NextGen on Elevate Springfield with Ellie Ferriell: Buying Local

Summary

In this episode, Ellie and Robert discuss various topics ranging from personal experiences with graduation to the importance of supporting local businesses. They explore how buying local not only benefits the community but also enhances the quality of products available to consumers. The conversation highlights the challenges faced by local businesses and the impact of consumer habits on the local economy. They also touch on the significance of quality over quantity in shopping and the need for more diverse local offerings.

Takeaways

• Graduation can feel different for homeschoolers.
• Buying local helps elevate the community.
• Quality of products is often better from local businesses.
• Consumer habits directly affect local economies.
• Supporting local businesses keeps money in the community.
• There is a need for more local stores and restaurants.
• Shopping locally can lead to better customer service.
• Transitioning to local products can be easy and beneficial.
• Secondhand shopping is a sustainable option.
• Community engagement is essential for local growth.

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Facebook:  @robertferriell   @elevatespringfield

Youtube: @robertferriell

10X Health:  https://10xhealthnetwork.com/BIGDOG

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we will dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together, we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, y'all. Time to 10X.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Hey everyone, welcome to Next Gen on Elevate Springfield. I'm Ellie and I'm here with my dad Robert.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Together, we're talking about what really matters to teens today. From school and skills to pressure, purpose, and possibilities. We'll share honest conversations, practical strategies teens can actually use, and a little dad-daughter debate.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

This is about listening, learning, and growing. Together, let's elevate the next generation.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

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SPEAKER_04 1:47

Hello and welcome back to another episode of NextGen on Elevate Springfield. I'm Ellie and I'm here with my dad.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Hi Ellie. I just spilled coffee on myself. That didn't feel very good.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Especially since I'm wearing wearing shorts. Got a little hot coffee on my bare leg. That doesn't feel too good.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

Now that's your third strike. Before we start a recording, he didn't have my mic plugged in, and then he proceeds to stumble all over himself in his chair and almost knocks over his entire equipment set up. And now there's the coffee.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

I don't know that I'd consider it a stumble. It's just my mic was really close to me and it got caught on my pants as I sat down. So I didn't really stumble. It just I almost took down my whole microphone setup on this side. Right. But I was it wouldn't have been very good. I don't think that would have happened. Your mic unplugged wasn't that big of a deal. I noticed it when we sat down, got that taken care of. But yes, me taking down this mic setup over here, that could have been a disaster, or at least a disaster for everything behind me because it's all connected back here and it could have come. Then it really could have come tumbling down.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

That would have really been a stumble, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

It had all been recorded. That would have been a good clip to put out there for everybody. I'm sure everybody would have loved seeing my falling all over me and then me falling over myself. That would have been great, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Yeah, that'd be funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Well, it's uh mid-May now and graduation season for a lot of folks. Went to your cousin, my niece's graduation yesterday. Before we get into what we're gonna talk about today, do you think it's gonna be weird as as a homeschooler come graduation time? You think you're gonna need a graduation, like a traditional graduation?

SPEAKER_04 3:34

I do think it'll be weird, but that's if I do end up doing like a graduation, because there is a homeschool graduation. I just don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

I don't know how that works. One of my friends is actually graduating at the homeschool graduation that's coming up. Um, and we might go and see her. I don't know. It could be cool. I again, I don't know how it works. I don't know if it's just family like it is at traditional graduations, even though at this one they said family and friends. So I mean, I think you think you're just making up invisible rules.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Well, that one there, I mean, it depends on the school. So the one we went to yesterday.

SPEAKER_04 4:08

This isn't a school, so I guess you can just make up the rules.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Right. So I mean the one we went to yesterday was a a private school, a very small graduating class, as in comparison to, say, Springfield High School or Glenwood High School or Lanfier or South.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Home school would be even less than that gr than that.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

So it yeah, anybody don't have really you don't have to worry about capacity, whereas if you're with large graduating class that has three, four hundred or more kids in it, then yeah, you might have to start worrying worrying about capacity depending on how big of a building you're in.

