Central location brings newcomers to Cape

By Tim Krakowiak

Business Today

Kathleen Walker and her two daughters, Lisa Walker, left, and Lynette Strange at their store, High Street Station, in Cape Girardeau, Friday, Feb, 23, 2007. (Diane L. Wilson)

About five years ago, Lynette Strange, originally from Redlands, Calif., moved to Cape Girardeau when her husband, Cedric Strange, took a job here as a physician. One day she noticed a Jackson gift shop she enjoyed shopping in -- High Street Station -- was for sale. She notified her sister, Lisa, and their mother, Kathleen, who lived in Kailua, Hawaii. The three had always wanted to own a business together. Trusting Lynette's judgment, they moved to Missouri, sight unseen, when Kathleen's husband, Bob, retired.

Now the three women jointly manage two High Street Station specialty gift shops. They re-established the original store in 2004 at 106 S. High St. in Jackson. The other was leased a year later in the King's Center strip mall at 1131 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

"It gives us a chance to spend time together," Strange said.

Strange and her family members aren't alone in being drawn to the Cape Girardeau area.

Thomas M. Meyer, CEO of Exit Realty-Thomas Meyer Associates, thinks it isn't always chance that brings people to Southeast Missouri.

"If not because of family ties, it's because of the central location between Memphis and St. Louis," he said. "They're coming to the area because they want to come back to the place where they grew up. A good number of them didn't just throw a dart at the map."

In addition, business leases in the Cape Girardeau area are about two-thirds the cost of leasing in St. Louis, Meyer said. The price ranges from $7 to $13 a square foot locally, compared to up to $21 a square foot in St. Louis.

Meyer sees a trend toward downtown condos that enable the people who are retiring to be more flexible for purposes of travel. They don't want to cut grass, but they do want to be able to fly away. Meyer said retirees are looking at the area's lakes, at the highway system, golf courses, the river and warm weather.

"Of course, metropolitan areas have a lot more places to dine, golf courses, arts, fine music and theater. But I could be at the airport, out of my car and at the gate in two hours without dealing with the demands of a larger city," Meyer said.

Debbie Jennings, a broker for Re/Max Realty Experts, says she works with a tremendous number of people from out-of-state. "They are drawn to the area because it is central USA," she said. "It's not the East Coast or the West Coast."

Online tour of property

Jennings is currently closing a deal with a man from Colorado who has never visited Cape Girardeau but took a virtual tour of a piece of property on the Internet and says it's the home he's been dreaming of. The $134,900 property would cost $2 million in Colorado, he said.

Broker Roger Skinner of Prudential Bridgeport Inc. Realtors says he gets inquiries from almost every state, some of them due to job transfers. Jennings and Meyer have seen clients who left to pursue a job opportunity only to return for retirement.

For the Walkers, Southeast Missouri makes sense for the three generations right now.

"It was so expensive to travel back and forth to visit the grandchildren. We decided that there's a better way to do this," Kathleen said. "This is something that the kids will never forget."

Strange's children, Grant, 9, and Katelyn, 7, enjoy visiting the two store locations and sometimes take on small display projects. Katelyn has already expressed interest in playing a role at the High Street Station when she grows older.

When Bob worked as the president of a hospital he missed some opportunities to watch Lynette and Lisa participate in extracurricular activities. The move has given him the opportunity to relive these experiences through his grandchildren.

In addition to reuniting the family, the gift shop business has been a financial success.

Lynette is searching the market for a new home, and Lisa recently built her first house next to her parents. She says she would not have had this opportunity as a single woman entering the high-priced housing market in Hawaii.

"I think that sometimes it surprises people. They think, Oh my gosh, I would never move from Hawaii or California," said Lisa, adding that they truly appreciate the small-town vibe. "It seems to me that people have their priorities straight here. It's about family first."