YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Community Leadership Visit attracted around 80 Springfield area businesspeople to Tulsa in October. Among those I talked to upon their return was Danny Collins, founder and co-owner of outdoor tour guide company 37 North Expeditions LLC. I was impressed by his candor about trip takeaways. He didn’t sugarcoat things when acknowledging that while Springfield has a lot of amenities, it also has work to do to grow its workforce from outside the area. Talent attraction needs to be more of a priority, he said.
“If we want to be competitive as a community, we have got to be attractive to younger generations wanting to move,” he said, noting Tulsa has a remote worker program that pays people $10,000 to join its community. “We have the outdoors, the affordability, pricing, the all-American dream neighborhoods of being able to own what you want. But we are still not separating or differentiating ourselves when it comes to being competitive at what those younger generations really want.”
Lyndall Fraker records a podcast, Old School Times, at the Marshfield Community Center in space that once was a school counselor's office. | SBJ file
Earlier this fall, I made a rare return visit to Marshfield – a place where I used to work for over 20 years. In my days as a newshound in the city, I’d probably been inside the Marshfield Community Center over a dozen times for various story assignments, whether it was to attend a business expo or a chamber of commerce awards banquet or to catch rehearsals for a Marshfield Community Theatre production. But I had never toured the full 50,000-square-foot campus before. After learning of the work that Lyndall Fraker, his wife, Melanie and their two sons, Landon and Logan, were putting into it, I took the opportunity to revisit the center that started over a century ago as the town’s original school campus.
It was impressive to see the family engage in upgrading the MCC – sections of which are as old as 1916 – with their own elbow grease and money. Fraker said he estimated investing over $100,000 just in renovations, noting tuckpointing and roof work are future considerations for the building.
The project is a labor of love for the Frakers, who are breathing new life into the community center as a home for business ventures and additional event space. That’s in addition to its gym serving as a site for sports, roller skating and private parties.
An arcade run by Landon and a donut shop equipped with a drive-thru that occupies a pair of former science classrooms were the first of the new business occupants in August. A retail clothing and accessories shop, as well as a dance studio, also occupy space on the upper level of the east wing and central building, dubbed Grand Central Marketplace. That’s also where a future 1,600-square-foot event space is planned, and Fraker hopes it can by ready in 2024.
Fraker also is utilizing what once was a school counselor’s office to record a podcast, Old School Times.
“We just have a lot of fun. It’s old school stories, Marshfield stories,” he said, noting the weekly episodes are all available on YouTube, adding he plans to eventually have them streaming on podcast sites.
At the time I visited, one of the rooms contained dozens of trophies left behind by the Marshfield school district when it moved out of the building in the early 2000s. Fraker said the trophies go back as far as the 1920s and as recently as 20 years ago.
“They were in every nook and cranny in this building, so we’re trying to gather them all together,” he said. “We’re getting them categorized by decades and we’re going to do something fun with them.”
Behind the community center is a trio of outbuildings, including The Depot, an event venue which has a banquet hall with capacity of 112 and an activity room, complete with a climbing wall, foam block pit and inflatables.
“This has been really good for us,” Fraker said. “Every weekend, some part of it is rented out.”
Fraker said The Depot, like many of MCC’s offerings, is intended to provide options for those looking to stay in Marshfield rather than travel out of town for business or entertainment.
As for his family, Fraker said the renovation project has been a bonding experience.
“Down the road, when we really get it fixed up the way we want it, we’ll be able to say, ‘We did that. We’ve kept the history alive,’” he said.
When compiling our publication’s Open for Business section, I frequently leave out some interesting tidbits due to space, among other considerations. Here are a couple recent items:
Burn Boot Camp
Burn Boot Camp’s Cami White told me Instagram was what put the North Carolina-based national fitness franchise on her radar. White, who is the local franchise partner with sister Carlee Yount, said a college teammate from her field hockey playing days at Missouri State University reposted a story showing a Burn Boot Camp workout on the social media platform, and it piqued her interest. Not long after, the Nixa sisters visited multiple franchise locations in northwest Arkansas and were almost instantly hooked. The 5,600-square-foot gym in south Springfield is the first commercial project to open at mixed-use development The Ridge at Ward Branch. It also marks a career pivot for White, who exited her 17-year teaching career at Nixa Public School to focus full time on the new venture.
PaPPo’s Pizzeria & Pub
It was a long time coming for PaPPo’s Pizzeria and Pub to open a Branson location – roughly eight years of looking, said owner Chris Galloway. He said the company is location-driven and very particular and patient about its restaurant sites. While practically in the shadow of Branson Landing, Galloway didn’t want PaPPo’s to be in the utdoor mall, as he said that feedback from locals indicated interest in having easier access to the eatery without as much walking. He said Branson was a key Missouri location for the pizza chain, which now has 10 restaurants, eight of which are in the Show Me State. St. Louis also is in PaPPo’s crosshairs, he said, adding a project there is in the works. However, a location can’t be identified yet as an agreement is still being negotiated.
Contact Mike Cullinan
Phone: 417-616-5851
Email: mcullinan@sbj.net
Moseley’s Discount Office Products was purchased; Side Chick opened in Branson; and the Springfield franchise store of NoBaked Cookie Dough changed ownership.