SMALLER TOWNS HIT HARD WITH CLOSING OF FACTORIES

Forget about telecommuting to the office, plenty of people in Southeast Missouri like the convenience of living and working in the same community.

Area residents and business officials in smaller communities say there are just as many advantages as there are disadvantages for working in smaller towns.

Michael Hobbs, president of the Chaffee Chamber of Commerce, said it's often a matter of convenience for residents. There are no traffic jams or long commutes to the office.

Chaffee is a good town with smaller schools and that means individualized instruction and "more of a personal touch," Hobbs said. It's a clean community with few crime issues.

"All that works for the town," he said.

Despite the Columbia Sportswear factory closing, Chaffee has plenty of larger employers left in town, Hobbs said. The announcement setting a spring closing date for the plant did hurt. Columbia Sportswear employs 185 people.

But the chamber and building owner are working to find another tenant, Hobbs said.

Scott City was stunned by the announcement last month that Supervalu would close its grocery distribution center. The center employs about 260 people. It is tentatively set to close by April 15.

Randy Morse, president of the Scott City Chamber of Commerce, said it's always difficult when an employer leaves a community, but the group will work to bring another business into the city.

Both Scott City and Chaffee have great selling points when industries are looking to relocate, said Mitch Robinson of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association.

The recruitment association works primarily with Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

Every project is different, Robinson said, but there are some aspects that make those places look better.

If a company is looking for an existing building, it may not be as worried about location. Scott City offers quick access to both the Port Authority and railroad, as well as the interstate.

Some companies are more interested in "knowing that they'll be able to get a workforce to come to them," Robinson said. Whether the company operates from Chaffee, Scott City or Jackson is not as important.

There are also quality-of-life issues to consider for both the people seeking jobs and the company looking to relocate.

Statistics show that more than 9 percent of the workforce in Cape Girardeau County comes from Scott County. Another large portion comes from Bollinger County (3.7 percent) and Perry County (2 percent).

"If you sit at Center Junction, you'll see cars going both ways," Robinson said. "They're not all coming to Cape."

Cape Girardeau County has labor needs, so people might ask why aren't people from surrounding areas finding jobs. There are plenty of reasons why, Robinson said. Maybe it's that they don't want to commute or move or that they "just want the small-town, country lifestyle."

PLANT CLOSINGS FAST FACTS

The southest Missouri Private Industry council estimates more than 2,100 workers lost their jobs in factory closings in Southeast Missouri in 1999 and early 2000. These included:

*Supervalue, Scott City, 260 workers.

*Florsheim Shoes, Cape Girardeau, 300 workers.

*Huffy Bicycle Plant at Farmington, 300 workers.

*Columbia Sportswear, Chaffee, 185 workers.

*Fleming Grocery Warehouse, Sikeston, 250 workers.

*Trimfoot Shake, Farmington, 200 workers.

*Hospital at Pilot Knob, 185 workers.

*A tool distributing company, Malden, 75 workers.