SPEAKER_04 4:43

So yeah, I think it'd be cool to go and see her graduate, just to obviously number one, to celebrate her, but also to see how it works because I feel like since it's a smaller class, since we are homeschooled and there's not many of us all within the same age bracket, I feel like there's quite a few for my age at least. I can name a few people that are my exact age, which is kind of crazy because I haven't had that the past few years with people my exact age. But for different graduating classes, I think it's gonna be weird and I think it's gonna be strange since it's smaller. Like at this one, for example, mom was like, Oh, I didn't know they were gonna say a little bit about each person because you guys graduated a school that had 300 graduates in it. You don't say anything about those people. Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

You just say the name and roll across.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

You're done. But at this one, they talked about them. So if the homeschool graduation is even smaller than that, then what are they gonna do to fill the time or to actually make a graduation ceremony that isn't like 15 minutes? So I think that could be a little bit awkward if I'm just standing there for 20 minutes and they're rambling off about me or something. But I don't know how it works. I'm sure it's great.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

But that's just my I think I could ramble on about you for a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 5:57

It's just my pre whatever.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Maybe they'll ask me to do something and I'll just emcee and talk all the way through, and then the five kids that are there to graduate will just say their name real fast and then we'll just keep going.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

It's there's gonna be more than that.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yeah, there'll be more than that. Yeah, the homeschool community is pretty large. It's just a matter of how many are in that specific age grap age group.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Like our homeschool community is really big. It just really depends on who's all the same age, because there's not many big groups that are all the same age. And oh, we're graduating together. Like, that's not really real how it works. But I thought today we'd talk a little bit about local first and local stuff because you're a very big local guy. You talk about that a lot, but I don't think we've ever talked about it. And I have thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

So you have thoughts, huh? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

So I thought that would be our topic today.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah, we could get into that. The importance of local and how that affects things around here, that uh how that affects our community, and how when we buy local and shop local and make an effort to do that, we can all grow together, just like we all talk about on my other segments. So, what specifically you want to get into? You want to ask me some questions? You want to just get into your thoughts on the whole thing? What do you want to do?

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Yeah, we can go with the latter. I think I have three main points.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

I'm not gonna name off these three main points because I can't figure out a word to put them all into one. And we're gonna get to them anyway. So I'll just get into it. I think one of the things that you talk about a lot is obviously when you buy local, we're elevating our community. That's how we build up each other and build our community because if you live here, you know that we have a lot of empty space. We have a lot of closed things. To be fair, some of these are chains, but still, no matter, no matter what it is, it's your main thing you talk about is that, right? And I think another thing that people also think when we come to local first and buy local is caring where your money goes. I think is one of the things because even with that, I think that's a hard train for people to get on. It's like, okay, why do I need to care about where my money goes if I'm buying my soap? Why do I need to care where that money goes? I just need my freaking soap. So I think another thing that helps is that buying local also benefits you, not just, oh, well, yeah, it can benefit my community or yeah, I guess I should care where my money goes, I guess, even when it's literally just the most basic of things ever. It has an effect on you too, because with these big corporations and mass-produced items, their top priority is make a lot and make it fast. Their top priority is not health, it's not quality, it's none of those things. It's just get a lot and get it done quick. However, with small businesses, they craft it and they take the time and effort to put into these things. And a lot of the time, they are better quality, they last longer, they are healthier for you. Not saying that's the thing all the time, but it's like you gotta find your favorite small businesses that align with you specifically, because that's why there's a lot of small businesses, because there's something for everybody. But I think that's one of the big things too, because when you're buying from these big corporations, even Amazon, like I'll get clothes from Amazon sometimes and I'll be like, this kind of sucks. But that's what I think of when I think of that. I'm like, there's these just these big corporations, and there's no effort, there's no anything put into it besides just get it cranked out.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah, and one of your points that you just made was you know, the potentially the quality that they're creating, for an example, would be say we talked about Primitive Prairie, their tea last time we were on. So a lot of the products that they make, since they are local and since we can talk to them that they produce the stuff, we know exactly where it all came from, which is an important point for a lot of people. Sometimes it's difficult to know how they sourced their stuff. If you're out there and you listen to our wellness segment, you know that I'm pretty particular about the stuff I'll use, the stuff that I'll eat, and the stuff that I will put on my body in terms of skincare type stuff. So knowing the person that creates it here is a big benefit because you can talk to them about transparency. Yeah, very transparent sourcing. So and it helps them, it helps you. We all continue to grow.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yeah. And then in and then by doing that, it then benefits our communities because then our community grows and it flourishes, which still needs a lot of work because I I want to be able to go downtown and have just stores upon stores upon restaurants, upon coffee shops, upon everything. And same thing for our mall. I want all that stuff. I think everybody does. It's just yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

