LOCAL BUSINESSES: GOOD AND BAD NEWS

Industry and business are running the gamut -- from good to bad to the ugly -- in early 2001 in the Cape Girardeau County area.

Company officials are denying some ugly rumors in the immediate Southeast Missouri area.

One of the most widespread rumors was that Buchheit Inc. is selling, or just shutting down, after some good years in which the company has spread in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

"That's not true," said Tim Buchheit. "I don't know where the rumor started, but it's not happening.

And Dana Corporation is not leaving town, contrary to a second ugly rumor. Dana is in the midst of a three-week inventory shutdown.

"We're working with a small force now, and the majority of workers are on a three-week break," said Dana manager Larry Dillon. "But we'll be back at full force come March 11."

Dillon said workers with Dana's income protection plan draw 80 percent of their salary during the shutdown.

The bad news

Friday will be the final day for Wille's Bakery.

Ralph Wille, who has been baking since he was in high school, will close the bakery which opened in Jackson in 1973. Wille's father, Leonard Wille, who still works for him, started baking in 1943 and operated a bakery a number of years in Cape Girardeau. Ralph and his wife, Evelyn, operated the Jackson bakery.

Ralph Wille is headed for the bakery department of Albertson's Grocery.

The good news

Albertson's will open its new store in Cape Girardeau next week with a special grand opening and ribbon-cutting Wednesday.

The almost 60,000-square-foot grocery store, located near the intersection of Independence and Kingshighway, will provide about 150 new jobs in the area.

Other good-news items include a 7,000-square-foot expansion at Stereo One and continued remodeling and decorating work at Willie's Restaurant in downtown Cape.

"We ran out of room here," said John Selby, of Stereo One, at 345 S. Kingshighway. "We needed more space for auto stereo installations, warehousing, and meeting rooms."

A portion of the new expansion will be used for a custom electronics division showroom.

The new addition is expected to be complete in March.

A new restaurant and lounge is coming to downtown Cape.

Robert Lagore, of Paducah, Ky., is remodeling the former Madder Rose Antique Mall building in downtown Cape Girardeau, 1 N. Main, for a restaurant and lounge.

Lagore is owner of Fast Eddies Restaurant at Metropolis, Ill., and a partner in Fast Eddie's operations in Evansville, Ind., and Terre Haute, Ind., and owner of another restaurant in Paducah.