By ANN PIERCEALL

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The first of the cement brick walls for the new Lowe's Home Improvement store is rising out of the mud at the corner of Stardust Drive and Munger Lane.

The store is right on track to open sometime at the end of the year despite the wet start to the construction season.

"Weather really hasn't been a factor. It's just one of those processes where we have to embrace the weather and deal with it," said Maureen Rich, spokesman for North Carolina-based Lowe's. "We are still on track. We're expecting a fourth quarter opening."

Rich said work has started on the footings and masonry for the store's 94,000-square-foot retail space. An additional 26,000-square foot garden center is also planned. As many as 120 new jobs, most of them full-time, are expected.

Rich said hiring for the new store will begin "typically when it starts to look like a real store."

Rich said the interior will be laid out like most other stores, but that there will be products stocked specific to the region.

Rich would not go into detail about how Hannibal was selected as a site for a Lowe's store when there is another about 20 miles away in Quincy, Ill. She did say the company looks at about 100 different factors, including population, home ownership and ease of access to a location.

"Convenience is always a factor. We want to make sure we're building stores that are convenient for our customers to access. Our customers are indicating they'd like to see another store. That's certainly one of those factors that does weigh into a consideration," Rich said.

In business more than 60 years, Lowe's has more than 1,550 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

-- apierceall@whig.com/(573) 221-5879