And those things only happen if we make a conscious effort to support local. Because there's multiple reasons why businesses close, but the primary reason is they didn't sell enough stuff to be able to stay in business.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

If we're able to really think about, hey, how can I you spend my dollars here instead of here? How can I transition from using this to using this to using this other thing that's local? That's the type of thing that helps keep businesses here.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

Yeah. And obviously there's exceptions and all the other things to that. Like don't just buy something because it's local, but you'll never use it because we don't like overconsumption here either. I can do an entire episode on overconsumption, AI, all that fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Well, and there's there are some things that you can't buy locally. You don't have producers for them here, or you don't have a store that carries them. For me, I've talked about it on the show before. I like organic cotton clothing. Sometimes that can be difficult to find. Which I'm currently, which you're currently wearing wearing too right now. Sometimes that can be difficult to find locally, depending on what community you're in. If you're in a larger community, it could be easier to find. But sometimes in the small to mid-size, the retailers there don't carry that type of stuff because it's a little more niche market at the moment. I think it eventually it's gonna get out there more, and people are starting to realize getting away from some of the polyester and some of the plastic stuff out there. But there's still some areas where you couldn't get that in town. I don't know that there's any places in town here, even here in Springfield, that carry a good selection of organic clothing.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

Yeah. So and it's like with that kind of stuff too, it's just things you're already buying, you can buy locally. Don't go out of your way to spend so much on local stuff that you're not gonna use. But like I just said, soap. You can easily buy local soap, and that is beneficial to that business or community.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, it's not yeah, it's not about buying for the sake of buying to go in and go into these stores just to keep them afloat. It's transitioning, hey, I currently buy X. How can I, instead of buying X, how can I buy Y from this local person that does the same thing? So it's it's really just making those transitions and trying to really think about what changes you can make. It's not a huge change for you necessarily. You're still getting the thing that you need, but you're just getting it from somebody local instead. One instance is sometimes I will I've talked on the show before, I like Food Fantasies and I like Harvest Market. Food Fantasies is a locally owned uh grocery store. So I'll make an effort to go there more sometimes just to give the business to a locally owned shop when it's the same product. I could get the same thing at Food Fantasies and at Harvest Market, but I try to transition some of those dollars over to Food Fantasies because it's a locally owned.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Yeah, just prioritize it. It doesn't, it's not that complicated. It's just you can swap it out for something local. And this is kind of off topic because I know we're wellness people, but not everybody is, and like that's the point of this episode for anybody. It's just whoever you are, whatever you are, just try and buy locally. It's not about well, actually, like the the well, like if you're trying to be healthy, well, all that kind of stuff. Because I was about to go into that and I was like, wait, I was like, that's not even the topic, but this is kind of out there. But I've become so conscious of everything that I have that it's like really annoying. I'll go into a store and I'll be like, oh my gosh, this is so cute, and I'll look at the tag and it'll be like 98.9% polyester, and I'm like, and like I got this shirt in the mail along with another one, and I was like jumping for joy because I looked at the tag and I didn't know this beforehand, but it was 100% cotton. I was like, What? They still make those? That's crazy. And it's like something that's actually cute that I'd buy, that I like, and that I wear. I was like, that's insane. Like 100%, I'd be happy with like 50% at this point because the cotton in clothes at this point is like 3%. And a lot of them is pretty low.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, that's why I've transitioned pretty much my entire wardrobe over to 95% or higher cotton. Most of it's 100%. There's I have a couple of things that are 95% cotton because then they also have a little bit of stretch in them. So 5% lasting, but it's the not the good kind, but the less toxic kind. I love that last few percent. It's a much smaller percentage than thanks to the city. And you can't be 100% perfect out there.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

