REGION BANKS ON RETAILING EMPIRE

The words scream out at you in big block letters from across the giant parking lot. "We Sell For Less" proclaims the sign on the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau.

The 170,000-square-foot Supercenter sells everything from groceries to sporting goods. The store is part of a retailing empire that takes in more than $1 billion every week.

In Cape Girardeau and elsewhere, Wal-Mart has become a part of the baseball-apple pie American landscape. Customers come from all over Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky.

Some people view a visit to the Wal-Mart Supercenter as more of an outing than just another shopping trip.

Terry Godwin, manager of the sprawling Wal-Mart Supercenter, said customers often talk of the store like they own it. They talk of "our" and "my" store, he said.

In many ways, Wal-Mart is an American institution. "It's a lot like McDonald's," he said.

Wal-Mart customers are a loyal lot. "I can get almost anything I need under one roof from medicine to soap powder," said Mildred Keene as she guided her shopping cart through the spacious store isles.

Keene said she makes a trip to Wal-Mart at least once a week.

Dog food was just one of the items on Sandy Molitor's shopping list last week. The Ste. Genevieve woman took time out from visiting relatives in Cape Girardeau to stock up on supplies at the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Molitor cited low prices and the fact that "you can come here and get everything" as reasons for shopping at the store.

Scott City resident Bob Grueneberg could be found buying car polish one day last week, while his wife, Dora, was shopping in another part of the cavernous store.

"It's kind of hard to find her sometimes," he said. "It's a good place to get your exercise."

A regular customer, Teressa Johnson of Cape Girardeau cited the prices and the one-stop shopping as reasons for buying at Wal-Mart.

"The prices are pretty good," said Johnson as she meandered through the grocery section, filling her cart with everything from pork chops to Cheetos.

"You can get everything in one store," said Johnson, who was planning to buy not just groceries but clothes that day.

Johnson, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said she likes the fact that the store is open around the clock, allowing her to shop at all hours. She said she generally shops at the store four or five times a week.

Godwin, the store manager, said the one-stop shopping is a big draw, as are the low prices and "the development of a customer confidence in the products that we sell."

"We do guarantee everything that we sell, and the customers know if they don't like it they can bring it back," said Godwin.

The store, he said, provides a lot of merchandise and services. "They can get everything from groceries to toys, to getting their cars worked on, to getting their eyes checked out and everything else."

As with other Wal-Marts, there's a person at the door to greet customers. "It sets the right foot forward when they first come in the store that we have a friendly store," said Godwin.

"Cape Girardeau has been one of our best Wal-Mart towns," he said.

The first Wal-Mart store in Cape Girardeau, which opened in 1977, was about 40,000 square feet in size and employed about 100 people. The operation later moved to a larger building, which was then replaced last year by the even bigger Supercenter.

The Supercenter has about 450 employees, three-fourths of them full-time, and has an annual payroll in excess of $4 million, Godwin said.

Although he wouldn't be specific, Godwin said the store generates "several hundred thousand dollars" in annual tax revenue for the Cape Girardeau area.

"Wal-Mart has been good for our community in that it has brought in a large merchandiser that has expanded our trade area considerably," said Bob Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "The biggest benefit to the community is the sales tax it generates," he said.

The one-stop shopping concept successfully practiced by Wal-Mart has become a national trend, said Hendrix.

Critics say it's difficult for small stores to compete with the low-priced goods offered by Wal-Mart. But Downtown Merchants Association member Evelyn Boardman doesn't believe the Wal-Mart operation hurts downtown stores.

"I think we just are so different in our concepts of retail that there is room for both," she said.

Wal-Mart's large operation contrasts with the downtown's generally small retail stores and their emphasis on personal service, she said.

"You can come down here for personal shopping, to have just a little feeling of being pampered," said Boardman.

A Wal-Mart store, she said, is good for the community. "I just feel that it adds jobs to the area, and that is more spending money for the rest of the economy."