Growth in the Works: Leaders see Springfield region evolving over next five years

Andrea Sitzes is a vice president with Arvest Bank, but she also keeps her finger on Missouri’s economic development pulse as president of the Missouri Economic Development Council. She is also chair of the Ozark Region Workforce Development Board, which serves seven counties.

Asked to describe her vision for how the Springfield region might evolve in the next five years, Sitzes is optimistic.

“Our region is evolving into a connected, vibrant hub that continues to attract talent and thrive with core industry sectors and new opportunities for an outdoor and innovation economy,” she says.

Springfield will continue to benefit from a prime location, Sitzes adds.

“The Ozarks’ central location in the U.S. will drive our transportation and logistics, health care and tourism, while our natural amenities sustain and anchor our growth in food production/manufacturing and recreation.”

Sterling Huff, a former banker who is now principal with Finance Advisors LLC, has a bird’s-eye view from a different perch, heading up the weekly 1 Million Cups series, which aims to engage and connect local entrepreneurs.

Huff says Springfield’s future – five years out and beyond – is largely dependent on jobs.

“The ability for us to continue to grow I think is going to be somewhat dependent on job growth throughout the country and specifically Springfield,” he says.

And Huff notes not just any jobs will do.

“I think we need wage growth,” he says. “For the long-term growth of the community, people need to be able to afford a house; they need to be able to get married, have kids – all the stuff that you and I took for granted 40 years ago. I think that’s missing right now, and I think that’s going to impact Springfield to a degree.”

He says private-sector jobs are the real need in a region that offers a good base of education, tourism and light manufacturing.

“We need to make sure we’re investing in our young people – people who play by the rules, they go to school, try to get a degree and can’t get a job,” he says.

Huff offers a worrying national statistic: Only 48% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 have a full-time job, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

“That’s the thing I’m most worried about is having opportunity for these high school graduates, college graduates,” he says. “I think there’s some pushback that’s going to happen with these young people, and it’s probably not going to be things that people are going to be particularly happy about.”

Sales growth predictions
One retail and manufacturing figure whose mattress businesses span the region is Brian Croft, founder of Foreverbed, which launched its first standalone store in Springfield in August.

Foreverbed’s high-end mattresses are manufactured in Croft’s Webb City factory, which also makes mattresses for his Croft Mattress stores in Springfield and Joplin. Croft also operates Springfield Mattress and ships mattresses to dealers in four states, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Croft’s distinctive perspective on the region comes not only from his engagement in both the retail and manufacturing end, but from his conversations with customers. It’s a national trend, he says – consumers are carrying around a lot of credit card debt and often run late on rent or mortgage payments.

He says customers with health needs are willing to spend more on premium products, and that keeps his businesses in good shape. However, at present, people are adopting a wait-and-see attitude about the economy and avoiding furniture and mattress purchases. He notes that if your refrigerator goes out, you need to replace it right away, but barring health issues, a mattress purchase can typically be put off.

Croft predicts federal interest rates will go down in 2026-27, and people will begin to pay off those credit cards and consolidate their debt. He also predicts they will keep their existing homes rather than buying new.

“They’re going to remodel their homes and stay where they’re at,” he says. “They’re not going to have credit card balances, and they’ll use their discretionary money to make improvements.”

Although he doesn’t predict much movement in housing, he thinks furniture, mattresses, cars, RVs and general home improvement products will have brisk sales.

“We’re going to see spikes in all of those areas, and the economy is going to be great because of it,” he says.

Regional focus
 Hal Higdon, chancellor of Ozarks Technical Community College, says there are huge opportunities in front of Springfield.

“The only part of Missouri that’s really growing is southwest Missouri,” he says. “We have to be careful not to take that for granted.”

To that end, Higdon says, Springfield needs to start thinking regionally. Higdon is a member of the board of directors of Leaders for Ozarks Region Evolvement, or LORE, which kicked off officially in March of this year.

Higdon says all of the cities in the region tend to think of themselves individually and not as part of a larger entity.

“If we can start behaving like a region, we’ll have some really exciting opportunities,” Higdon says.

Brad Palmer, principal with Interpres Building Solutions LLC, says he sees the region coming together.

“I think there’s a lot of great initiatives to improve the region and take advantage of all the Ozarks has to offer,” he says.

As one example, Palmer cites the expansion of greenways trails to physically link the region while capitalizing on its natural beauty.

To continue a positive trajectory, Palmer wants everyone on board, and that’s what he sees happening more and more over the next half decade.

Says Palmer, “My vision is just continued encouragement of everyone that’s in our region to feel like they’ve got real opportunities to grow their careers, to raise a family, to own homes – to just feel like they can be part of building our community, and they can contribute something to what’s going on here.”