You can't be 100% perfect all the time anyway. So it's just do your best.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

But those are all good, all good transitions you can make. The skincare stuff. We've got so many different people out there that do the different skincare stuff. There's local things you can get, clothing, try out some of the boutiques, see if there's anything there instead of shopping online.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

Yeah, and just yeah, definitely lay off online shopping because I don't like buying clothes online really at all, because then I get it in and then I'm disappointed because it doesn't fit or the material sucks, or and I like to try it on to know all those things, but I still buy online quite often because I have to, because here we don't have much. We tried to look for Adeline for a dress for one of her things. Sorry, this is kind of like putting you off the scent of buying locally. Cause I'm like, yeah, it's actually really hard.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

I shop a lot online.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

It's actually really hard. No, for specific things that'll be like, geez, do we have anything like for her dress? We were like, we could not.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

And that was difficult because there aren't as many places anymore where you can go get a dress in town, and turn like a dance type dress or something, you know?

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Even if the place isn't locally owned, this is a bigger thing than just buy from small businesses. You should be buying in person as much as you can. Honestly, that's my you need to be buying in person as much as you can. Because our Macy's closed, which wasn't due to them not having enough money.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

It was just that they were they just closed the company on the whole didn't have enough money.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Really?

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Yeah. Well, they because they closed a bunch of them.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Ours was a bunch.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

So I mean it's really not because we didn't value the retail in general is really, really difficult right now in terms of in in-person retail. One point. Yeah, one point.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

You still need should be going out and buying in-person because even if it isn't a locally owned or small business thing, it's still better to have just a lot of places to go and a lot of stores to have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

But also on that side, too, if you really like the online shopping, a lot of the local shops have an online component like Springfield Running Center that's pretty close to us, right? You can, of course, go in there and buy shoes, but they also have the website where you can buy the shoes off their website instead of going to somewhere else that's not locally owned. Another instance would be Little Lincoln's toy shop. I'm gonna buy a toy. I'd much rather give that business to Little Lincoln's if they have it, somewhere else. And one thing to note with that is even if your local shop doesn't necessarily carry carry that item on a regular basis, a lot of times they can get it. So they can order it for you, especially clothes, shoes, stuff like that. You might want to check with whatever boutique you're using or whatever retailer you're going to. If they don't have the type you like, you can ask them, hey, do you ever get this brand? Do you have access to this brand? And instead of going in online and buying that brand online, you could order it through them and you're still supporting local and getting the thing that you want.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

Yeah, and just research, research what's around you and what's close to you.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Has nothing to do with local, but I keep forgetting to bring my new hat in. I've been meaning to wear my new hat.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

You should have done that for local.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I should have. I saw that today up on my Would that count? No, well, no, because I I No. I bought it in person and but it wasn't it wasn't a local shop. Bought it when we were in when we were in Disney. It is a pretty sweet hat though. I looked at it when I was getting ready earlier today and I'm like, ooh, I need to wear that. And then I forgot because that was the thing. I was gonna wear that on the show here and kind of have a little cowboy vibe or whatever you call it, night writer vibe.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Maybe we can have an episode talking about music or something. Because that seems like a music seems like a music hat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Well, I should I've had two music guys in recently.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

We should have a conversation about pop culture, some type of music, something or other.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

