Nick's Family Sports Pub sold

Guy and Rene Tomasino of Poplar Bluff, Mo., have bought their second historic downtown building. The first was the old Montgomery Ward building at 20 N. Main St.

Then, on Tuesday, the Tomasinos bought Nick's Family Sports Pub at 1 N. Main St., which used to house Woolworth's.

Real-estate agent Cynthia Austin announced the sale to my Business Today colleague, staff writer Jim Obert.

In an e-mail to Obert, Austin, of Realty Executives, wrote that she handled the transaction for the seller, LaKee Inc., of Southern Illinois.

Austin says that Nick's was operating successfully under the management of Tammy Blattel. But the owners wanted to be able to devote their full attention to the franchising of two of their other restaurant concepts. LaKee owns several restaurants in Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky, including another Nick's in Murphysboro, Ky.

The seller says he fell in love with the beautiful building, which was built in 1949. He hated to sell it, Austin said, because it is such a great piece of real estate.

"If there was a way to fit it into their long-term plan, they certainly would have," Austin said in the e-mail. "This sale was bittersweet. Of course I was glad to have the property sell for my clients. But there are things you hate to see change. The atmosphere, the fantastic pizza and the selection of on-tap beer have always been unique in Cape. It has been one of our favorite places to eat and hang out with friends. Hopefully, the new owners ... will be able to add their own ideas to the business and even make it better."

* Mollie's reopens: At 5 p.m. Thursday, Brian Noto and his wife, Quantella Anderson Noto, reopened Mollie's Cafe and Bar after more than a month or so of being closed.

Noto admitted to being a bit on the nervous side.

"But everybody tells me to get over it," he said. "They tell me all I can do is just get up on the stage and pull the curtains back."

My regular blog and column readers remember that the previous owners were foreclosed on after financial difficulties. I thought about rehashing all that here, but it seems beside the point.

This is the Noto era.

They've already had a dry run, opening the restaurant for one night late last month for a fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, the Columbia, Mo., Republican originally from our neck of the woods.

"It went wonderfully," Noto said.

In the meantime, the Notos have done some serious remodeling. They also installed new stoves, coolers and freezers.

"We tore it down to the walls and sort of rebuilt it," Noto said. "There's new artwork; it's a lot cleaner. I think everybody's going to like it."

* Ice House: Have you noticed that 200-square-foot modular building at Basic Fuel in Cape Girardeau? Believe it or not, that's a big ice machine.

Marc Harris has bought the machine and installed it. It's called Ice House, and it produces, stores, bags and vends ice for you.

The ice produced in the Ice House America Ice House is in chipped form and does not freeze together. It is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week. And in most areas it is priced at about half the price of other ice products, according to distributor Terrance Hamilton, who owns one in Perryville, Mo.

The Ice House produces and delivers ice to customers utilizing a vending concept. The Ice House is capable of producing and delivering more than 500 bags, at 16 pounds each, of ice per day.

Harris has plans for two more such machines in the Cape Girardeau area.

* The ethanol myth: Consumer Reports has taken a close look at the E85, the highly touted blend of ethanol and gasoline. It should be of special interest to those of us in Southeast Missouri, where three new plants are under development and with the announcement in last Monday's business section that the new Rhodes 101 under construction at Sprigg Street and Highway 74 will sell E85 as well as regular gasoline.

The news from Consumer Reports wasn't all that positive, in my view.

In its Aug. 31 edition, tests and investigations by the magazine conclude E85 will cost consumers more money than gasoline and raises concerns about whether the government's support of flexible-fuel vehicles is really helping the United States achieve energy independence.

Findings from Consumer Reports include:

* E85, which is 85 percent ethanol, emits less smog-producing pollutants than gasoline but provides fewer miles per gallon, costs more and is hard to find outside the Midwest.

* Government support for flexible-fuel vehicles, which can run on either E85 or gasoline, is indirectly causing more gasoline consumption rather than less.

* Blended with gasoline, ethanol has the potential to fill a significant minority of future U.S. transportation fuel needs.

* Guess who's online? The Internet isn't just the domain of today's youth; older generations also surf the World Wide Web, according to one survey.

Scott Moyers is the business editor of the Southeast Missourian. Send your comments, business news, information or questions to "Biz Buzz," 301 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699, or e-mail them to smoyers@semissourian.com or call (573) 335-6611, extension 137.