Harbor Freight Tools to open this summer

In the former AMC Town Plaza 5 Cinema, construction is barreling along ahead of a late-summer open date for retail hardware store Harbor Freight.

The 15,000-square-foot location will employ about 35 to 40 people, according to a company news release sent Monday. Harbor Freight has more than 850 stores nationwide, and was founded in 1977 in California.

The Cape Girardeau store will join 21 other stores in Missouri, company president Eric Schmidt said in the release.

Nearby stores include Poplar Bluff and Farmington, Missouri, and Paducah, Kentucky.

Schmidt also said in the release the company has received a �warm welcome� in Cape Girardeau, and is thrilled at the opportunity to deliver �high quality tools at ridiculously low prices.�

According to earlier reporting by the Southeast Missourian, the project was originally set for completion in October 2017, but was delayed by �engineering challenges,� including removal of two load-bearing walls.

Greater Missouri Builders, the St. Charles, Missouri, company that owns Town Plaza, typically renovates spaces for tenants, company president Scott Campbell told the Southeast Missourian in December.

But late last year, Harbor Freight took over design and construction.

Commercial real-estate broker Tom Kelsey told the Southeast Missourian in March the building needed to be gutted, and the original plan was challenging, but negotiations between tenant and landlord were ultimately successful.

The soft opening for the store at 2136 William St. in Cape Girardeau is set for mid-July, with a grand opening Aug. 1, but those dates may change, the release stated.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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