Rural King, a general merchandise "farm and home" retailer, plans to open a location in the former Toys R Us building near the intersection of William Street and South Silver Springs Road in Cape Girardeau.

"I can tell you we have acquired the property, but we have not finalized our timeline for anything yet," Rural King director of real estate Blake Pierce told the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday.

Pierce said Rural King intends to occupy the entire 85,000-square-foot retail space, which was originally home to Cape Girardeau's Walmart from 1985 until 1992 when the Walmart Supercenter opened on Siemers Drive.

The Silver Springs Road building was occupied for a number of years by Toys R Us, Big Lots and Hancock Fabrics, but by 2018 all three stores had closed, leaving the building without a tenant. Walmart continued to hold the building's lease until earlier this year.

"There's a lot of demo work that will have to be done there because we are going to occupy all three spaces," Pierce said.

It is too early to speculate, Pierce said, on exactly when Rural King will open in Cape Girardeau, or even if it will be by mid-2022. "Once we have that information figured out, we'll have a press release and announce that," he said.

When it does open, it will be Rural King's fourth Missouri location. The company, based in Mattoon, Illinois, also has stores in Farmington, Warrenton and Wentzville, Missouri.

Regionally, Rural King also has stores in Paducah, Kentucky, and in several Southern Illinois communities including Benton, Carbondale, Harrisburg, Marion and Murphysboro. Overall, the company has nearly 130 locations in a 13-state region. In addition to Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky, the company also has stores in Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia.

According to the Cape Girardeau County Assessor's Office, AJM LLC in Mattoon acquired the Silver Springs Road building from WLM Retail Trust, a retail property investment group with properties in 15 states throughout the Midwest.

"We hope it's a good location for us," Pierce said of the Cape Girardeau property.

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