RETAIL COMMUNITY GROWS, SALES INCREASES EXPECTED

New growth helped keep Cape Girardeau's retail community stable in 1991.

While many retail communities nationwide coped with disappointing 1991 sales, Cape Girardeau recorded strong sales during the final half of the year, and prospects for 1992 appear to be favorable as well, said local retailers.

West Park Mall experienced increased sales in 1991.

"The final quarter of the year turned out to be a strong one at the mall," said Tony Stephens, manager of the shopping complex near Interstate 55 in Cape Girardeau. "November and December sales were especially strong. Department store business was good, and some specialty stores experienced strong sales activity."

Some smaller businesses in Cape Girardeau experienced decreases from previous yearly sales. For the first time in the nearly 20 years the city of Cape Girardeau has collected a 1-cent sales tax, annual receipts in 1991 declined from the previous year.

"What we found by looking over sales tax receipts is that the larger businesses in town had slight increases while the smaller retail establishments showed slight decreases," said J. Ronald Fischer, Cape Girardeau city manager.

The 1991 decrease was small: about 1 percent below 1990. The tax received by the city for 1991 totaled $4,766,562. Sales taxes are collected by the Missouri Department of Revenue and distributed to counties on a monthly basis.

"January has been a continuation of good sales at West Park Mall," said Stephens. "We're expecting to see more of the same throughout 1992."

Stephens said Cape Girardeau's strength as a retail hub is growing.

"It's not incidental that we will be seeing increases for 1992," he said. "Our perimeter is growing. During the past year we have seen new restaurants go up in the area, and we certainly welcome the new Wal-Mart Supercenter. Every new addition is an attraction for the buying public and will attract more people to the area."

Harry Rediger, manager of JCPenney, one of the three anchor stores at West Park Mall, agreed.

"Things started turning around for us in September," said Rediger. "Sales activity seemed to build as the year progressed. We had an increase over 1990 totals, ending up with a record sales year.

"Our January (1992) sales were about even for us, which was our game plan," said Rediger. "We've experienced tremendous retail growth over the past 10 years since the coming of West Park Mall, and the area will experience even more activity with the opening of the Wal-Mart Supercenter."

Rediger echoed Stephens' remarks that Cape Girardeau was becoming more of a regional shopping center.

"The new growth provides more competition, but, at the same time, continues to enlarge our shopping area," he said. "All that pulls more people into the city."

John McClain, manager of Kmart, 11 S. Kingshighway, said the economy in Cape Girardeau is better than in some areas.

"People here read all these doom-and-gloom reports from New York, Chicago and Detroit, and they start believing it," said McClain. "Things here are just not that bad; the economy of Cape Girardeau is pretty good."

"We had a good fourth quarter here," said Jack Watts, manager of Sears in Town Plaza Shopping Center. "We had an increase in December, and we've had a good January."

Watts also said retail sails in Cape Girardeau are better than in some areas.

Kmart and Wal-Mart were among national leaders in the December retail market in 1991. Wal-Mart logged a 26 percent increase in December sales from a year earlier and Kmart reported a 10.6 percent increase. JCPenney stores and May Departments stores each recorded single-digit increases.

JCPenney stores nationally registered a gain of 2.3 percent and May Department Stores Co. came in with a 2.5 percent rise.

Sales during the Christmas shopping season usually generate about 30 percent of retailers' yearly volume.

"Department store chains say December sales were up 6.4 percent over December of a year ago," said Edward Johnson, director of New York-based Johnson Redbook Service, a firm that tracks retail trends.

The Redbook sample of department store chains showed most of the increase came from discounters, said Johnson. They posted an average gain of 10 percent while department stores recorded only a 1 percent rise, he said.

Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. retailer, with headquarters in Batesville, Ark., said its December sales jumped 26 percent, to $5.862 billion from $4.644 billion in December 1990.

Kmart Corp., based in Troy, Mich., reported its sales increased 10.6 percent for December, to $4.881 billion from $4.414 billion a year earlier.

December sales for the Dallas-based JCPenney stores rose 2.3 percent, to $1.984 billion from $1.941 billion in December 1990. Total company sales at JCPenney, including catalog and drug stores, increased 1.4 percent in December.

The May Department Stores Co. in St. Louis said sales were up 2.5 percent, to $1.68 billion in December from $1.64 billion a year earlier. December sales for May's department store segment, which includes 333 stores, were up 2.1 percent from last year.

(Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and United Press International.)