Two new businesses coming to Cape

Two companies with big shares of their respective retail markets will be opening new stores in Cape Girardeau in coming months.

Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain with 13,728 outlets in 40 countries, will be opening a 24-hour coffeehouse with a drive-through at Interstate 55 and William Street in October, according to the business license application. And Advance Auto Parts, the second-largest chain of retail auto parts stores, will open a $1.5 million, 6,942 square-foot store at 257 N. Kingshighway in November or December, a company spokeswoman said.

Starbucks already has a licensed outlet in the Target store on Siemers Drive, but the new store will be a 1,750-square foot store that is company owned.

Both Starbucks and Advance Auto Parts prefer to operate their own stores rather than award franchises, and both have enjoyed strong growth, with Starbucks adding a store a day in the United States during the 1990s and early 2000s. Advance Auto Parts isn't growing quite that fast, but it has grown from 352 stores in 1993 to 3,187 stores in 40 states as of July 14, according to Shelly Whitaker, manager of public communications in the company's Roanoke, Va., headquarters.

"In the last couple of years, we have opened roughly 200 stores a year, and in the coming year we will open another 190 to 200," Whitaker said.

Advance Auto Parts doesn't offer in-store car servicing, but will install batteries and wiper blades at no charge and accepts old batteries and used motor oil for recycling, Whitaker said.

While Starbucks dominates the coffee business, Advance Auto Parts is one of five big retailers in the automotive parts business along with O'Reilly Auto Parts, AutoZone, Pep Boys and NAPA. The Cape Gir­ardeau area already has three of those retailers -- O'Reilly, AutoZone and NAPA -- so it will be interesting to see if there's room for another big dog in the yard.

• Business champions: The National Federation of Independent Business recognized Glenn and Rhoda Reeves, owners and founders of Horizon Screen Printing, as its 2007 Small Business Champion of the Year for Missouri. The award is given to only one business each year that stands out as a successful operation and as a promoter of the interests of entrepreneurs.

Horizon Screen Printing has been on the Cape Girardeau scene since 1981, when it was founded by Rhoda Reeves. Glenn Reeves joined the business in 1986 after retiring from Sears. Last month, the company moved its showroom into expanded quarters at 430 Broadway to better display the variety and quality of its work, Glenn Reeves said.

The winner each year is selected from a list of nominatons made by the NFIB's leadership council, said Mark Rickel, a regional spokesman for NFIB. The winners are selected by a committee made up of past winners, who are able to judge the merits of each nominee objectively, Rickel said.

The Reeveses have been NFIB members since 1987. They became members of the Missouri Leadership Council in 2001 and Glenn Reeves is chairman of the Southeast Missouri Area Action Council.

The Reeveses' advocacy for small business and work electing political candidates committed to helping small businesses won them recognition from the White House. In 2002, Rhoda Reeves was a guest of President Bush and first lady Laura Bush at the State of the Union address, where she was one of 25 people who attended a private reception with the first lady and sat in Laura Bush's section in the U.S. House gallery during the speech.

The award is gratifying because it signals recognition from peers, Glenn Reeves said. The NFIB "is a highly effective, well-respected lobbying group," he said. "It sticks only with small business."

Asked why he became involved rather than sticking to running his business, Reeves said: "If I feel strongly about something, I have got to do it. It has just kind of been a lifelong thing."

• Consignment store: A new children's clothing consignment store will soon open its doors at 1027 Broadway, owner Amanda Hupp said. Hupp, 28, plans to begin modestly, opening for early evening hours and keeping her current position in the office of an architecture firm in Sikeston, Mo.

The store, to be called Cute 'N' Cuddly, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, with the first day of business on Sept. 1. On weekdays, the store will be open from 5 to 6:30 p.m., with no Sunday hours, she said.

The store will specialize in children's clothing at first, Hupp said. The clothing will be clean, well-cared for and stain-free, she said.

In addition, Hupp hopes to generate business with decorated overalls in children's sizes.

The consignment shop will be the first foray into business for Hupp. Married, with two girls aged 11 and 12, Hupp said the idea is "to just give it a try."

n New offices: I led this column last week with some details of new developments along North Kingshighway, and that item prompted Gary Koch, co-owner with his wife Linda Koch of G & L Property Management, to contact me about his new offices behind the Holiday Lodge Motel in the 1900 block of North Kingshighway.

Koch's new development doesn't equal the scale of the Regents Parc office center going up further south, but he's confident that businesses looking for a good location will be pleased. Each of the five offices in the development is 800 square feet, he said, and is suitable for professional offices or small retail operations.

• New salon: Bob Hahn, vice president of development for Mid-America Hotels, announced that a new salon has joined the businesses that have almost filled the property that includes the Holiday Inn Express, Victorian Inn, Cracker Barrel and Texas Roadhouse on William Street near Interstate 55.

The new tenant, Belladona Salon, Spa and Boutique will open Saturday, he said. The spa complements the other businesses in the development, which is 90 percent full, he said. "Our whole development is a hospitality concept," Hahn said.

The Drury-family company is also preparing land on the northeast corner of the Center Junction interchange in anticipation of development, but no contracts or leases have been signed, Hahn said.

• Ribbon cutting: The new annex for the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center will be unveiled at 1:30 p.m. Friday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce announced. The career center, at 1080 S. Silver Springs Road, was expanded with a combination of state funding and private donations.

The 12,000 square-foot annex includes an electrical shop, a shop for teaching cabinet making and classrooms east of the current school.

Rudi Keller is the business editor of the Southeast Missourian. Contact him at 335-6611, extension 126