Pizza and furniture coming to Broadview

A pizza buffet and a furniture store are set to make their home in South Broadview Plaza, adding two more ingredients to an area of town that has already seen its share of growth.

CiCi's Pizza, a national buffet chain, is preparing to open sometime around the first of April at 221 S. Broadview in the 4,200-square-foot spot that used to house Color Tile.

A few doors down at 301 S. Broadview, Carterville, Ill.-based Carrington House Factory Direct hopes to open its furniture store on March 1 in the spot of the former Fun Factory.

First, as always with me, the food.

Owner Chip Peterson has CiCi's franchises in Farmington, Mo., and Arnold, Mo., as well as Steak 'n Shake stores in those towns. CiCi's offers 16 kinds of pizza, salad and desserts in a $3.99 all-you-can-eat buffet format. The chain was established in 1985 and this will be the 454th CiCi's spread out over 20 states.

I've never tried the pizza, but the price sure sounds right. There will also be an arcade that will distract the kids while you eat your meal in peace.

Peterson, who moved to the restaurant business after 18 years with Pepsi, noticed CiCi's when he would drive to Houston with his wife, Debbie, to visit her sister.

"The kids wanted to eat at CiCi's every day," he said. "So we'd call back religiously every year and finally they said yes."

He said the CiCi's in Cape Girardeau will require four managers and 60 employees.

Carrington House Factory Direct owner Art Ramsey is an Illinois native, but he used to work at a furniture store in Cape Girardeau. But after he left here, he started his corporation in 1993. He opened his first furniture store in Marion, Ill., then built the new store in 1999 at Carterville, which sits between Carbondale and Marion.

Looking to expand, he remembered Cape Girardeau.

"It's growing," he said. "You've got a wonderful area there."

He plans to feature BenchCraft and Berkline galleries in the 21,000-square-foot store that will employ seven or eight. He said the store will offer furniture direct from the factory. They also will have a separate warehouse that will help haul the eight tractor trailers full of furniture they will be moving to Cape Girardeau.

Ramsey said that his wife Kathy is also an owner. He has been in the furniture business since 1978.

Find your mojo

One of Cape Girardeau's newest restaurants is called California Juice Bar, but don't let the new name of the old Dino's Pizza fool you.

What this means is the return of chicken and mojos.

When I was in my early 20s, there wasn't a week that went by that me and my friends didn't stop into Dino's on Broadway for a pitcher of beer -- or three -- and a plate of fried chicken and mojos. (Mojos are the thick, round, fried potatoes.)

It was delicious, and people remembered that when they heard Gus and Autumn Demopoulos were moving back from Greece to reopen the family "cafe bar" under a new name. Gus is the son of Fotoula Demopoulos, who ran Dino's all those years ago. She's still around and will still be found piddling around the kitchen.

"We were just going to open our little cafe, but people in town said, 'No, no, no,'" Autumn said. "'You've got to have pizzas' and 'No, no, no, you've got to have chicken and mojos.' We did it because Cape wanted it."

Autumn Demopoulos said there's certainly more than the deep-fried stuff. They're going to serve crepes, waffles, sandwiches, salads, as well as Greek cuisine and pasta dishes. In fact, other than the chicken and mojos, nothing at California Juice Bar will be fried.

"We like to keep the food light," she said. "Lots of things for veggie lovers. We're also using ground turkey instead of beef in our Greek dishes."

Gus and Autumn Demopoulos opened a restaurant -- sans chicken, mojos and pizzas -- in Greece on the island of Paros, about three hours by boat south of Athens. They will still travel back to Greece during the summer months to run that tourist business.

That spot on Broadway in front of Houck Stadium has had quite a bit of turnover lately (does anyone really even remember Mardi Gras or Cafe Alexander?).

"But we're going to be around longer," she said. "We're back to stay."

Coffee and ice cream

When Roger Shoulders heard that Grace's Cafe was closing downtown, his eyes got big.

He'd had the Dippin' Dots franchise in Cape Girardeau for four years, mostly selling the ice cream at fairs, schools and carnivals. But he'd been thinking he'd like to have his own store for it, and the building at the corner of Themis and Spanish seemed perfect.

So on Feb. 17, Shoulders will open Corner Cafe where Grace Cafe used to be and he hopes to open a Dippin' Dots Ice Cream on March 1 in the former spot of the adjacent A Touch of Grace Herb Shop. The Dippin' Dots will be at 117 Themis and the cafe will be at 119 Themis.

In the morning, the cafe will offer espressos, lattes, ice and hot coffees, pastries and bagels. Lunch will mean soup, sandwiches and salad.

The Dippin Dots side will feature all the franchise's flavors, including no-sugar fudge. There's also the full-sugar ice cream like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate and peanut butter.

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