Business Briefs: Cape County sales tax receipts up

Cape Girardeau County’s sales tax receipts surpassed all previous months in June and topped $800,000 for only the third time ever as the county continues its strong recovery from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

County Treasurer Roger Hudson reported receiving a payment in early June from the Missouri Department of Revenue in the amount of $869,339.83, which exceeded the previous record of $861,930.39, set in December 2017, by more than $7,400.

The only other time the county’s monthly sales tax revenue topped $800,000 was in September of last year when the county received $807,608 from its half-cent sales tax.

Hudson said several factors could have contributed to June’s record sales tax revenue, including additional spending by consumers who had benefited from recent COVID-19 relief payments. Another factor he said could have been the reopening of all state offices in May.

“As a result, maybe some payments had gone unprocessed until then,” he said.

For the first six months of 2021, Cape County had received nearly $4.1 million in sales tax receipts, which was more than 6.9% ahead of 2020’s record pace.

Jackson Chamber seeks new offices

The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce is looking for a new home after selling the chamber headquarters, which once housed the Jackson Post Office.

The building, located at 125 E. Main St. in Jackson, was purchased by Realty Executives in late April. The real estate firm is renting space to the Jackson chamber until the organization can locate and move into new offices.

So. Ill. port project takes big step forward

CAIRO, Ill. — The inland port project near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers at Cairo took a significant step recently with the completion of a project labor agreement (PLA) between the Alexander-Cairo Port District and the Illinois AFL-CIO.

The agreement, finalized in late April, ensures more than 500 jobs created by construction of the port will be filled by local Illinois union workers.

Once fully operational, the 150-acre Alexander-Cairo Port will represent a public and private investment of between $125 million and $150 million and will be one of the largest investments in Southern Illinois in decades.

Wiethop Truck Sales to relocate

Summit Truck Group, which purchased Wiethop Truck Sales in Cape Girardeau two years ago, has announced plans to relocate the dealership from Independence Street to Rambler Drive, just off Nash Road south of the city.

The company reportedly plans to occupy a 19-acre tract and remodel an existing 25,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by SEMO Ready Mix, converting the property into a paved truck sales lot, a parts store and a driver lounge.

Local Ace Hardware changes ownership

Elias Ace Hardware, 1719 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, became Cory’s Ace Hardware recently after it was purchased by Huskey Investments LLC. The new ownership took effect April 30.

Cory Huskey, the new owner, was the store’s manager the past three years and began working on the transition last summer with former owners Fred and Tammy Elias.

Reveal Graphics merges with tpc

Reveal Graphics in Cape Girardeau has merged with tpc, formerly known as The Printing Co.

The merger, which went into effect in April, will strengthen tpc’s ability to provide a wide range of services, including design, commercial printing, interactive communications, apparel, promotional products and corporate fulfillment, according to owners of both companies.

Murphy Business of Cape Girardeau, Midwest Strategies move to new location

Murphy Business of Cape Girardeau and Midwest Strategies, formerly known as Hendrickson Business Advisors, have moved to 1200 N. Cape Rock Drive, Suite 2.

The businesses, owned by Jennifer S. Smith, previously shared space with SEMO CPA Company, 715 N. Clark Ave. in Cape Girardeau.

Stuchlik, Kilpela purchase Riverview Room

Matt Stuchlik and his wife, Sarah Kilpela, owners of Eden Spa and Salon at the intersection of Spanish and William streets in Cape Girardeau, have purchased the Riverview Room in downtown Cape.

Located on the second floor of the Buckner-Ragsdale building at the intersection of Broadway and North Main Street, the Riverview Room offers Mississippi River views and is an event venue space that can accommodate a variety of activities, such as wedding receptions, meetings, birthday and graduation parties, business retreats, and church and service club meetings.

Busch Pet Products moves to new location

Busch Pet Products in Cape Girardeau has moved to retail space in a new commercial development at 2031 Cape LaCroix Road from its former location at 1720 Kingsway Drive in Cape Girardeau.

The store opened in its new location in early May.

The Missouri Job Center now located in Community Partnership building

The Missouri Job Center office in Cape Girardeau recently moved from its location on South Kingshighway and is now in the new Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri building, formerly the Cape Girardeau Police Department headquarters, at 40 S. Sprigg St.

A partner of the American Job Center Network, the Missouri Job Center office works with job seekers and employers to connect people with jobs.

Coalter Insurance opens new Jackson office

Coalter Insurance Group has established a new office at 120 S. Missouri St. in Jackson.

The company, which also has offices in Cape Girardeau and Perryville, Missouri, specializes in commercial and personal insurance products, including auto, home, life, Medicare supplements and specialty lines for watercraft, recreation vehicles and similar items.

Show-Me Truck Equipment acquires Jackson building

Show-Me Truck Equipment has acquired an 11,544-square-foot industrial building at 1840 Farmington Road in Jackson. The property was originally home of Busey Truck Equipment in the 1980s.

The St. Louis-based truck equipment company has plans to establish a truck equipment and repair service at the location.

Threadz relocates to West Broadway Plaza

Threadz, a boutique, gift and custom apparel shop, has relocated from its North Main Street location to 1704 Broadway, Suite 104, in the West Broadway Plaza.

Kelli Rector, Threadz owner, started the business in 2008 with her late husband, Steve. For the past five years, it has been at 115 N. Main St. in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Schnuck Markets among Newsweek’s top-ranked loyalty programs

St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets, which has a location at 19 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, has been recognized on Newsweek’s 2021 list of “America’s Best Loyalty Programs” for its Schnucks Rewards app. The company’s rewards application ranked third in Newsweek’s “supermarket” category.

