For decades there were two choices for gasoline at the old Mississippi River bridge -- Rhodes 101 and Bi-State Southern. It will be the same choice near the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge as plans move forward on the new $1 million Rhodes.

The Bi-State opened near the corner of Highway 74 and Sprigg Street shortly after the new bridge opened.

Jim Maurer, co-owner of Rhodes, expects a groundbreaking this fall on one of the company's convenience stores on the northeast corner of Sprigg Street and Highway 74. The store is likely to open next spring, Maurer said.

At about 4,000 square feet, the new Rhodes will be similar to the ones that have recently gone up on North Kingshighway and North Sprigg Street.

Getting the store up and going has taken longer than intended, Maurer said. The company bought the first lots in 1997 and 1998 and had the homes torn down. It bought the last lot three years ago, giving Rhodes about 200 feet of frontage.

But other opportunities came along. Rhodes opened stores in Farmington, Malden, Poplar Bluff and Ste. Genevieve in the meantime, and this store got pushed to the backburner. The Farmington store opened last week as Rhodes' 27th store.

While Rhodes had planned on being open when the bridge opened, "we've had quite a bit of growth farther out. Our expansion outside the 40-mile radius really came in the last three or four years," Maurer said. "We felt that was better for our resources. We thought we could sit on this property easier."

And it doesn't bother Maurer to have a Rhodes directly across from Bi-State's store. Again.

"It's a good corner, so you can have one or two locations," he said. "There are different traffic patterns. There's a lot of traffic on Sprigg Street. We look more at what would work well for us, not necessarily who else is there."

* Town House update: Several of my blog posters have been asking about the potential for an International House of Pancakes coming to Cape Girardeau, particularly as it relates to the recently vacated spot in front of the Town House Inn.

The owners -- brothers Manny and Pete Patel -- say they are not working with the people at IHOP. In fact, Manny Patel told me they've yet to decide exactly what they're going to do with the space, which is near the corner of Broadway and Kingshighway.

They're about to put up a real-estate sign and see what happens.

The property could be a strip mall, a restaurant or something else, he said. They just wanted to get the space ready, he said, which is why the dirt work has already happened.

"Nothing solid has happened or anything," Patel said. "We really haven't talked to anybody."

* Gatherings: The Gatherings Cafe was closed last week while the owners Terre and Christo Chriss were taking a vacation. While the owners declined to comment, Thomas M. Meyer, who handles the leasing for the Marquette Towers where the business is located, said they were also in the process of rethinking the way they do business in order to be more profitable. For example, a couple months ago, Gatherings stopped serving breakfast.

"It's just something a business has to do every now and then, re-evaluate," Meyer said. "It's nothing more than that."

* Family lounge at mall: It's still Westfield West Park, I guess. Anyway, the mall opened its newest addition on Saturday -- a family lounge and new men's and women's restrooms. It's in the Steve & Barry's wing and is specifically for families with small children or nursing mothers. The addition offers amenities including bottle and baby wipe warmers, baby changing stations, private nursing stations, soft seating, children's books and movies, a parent-child restroom and an interactive play area.

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.