With my hat on? Yes. Next week.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

So pop culture references, music, me with my new hat. I can grab the bill of it and say stuff like ma'am and everything.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah. No, doesn't work, does it?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

No.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

But it is a it's a black leather cowboy hat, not yeah, pretty cool though.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

Yeah, I don't know. Stop it completely, but weird. You might think it was completely just off the bat that I started talking about shopping in person, but that is one of the reasons that so many places are closing because of online shopping. Because why is this place here if we can just shop online and get it online? Like just go to the store. It's just just go. It may it makes it makes everything better, okay? We just need to slow down our lives and just take time for normal things.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Well, and we do realize that the shopping online is very, very convenient. So we will do that. It is very, very convenient.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

So what I honestly feel like it's less convenient. It's nice to have everything at my fingertips. That's convenient for me, but I don't like the waiting for it to arrive, the anxiety of it, like it's not gonna fit, the material's gonna suck. Yeah, I'm gonna have to do it. I can understand that. I'm gonna have to send it back. The only thing I like about online shopping is I can look at any store. I can everything's at my fingertips. But other than that, the entire other process of it, putting my card information in. Like that's more of a hassle than me going to the store and then putting it in a cart and then going up to the register and checking out than putting in my cart information on the way.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

And but on the flip side, for a lot of people that are super busy, they'd much rather do it online. So it is important for local retailers to be able to make sure they are. Setting themselves apart to get people to come in through excellent customer service, through doing all those little things, because if you don't have excellent customer service, when people come in, unfortunately, people will say, I could have just done this online.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

Expensive and rude people. What the heck?

SPEAKER_00 22:19

I could have just done this online and never again. Came for the service. But we talk a lot about that on the show service. You have to have great service. And that's what sets you apart. And that's really the secret sauce of a local business, is they can provide that local great service. We talk with your buddy Jeff Dillman a lot about service because they're a locally owned company. And there are big box stores, there's Sam's and there's Uline, all these places that could do the same thing that they do, but the way they set themselves apart is the service.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

See, and that's another thing about local as well, is that you can actually talk to a person because my mom was trying to do a return recently and she's like, Can I talk to a person instead of a bot? Because that's exhausting. You've talked to robots all the time to get anything done with anything.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah, most of them, most of them have gone to those type of processes.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

With local, if they have good customer service, which I haven't came across one that didn't. I mean, I know there are some, but I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah, most of most of the places in Springfield do have good customer service. Yeah. That's why they've stuck around.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

You're gonna actually talk to a person and it's gonna be a lot more pleasant because you can talk to a living human being instead of some internet robot. Right. Which is a lot more convenient.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

No, it is definitely very important because, like we've talked on the show many times before, when you shop from a locally owned company, more of those dollars stay right here. A larger percentage of each dollar stays right here locally than what it does if you buy from somebody that is not locally owned. And when we all do that, more money stays in our community and that compounds upon itself. And that's where we really start being able to grow together, keep stuff here, and we all tend to just get the things we want, need, and have a great spring field, great thriving spring field for all of us.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Yeah. And I've gotten a lot more into quality. So now when I think of big corporations, which are some I bought from, by the way. So I know this firsthand. Quality sucks. They're overpriced sometimes because there's okay, here's the thing is there are two sides of the coin. There's places like Amazon and Shein, or Sheen, whatever you want to call it. I don't care, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Is it Shein or Sheen?

