Business owners weigh in on effect Wal-Mart market may have on Plaza Galleria area

The way owner of Grecian Steak House Nick Sakarelos sees it, a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market would bring some life to a neighboring lot that has been empty for 10 years.

"I think it's going to be good," he said. "Competition is good for everybody. It keeps you on your toes."

Across the lot at Fenny's Mexican Grocery, owner Fenny Seyer foresees a neighborhood market having a "big time" effect on small businesses in the area of the former Plaza Galleria.

Seyer heard the development of a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in its place may mean the building her small grocery store occupies will be knocked down. She has not begun looking for another location for the store.

"I don't think I'll lose my customers," Seyer said regarding the effect being forced to move her store would have on her business.

Both Sakarelos and Seyer have been in business at their Independence Street addresses surrounding the area where the Plaza Galleria stood at 2021 Independence St. for more than a decade. Sakarelos recently reopened the Grecian Steak House after a fire forced a remodel of the restaurant in 2010.

The first reading of an ordinance approving the record plat of the Galleria Plaza Subdivision was postponed after it was removed from the Cape Girardeau City Council agenda for its Monday meeting at the request of the applicant.

"It's postponed. They aren't not doing it or anything," Cape Girardeau city manager Scott Meyer said Monday after the city council meeting.

The application for the Galleria Plaza Subdivision plat was approved by the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission at its meeting Wednesday.

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets range from one-fourth to one-fifth the size of traditional Wal-Mart Supercenters and offer amenities such as fresh produce, a bakery and a pharmacy.

The Plaza Galleria opened as a Kroger Family Center in 1969 and later was expanded and changed to a Kroger Sav-On. After the store closed, Dr. C.R. Talbert and his wife, Betty, bought the building in 1984. The year before, construction began of a glass atrium, an ice-skating rink and a retail outlet with more than 20 stores and food shops.

The ice rink and many businesses operating in the Galleria closed in 2003. Pockets, a pool hall and tavern that was the last business operating in the Galleria, closed in 2005.

The building remained vacant until mid-2013, when it was demolished.

A popular function known to use the open parking lot Thursday afternoons is the Cape Girardeau farmers market.

Manager of the market Marilyn Peters said they are in negotiations for a new location for the farmers market.

Peters did not want to comment on a potential new location, but said the Cape Girardeau farmers market will be open somewhere in Cape Girardeau in 2014.

"I'm excited because it's a spot with more room," she said.

Increased traffic as a result of another grocery store in the area could bring more foot traffic and new customers to businesses along Independence Street. It also could cause more congestion along an already busy street, sources say.

Jennifer Gray, manager of the Book Rack of Cape Girardeau, heard the news of a potential Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market "quite some time ago," and thinks if the store is what it is said to be, it should be nice and hopefully bring more customers to the area.

"If it brings business to me, I'm OK with it," Gray said.

It might be an issue with people if the market pushes other businesses out, especially those that have been around for awhile, she said.

The business hopes for new customers, ones who normally would not shop in that area of town, Gray said.

"Then again, we don't want to see other businesses that have been around for a long time leave," she said. "So there's an upside and a downside to that."

John's Pharmacy has been at its location at 2001 Independence St. for about 30 years, and pharmacist Abe Funk said the pharmacy has no intention of moving its business because of the potential market.

Funk said Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets do include pharmacies, but John's Pharmacy has a 30-year record of high-quality patient care.

"I feel like our ability to fill the needs of patients cannot be matched by Wal-Mart," Funk said.

With the future involving the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market being so uncertain and having heard her business may be torn down, Diana King, owner of Hairport, said she is trying to find another location for her hair salon.

Leaving the spot her salon has been for 14 years and transferring her customers to a new location would be a major task, and the fact that she may have to do so is "pretty devastating," King said.

"When you're being pushed out of your business where you have been for years," it's hard not to have an objection to it, she said.

Meyer on Monday said there have been no discussions regarding expanding the Town Plaza Community Improvement District to include the property, and no tax incentives have been asked for.

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent addresses:

2021 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

2001 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

2002 Plaza Way W, Cape Girardeau, MO

2027 Independence St, Cape Girardeau, MO

50 S Plaza Way, Cape Girardeau, MO