Easy Money Shoppe to close after 25 years on Kingshighway

Sandy Prichard, branch manager of Easy Money Shoppe in Cape Girardeau, with a drawing of the company mascot, a yellow Volkswagen bus, and perpetual "employee of the month" Titan, her Chihuahua-Yorkie mix. The payday loan company, a Cape Girardeau business for more than 25 years, is shutting down Friday, Sept. 20.

Christopher Borro ~ cborro@semissourian.com

Easy Money Shoppe payday loan company will close its doors Friday, Sept. 20, and among the locations shutting down is the one that has called 320 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau home for the last 25 years.

Branch manager Sandy Prichard had worked there since March 2012.

“It doesn't seem like 13 years for me because it’s gone so quick,” she said.

Joining Prichard at the Kingshighway location were Regina Head and Christy Clover. The trio had worked together at Easy Money for more than a decade. They provided loans for numerous one-time clients and about 60 regular customers each month. Prichard said she will miss meeting with all her regular clients.

Bruce Halvorson of Paducah, Kentucky, purchased Easy Money from Doug Clark in 1999. Now that he has decided to retire, Prichard said, he shut down the business.

When Halvorson acquired the business, he also inherited its characteristic yellow Volkswagen mascot. At one point, Clark had four of them that he drove amongst his eight stores. One had been parked in front of the Cape Girardeau Easy Money for years.

”When the ‘bug’ got hit out here by somebody, the police officer said, ‘Oh no! It’s a staple!’” Prichard said.

The bright yellow vehicle was used to advertise the business on shirts, hats, jackets, bags and most of its signage.

“We had cups, we had pens. We had the ‘bug’, that was enough advertising. Anyone who went through Little Caesars saw it,” Prichard said.

Easy Money Shoppe was one of the few payday loan companies left in the region. They supplied loans of as low as $100 to individuals who lived, worked and banked in the area.

“As far as the payday world, it is changing. Here in Cape, everybody is install loans or … more of a signature loan. They don't have to put collateral down. Everybody has gone to $500 (down) to $1,200 to $2,500. Whereas we were small-town, we were $50 to $500 for payday and our install only went to $800,” Prichard said.

They never required people to come in; clients did so willingly.

“We don't want to hurt anybody. We want them to be able to pay it off and walk away,” Prichard said. She recommended clients keep their loans local so they don’t rack up fees.

Prichard, Head and Clover served clients from Cape Girardeau, Scott, Bollinger and Perry counties, as well as those from Southern Illinois. They made the office their own, decorating it with Hallmark snowmen around Christmas and wearing red on Fridays to support the VFW Post 3838 up the road. Titan, Prichard’s two-year-old Chihuahua-Yorkie mix, became as much a fixture at the office as the yellow Volkswagen, eagerly greeting visitors and mail carriers alike.

The trio is still going to work together, this time at Drury Call Center. They’ll be moving there full time after Easy Money closes.

“We’re family. That's all there is now. We’re family, we’re sisters,” Prichard said. “… It might be from home but we’ll be waving at each other and we’ll be meeting once a month. We’re very happy about that.”

Easy Money Shoppe will remain open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday until Sept. 20.

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