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Well, everybody gets mad at me when I call it Shein and not Sheen. And I'm like, you know what? I don't care. They're like, they price their things for like a dollar. I don't think they care either. So there's that side of it where it's cheaply made, cheap prices. So that's the point. That's what they're there for. They're for affordability. And I know that because I have I bought from especially Shein for like the longest time because I'm like, I can't afford anything else. I can't spend like$50 on one shirt, which is why I transferred to secondhand seller apps where I got this from. Love that. So that was my swap out. But so there's the one side where it's organic cotton.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 25:15

Where it's cheaply made and cheap prices. But then there's the other side where it's cheaply made with high prices. So you really so just because just because it's higher in price doesn't mean it's higher in quality. So really gotta make sure you're checking that with big corporations and also locally, just check it both if that's something you care about. If you don't, go out and buy whatever you want. I don't care. But I've really been getting into that lately. So when I think about local first, I'm like, I know that's gonna be better. At least from the places that I will be buying from, I know it's gonna be better than these corporations who only care about getting it out there and that's it, and getting a lot.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

We've got a lot of stuff going for us here in town at Springfield in Springfield. We've got you know, the Shield Sports Park's been great. We've got Robin Roberts Stadium's coming along with all the lucky horseshoe stuff, which we're getting excited for that. I know you always love a good baseball game. So as we sit here and record, we're 10 days out from opening day. Do you know that? About 10 days opening day.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

With the Shields Dome, I really hope that brings in like a lot of people. And then our people at the top are gonna be like, okay, we need more stuff for all these people to do here.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

And that's the thing. When when more people are here, when more people are doing things, not just government-wise, but entrepreneur-wise, business owners are gonna say, hey, well, we've got and you're already starting to see it around the sports park there, with I don't know if you've seen, we haven't really talked about it, the Legends Entertainment Complex that's going right next to there. There's a new hotel there. So all these things are popping up because there's more people coming in. So that happens naturally because people see the value of it when they see, hey, well, we're gonna have this many thousands more people coming to our community every single week, every single weekend, and they're here to spend money. And we don't want them just to spend money at Shields, we want them to spend money at all these different places. So there's gonna be more stuff popping up. But we've got so many great things coming on with the horseshoes, especially. If you haven't been to a horseshoe game, make sure you get out there for one. It's gonna be fun. Got uh the uh legends game coming up next month, too. I'm looking forward to that. That's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

I know you are.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Yeah, I got an announcement for that later on. That'll be good.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

Yeah. But if literally, if you're thinking about opening anything in Springfield, please do it. We need a lot more things. Just please go for it. I I pr I I will go. I I will come support you, please. I really want more. I really want more places. I want a bookstore specifically. I want a ton more boutiques, specifically, not too over maybe a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

A bookstore, a cool local books bookstore would be nice. We have I don't think we have one at all.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

We have too many dollar generals and Starbucks.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

We do have we do have the prairie archives over here, but that's that doesn't have like the the newer books that you that you want typically.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

So yeah, that one's a really cool place if you're looking for vintage and history, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

But but yeah, we don't have a new one. That was I know that's one of our favorite things when we go traveling is hey, where's the Where's the bookstore? Where's the cool local bookstore? Where's the bookstore?

SPEAKER_04 28:30

Or even even like the big bookstores that we don't have, because we only have a Barnes and Noble. We don't have a Books A Million or any of the other ones. We're like, okay, where's the bookstore?

SPEAKER_00 28:39

But our absolute favorites are always, for instance, like the one on Sanibel, Jean's books, local bookstore on Sanibel Island. So cool.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

About so many diary of the Wimpy Kids. So fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

And I mean, just a cool vibe. Then we went to one when we were on Key West. That one too. That one was pretty cool. You remember that one? Uh yeah. Pretty fun. It was small, but it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

I think we went to like three that trip. So I didn't, yeah, the best one.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

The local ones are the best. Yeah, we will pop into the chains, but the local ones are the best.

unknown 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Jeans was probably my favorite bookstore ever.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

And to go hand in hand with local, go shop at your thrift stores too. Obviously, there's some things that thrift stores nobody wants to buy, but for clothes, please go check it out. There's so much waste, and it makes me really sad to walk into places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx that are just overflowing with overconsumption and so much stuff. I'm like, don't we have enough stuff already? There's just so much stuff. It's like it gives me anxiety to walk into stores nowadays because there's just so much stuff. And then you go into a thrift store and it's packed full of things. So please just buy secondhand as well. Buy locally, buy secondhand. I feel like those go hand in hand together.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Obviously, there's things you're gonna buy new, of course, but in terms of clothes, go look for some. I mean, that's one of my favorite things.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah, bottom line, get out there and support local. There's a handful of boutiques, shops, restaurants right here on this block where we're sitting, Ellie. So went down to Maldener's the other night for dinner.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

Speaking of a local, we're gonna get Sapori's Pizza.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Oh, yeah, I think so, huh?

