RETAIL BUSINESS CLIMATE ON A ROLL

Spring is in bloom and so is business in Cape Girardeau.

From the downtown area to mid-town to the west end, new businesses are cropping up faster than March daffodils.

Not only are new businesses joining the retail business climate here, but established companies are expanding in this regional hub of about 38,000 people.

The new and continued retail activity is evidence of a strong employment and diverse economy that goes together in attracting some big company names to the area.

Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest bookseller, officially announced this week that it will enter the bookstore competition in Cape Girardeau.

Grading and ground preparations are already under way on the perimeter of West Park Mall, in the 3000 block of William, for a 20,000-square-foot stand-alone store.

Barnes & Noble is the second large bookstore to announce a move to Cape Girardeau within a week. Hastings Books, Music & Video announced a week ago that it would move to a 22,000-square-foot space in Town Plaza Shopping Center. A remodeling project is under way at the Hastings site, which previously housed Plaza Gifts and Office Supplies.

The two giant book sellers will join a market that already includes Waldenbooks at West Park Mall; Metro News Book Store, 415 Broadway; Sibley's Bargain Books, 33 N. Main; and a number of special Christian bookstores and carriers of used and rare books.

Barnes & Noble, which is in the process of building two new bookstores in the St. Louis area this year, operates more than 260 superstore operations under the name of Barnes & Noble, Bookstop and Bookstar. It also has 700 mall stores under the names of B. Dalton Bookseller, Doubleday Book Shops and Scribners Bookstores.

Hastings, which has more than 100 stores nationwide, is looking toward a May 29 opening in Cape Girardeau. Barnes & Noble expects to open this fall.

The two new bookstores highlight a flurry of business activity in the city.

Hutson's Furniture in downtown Cape Girardeau this week announced a 6,300-square-foot expansion of its building at 43 S. Main.

"This will enhance our base of operations," said Charles Hutson, president of the family-owned furniture business. "The operation will be more efficient, and the selection greater for the consumer."

The new space will house the Broyhill Gallery and Keller Gallery.

The space currently housing the Broyhill and Keller galleries will be remodeled to make room for the La-Z-Boy Showcase Shoppe, now at 1606 Kingshighway. The Kingshighway property will be sold or leased, said Hutson.

"We'll have everything located downtown," added Hutson.

The new Hutson expansion has been in the planning stage for more than five years.

"We purchased the property about five years ago with hopes that we would eventually expand," said Hutson.

A permit was filed recently for another business between downtown and the midtown area, at 824 Broadway, for use as a nightclub. More details will be announced later.

Meanwhile, remodeling continues at the former Pete's Pump building in the 900 block of Broadway. The old gasoline tanks have been removed and renovations are under way for a new Blimpie's restaurant.

Blimpie International Inc., the nation's second-largest submarine-sandwich chain, headquartered in New York City, has almost 1,000 restaurant locations.

Another restaurant, Ryan's Steak House, will open here this week. Ryan's, a chain based in Greer, S.C., will open Wednesday just south of the Drury Lodge.

The Saint Louis Bread Company restaurant recently opened in West Park Mall.

There's more. Ruby Tuesday Restaurant, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., has announced a new 200-seat restaurant for Cape Girardeau. The restaurant will be in Auburn Park Place, a new commercial and retail complex to be built near the Mt. Auburn/William intersection. No less than two additional restaurants have indicated they will build on the site, with announcements coming soon.

The "Auburn Park Place" project, which was announced by Robert Drury, president of Drury Southwest, calls for more than 200,000 square feet of space, including the Ruby Tuesday restaurant, a strip shopping center, a multi-level office building and a four-level garage. The master plan calls for as many as eight buildings, surrounding the parking garage.

Renovations also will get under way soon on the old F.W. Woolworth building in Town Plaza Shopping Center. Woolworth vacated the building in 1994 with the closing of a number of Woolworth operations nationwide.

The structure will house three retail businesses -- a Hallmark card shop, Guy's Big & Tall, and a used sporting goods company.

There's a lot of movement on the Cape Girardeau retail business scene, and more is in planning stages. One of the largest retail projects scheduled for a summer opening is Target, a 97,000-square-foot retail center in Cape West Business Park.