Loyalty programs recognized by Newsweek were selected based on an independent survey of more than 4,000 loyalty program members who were asked to evaluate programs on the basis of several factors, including ease of use, support, trust, benefit and overall satisfaction.

People in the News

Kristie Giompoletti-Shamoun has joined KBSI FOX23 and MyNetworkTV affiliate WDKA My49 as general manager, effective in mid-April.

Before coming to Cape Girardeau, Giompoletti-Shamoun was sales director at CBS affiliate KTHV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was also sales manager and director of transactional sales at WMC, an NBC affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee.

KBSI and WDKA were sold earlier this year by Sinclair Broadcasting to Standard Media Group based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media owns two other television stations, WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska, both ABC affiliates.

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Bryan Austin has been named the new principal at Jackson Junior High School and will replace Cory Crosnoe, who will retire before the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

Austin, who is currently an assistant principal at the school, was named principal at the Jackson School Board’s meeting in April following interviews and input from school personnel.

Austin has been employed by the Jackson School District since 2009.

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Darah Jirkovsky, who has been development manager at the SoutheastHEALTH Foundation since 2016, has been named executive director of the foundation.

Before joining Southeast, she worked for other not-for-profit organizations, including the American Lung Association and March of Dimes.

Jirkovsky is a graduate of the University of Kentucky in Lexington where she earned a degree in integrated strategic communications/public relations. She is active in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson chambers of commerce, the Southeast Council on Philanthropy and the Southeast Cancer Control Coalition.

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Endocrinologist Rahul Thampi has joined Cape Diabetes and Endocrinology, a medical practice affiliated with Saint Francis Healthcare System.

Before coming to Cape Girardeau, Thampi was on staff at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he completed his fellowship in 2020.

He earned his medical degree in 2011 from Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Medical College in Kerala, India, and completed both his internal medicine internship in 2016 and residency in 2018 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.

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Jake Kohut has joined the Cape Girardeau office of Spencer Fane LLP as an of counsel attorney.

Before joining Spencer Fane, Kohut was an attorney with Armstrong Teasdale LLP in St. Louis. Prior to that, he was a litigator with Segal, McCambridge, Singer & Mahoney in St. Louis. He was also an assistant prosecuting attorney in Greene County, Missouri, for two years.

Kohut received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he also earned his law degree in 2012. In law school, he was an associate editor of the Missouri Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Barristers.

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Dan Carver III, a financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial Services, 339 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, was recently named to the Forbes 2021 list of Best-In-State Wealth Advisors.

Carver is ranked 64th out of 73 Missouri financial advisers who made the annual Forbes list. His selection and ranking was based on several factors, including the assets under his management, industry experience, compliance record, and his approach to working with clients.

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Occupational therapist Wynnette Sherrill has joined the therapy staff at Mid America Rehab Sports & Physical Therapy in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Sherrill graduated from the occupational therapy program at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1998 and became certified in hand therapy in 2005. She has spent much of her career in the outpatient therapy setting, with an emphasis on the treatment of work-related and complex hand injuries.

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Gordon Powers has been named manager of environmental services at Saint Francis Healthcare System. His promotion became effective earlier this spring.

Powers has been with Saint Francis since 2012, beginning as a reprocess technician. He remained in that role until 2014. He rejoined Saint Francis in 2019 as an assistant manager of environmental services.

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Rachel Cook has been named program director for a pair of Cape Girardeau radio stations — KGKS (93.9 The River) and KGIR (SEMO ESPN). Both stations are part of the River Radio family of AM and FM radio stations.

In addition to her responsibilities as program director, Cook will also be an on-air personality on KGKS and KEZS (K-103), according to River Radio operations manager Mike Renick.

Renick also announced Darren Burgfeld, who can be heard weekday mornings as “Iceburg in the Morning” on KCGQ (Real Rock 99.3) and middays on KGKS, has been promoted to be River Radio’s digital manager.

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In a separate announcement, the radio station group noted that on-air personality Faune Riggin was recognized in June by the Missouri State Teachers Association for her coverage of education-related issues. Riggin received awards in three categories of MSTA’s 2021 Media Awards program.

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Chris Cole, broker and co-owner of Lorimont Commercial Real Estate, recently attained certified commercial investment member (CCIM) designation from the CCIM Institute, an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors.

Fewer than 10% of commercial real estate advisers in the fields of brokerage, asset management, banking, development, property management, law and accounting currently hold CCIM designation.

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Ryan Berger has joined Rooted Web, a Cape Girardeau-based website design and digital marketing agency, as a digital content producer.

In his new position, he will work with Rooted Web clients to create custom content for their digital platforms.

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Edward Jones financial adviser Cheryl Mothes recently participated in the company’s Managing Partners Conference, which annually recognizes the top 400 of the firm’s 19,000 financial advisers.

Mothes has been an Edward Jones financial adviser in Jackson since 1999. This was the eighth time she has attended the annual conference.

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Independent Banker magazine, the monthly publication of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), has included Cape Girardeau banker Aaron Panton in its annual list of “40 Under 40 Emerging Community Bank Leaders.”

Panton is the regional bank president at The Bank of Missouri in Cape Girardeau.

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Brady Wright has joined MRV Banks in Cape Girardeau as a commercial loan officer.

Wright has worked in the banking industry for nearly five years, serving as a credit analyst and commercial loan officer before joining MRV Banks.