime readers -- hello? -- will remember that last year they announced that they were closing that store after the big, fancy new Rhodes opened right next to it.

They had been planning for a year to convert that building into a restaurant. It was going to be called Coach's Sports Bar and Grill, and I was told it was going to open sometime in October.

October passed, but I didn't think much of it. Target dates are estimations, and construction sometimes take longer than people think. Weather is a factor, for example. But I had driven past the building and noticed that work was being done.

Well, now it turns out that Coach's Sports Bar isn't happening.

Rhodes' Jim Mauer tells me that after a re-evaluation, they decided not to do it because of financial reasons.

"We were putting the numbers together and many different ways to redo the building," he said. "It didn't look like it was going to turn out to be a good investment."

Too bad. They sounded like they had an idea that sports fans -- and who isn't? -- would have gravitated to. They were going to remodel the building to seat 120 people with a theme that would accompany Southeast Missouri State University's athletic department.

It wasn't going to be a chain, but Rhodes hoped they might branch the store out if it were successful.

Mauer told me he doesn't know what they're going to do with the building now, though he said selling or leasing isn't out of the question.

"We just really don't know for sure yet," Mauer said. "We're looking at all of our options."

Now if I could just get that Rhodes theme song out of my head.

New office building

Retired Cape Girardeau dentist and current developer Keith Deimund can answer your question about that dirt work that's being done next on Lexington between La Croix United Methodist Church and Commerce Bank.

It's going to be a 12,000-square-foot office building with three -- maybe four -- offices. The building is expected to be finished in August, with the new tenants moving in right away. Deimund confirmed that one of the tenants is going to be a lawyer, but said the rest are being kept on the down low.

Each office will be about 3,000 square feet, and there is still one vacancy. By the way, Deimund heads up Summit Enterprises, a family business.

Seal of approval

Wet Seal is set to open in mid-March at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park. The specialty retailer, according to its Web site, will offer fashionable and contemporary apparel and accessory items. The company currently operates 470 stores in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The stores cater to the junior customer.

Wonder why they chose that name? I guess it's better than Wet Dog.

Jobless singles

One little factoid you don't often hear about in the government's monthly unemployment rolls -- marital status.

It turns out that in the current economic downturn, about 62 percent of the roughly 1.85 million Americans who have been unemployed more than six months are single, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., based on a review of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Chicago-based firm theorizes that a surge in the number of single mothers and widowed seniors entering the work market since the last recession 11 years ago is responsible for the rise in unemployed singles.

Other factors: companies looking for more experienced workers, who tend to be older and married; continued hiring discrimination against gays and lesbians and companies seeking those with more specialized skills, which come with age.

Frat-brother CEOs

If you want to be a chief executive or politician when you grow up, consider joining a fraternity in college.

Forty-two percent of U.S. senators and 40 percent of Supreme Court justices belonged to a frat. So did a quarter of the CEOs of the biggest companies in America, including billionaire Warren Buffett, outgoing Sprint CEO William Esrey, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Sanford Weill, the Citigroup leader.

Forbes.com perused the college fraternization of CEOs on its Forbes 500 list. Beta Theta Pi, the Ohio-based fraternity founded 163 years ago, led the corporate list with 11 CEOs, followed by Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi with nine each.

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.