SPEAKER_04 30:19

So we're gonna see we're living what we preach on Telling.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Local Saporis Pizza. A shout out to Sapori's Pizza. Think we think you could do a 30-second commercial for them right now, just off the cuff.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Is it a jingle or just a however you want to do it? Let's just 50% off right now.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Like what I wouldn't say that because I don't know I don't have a clearance for that. They didn't give me the old coupon code for the elevate 50% off.

SPEAKER_04 30:41

Maybe if we shout them out, they'll like beg us, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

So yeah, just try try a 15-second Saporis jingle. Let's see what you can do. Let's have a little fun.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

Jingle? Like singing?

SPEAKER_00 30:52

No, just just it doesn't have to be a singing jingle. It could be a commercial. Like you're doing a little commercial for Saporis.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Okay, give me a beat.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

I gotta do a beat?

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Yeah. Well, I won't sing, but you know how the commercial got the little like bum bum bum bum bum bum in the background. It's just like, and they're just like fire, like spit firing at you, be like, get this and this and this and this and this and this. You know?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah. Tell me what kind of beat you want.

SPEAKER_04 31:17

Like a little cutesy fairy kind of vibe, you know?

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Okay. I'll try.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

I'm supposed to do a fairy vibe out of Yeah, like whimsy, sparkles, glitter.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

You got a little bit too deep of a voice for a whimsy sparkles, but.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Oh, wait, that's perfect. It sounds like pepperoni.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

I'm having to do this far too long. Why haven't you got in yet?

SPEAKER_04 31:45

Because that's perfect. I think that's all for today.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

I think we'll just give them something. Hey, Springfield, you want authentic Italian pizza right here in the capital city? Head on over to Saporis. That's what we're gonna do right after the show, y'all. Join us. How about that?

SPEAKER_04 32:02

That was not the route I was going at all. That's a whole lot easier than what I was thinking about.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah, I was I was wondering. I was like, I know you can do this, Ellie.

SPEAKER_04 32:10

I was thinking of like a legit commercial, like on TV, like after the Barbie ads.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Well, yeah. That could have been a commercial if you just take out the part that we're gonna go get it right now after the show. That would have been a nice little 10-second conversation.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

I swear somebody was really they set my expectations too high one day because like I put pineapple on my pizza. Sue me. I don't care. And they, I could not see the pepperoni or the cheese on that thing. That was amazing. And I think that person, whoever was working, was having a real good day. Because oh my goodness, I could not see anything else on that pizza besides pineapple. It was wondrous. Right. Like, and now every time they still put a generous amount, but I'm like, where was that one guy? The one employee that just smothered it.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Might have been his only day work in there. He's like, whoa, far too much on that one there.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

So they should.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Well, shop local folks, whether it's the poories or wherever, support your local businesses.

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Yeah, it doesn't only benefit your community, but it benefits you as well.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

You know it.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Well, thank you for joining us on another episode of NextGen on LA Springfield. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

See ya. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent is here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217-726-6343. Well, thank you for joining us today, everybody. Appreciate you making us a part of your day. Hey, don't forget while you're out on social, check ours out. You can check my personal one out at RobertFarrell at everywhere. Check out those Elevate Springfield pages, those big dog business coaching pages as well. Check us out over on YouTube. Give us a subscribe, give us a like or a follow on any of those channels. We would certainly appreciate it. So, hey, take what you learned today. You bring the discipline and follow through and together. That's right, y'all. We're gonna elevate Springfield. Be great.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

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