Shopping Locally

Tim Fulton 0:09Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week we're shopping local. On the occasion of the holiday season, we sat down with two people immersed in the movement. First up, Timothy Wolf Starr and I discuss the recently rebranded Small Business Beanstalk, now called Connects Columbus. Then Lynn Stan, co-founder of Celebrate Local, and I talk about why phrases like buy local and fair trade are the same. We talk about the importance of relationships. We talk about the inherent difficulty in quantifying the value of buying, shopping, and sourcing local, and finally, how to prove out a concept. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Enjoy the interviews. Sitting down here with Timothy Wolf Starr, the interim director of Connects Columbus, formerly the Small Business Beanstalk. Wolf, how are you?

Timothy Wolf Starr 1:19I'm doing great. How are you, Tim?

Tim Fulton 1:20I'm great. I'm great. We are sitting down here on the occasion. First of all, congratulations on, what are we calling it, the merger?

Timothy Wolf Starr 1:28Uh, yes, the, the merger partnership.

Tim Fulton 1:30Great. The Small Business Beanstalk, having been around for seven years, which is a, uh, local business affinity program. Businesses come in, they pay a fee. They then are able to market themselves and offer discounts to customers, patrons with the use of the Small Business Beanstalk card. That program has now merged into with CD1025. CD1025 will sort of be, for lack of a better term, they have a s- a sales force. They'll s- they'll sort of be taking that over. Is that correct?

Timothy Wolf Starr 2:00Yes, so it will be merged into the great community work that they already do.

Tim Fulton 2:04Okay.

Timothy Wolf Starr 2:05So their street teams, their sales force, their giant microphone will all be championing the, uh, small businesses of Central Ohio.

Tim Fulton 2:13And forgive me if I overstep my bounds, but sort of this is actually seems to me like a really good model to engage small businesses. Advertising on television and radio and frankly, large print is not cheap, and sort of the return on investment for a small business doesn't tend to be quantifiable all the time. And it seems like a really good opportunity to give small businesses, frankly, the opportunity to engage in that form of media.

Timothy Wolf Starr 2:41It's a way where we're able to champion the idea of shopping local and supporting independent entrepreneurs with a megaphone that, that really can't be matched anywhere else.

Tim Fulton 2:52How did the SBB get started?

Timothy Wolf Starr 2:53So we s-

Tim Fulton 2:53So first of all, let's do the fun facts.

Timothy Wolf Starr 2:55Yes, of course.

Tim Fulton 2:56Uh, Timothy Wolf Starr, along with myself, we are both graduates of Columbus City Schools. At the time we graduated, they were called Columbus Public Schools.

Timothy Wolf Starr 3:04Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 3:05Wolf actually, at the ripe old age of-

Timothy Wolf Starr 3:0818

Tim Fulton 3:08... 18, ran for Columbus City Council, did not win, but it was sort of first evidence that he was going to do things that were a little too big for his britches.

Timothy Wolf Starr 3:18It was Columbus, uh, Public School Board.

Tim Fulton 3:21P- excuse me, Columbus Public School Board. So back to it. How did the Small Business Beanstalk get started?

Timothy Wolf Starr 3:27Yeah. So after my, uh, political-

Tim Fulton 3:30Foray

Timothy Wolf Starr 3:31... foray, I got involved with a lot of small businesses, primarily in the blue collar sector. So we had asphalt, concrete, distribution. My favorite was a Christmas light company called The Light Before Christmas, which we ran for about five years. And I did that for a while, and then we got to a point where my partners, who were a couple years older than me-

Tim Fulton 3:51And to be clear, these were like small seasonal-based businesses that you were like, "Oh, this seems like a really good model to implement."

Timothy Wolf Starr 4:00Exactly. So my partners didn't want to work 80 hours a week because they were the age that you and I are now.

Tim Fulton 4:07Mm-hmm.

Timothy Wolf Starr 4:08And, uh, they wanted to spend time with their families, and I decided that I just wanted to keep charging forward. So I took a look at where I could do the most good, and what I saw was a lot of my friends at that point in time were graduating from college without a clear direction of where they wanted to go. So I assisted them in doing the basics of setting up a business. It would be filing an EIN, getting their LLC, and then I'd start to connect them together. So the printing company which needs a alarm installed, we'd find them a great local company that could do that. And then when the alarm company needed business cards, we would connect them with a designer and then a printing company that could do that. That grew to about 60 businesses, all business-to-business services, and then we realized you can't have a network of 100 businesses and have eight of them be insurance companies or-

Tim Fulton 5:00Right

Timothy Wolf Starr 5:00... eight of them be printing companies. So we realized that by adding consumer-based companies to the mix, we would be able to double the number of those kinds of businesses and provide a value for everyone.

Tim Fulton 5:11Right.

Timothy Wolf Starr 5:11So for-

Tim Fulton 5:11And that model then became sort of what the Small Business Beanstalk is known for, for the, the card, for getting a discount on coffee, for getting upsized popcorn at Drexel, that sort of thing.

Timothy Wolf Starr 5:24Exactly. We, we thought that by creating a small network of, let's say, 100 businesses that offer discounts to, say, 2,000 people, we would be able to create enough commerce where they would receive a great value, and then they would use our business services even more.

Tim Fulton 5:43Right. Because it is a fee-based organization, to be clear. It is, it is not a nonprofit. It's a for-profit organization. But what you're doing is sort of showing A return on investment to your business clients by basically directing customers to them.

Timothy Wolf Starr 5:58Correct. To add additional value beyond just the business services.

Tim Fulton 6:01Right. Will CD1025, this new Connect Columbus name, will that... Because it's basically just a rebranding and they are sort of, you know, I don't wanna let the cat out of the bag, but you are the, quote-unquote, "interim director."

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:13Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 6:13You're sort of ushering this progress along. I will not use the term transition team. Um, will they keep sort of the program the way it is now?

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:23They'll keep some of the parts of the program.

Tim Fulton 6:25Okay.

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:26It, it truly is theirs to be able to actualize to its full potential. But what I can tell you is that they're bringing in external partners throughout the Central Ohio community to help with tourists when they come into town.

Tim Fulton 6:38Okay.

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:38To help with the business services.

Tim Fulton 6:40Well, and the SBB sort of partnered with them on doing, like, goodie bags for, quote-unquote, "celebrities" that would come into town. So that was a partnership between SBB, Experience Columbus, and 1025.

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:51R- Right. We've been working with 1025 since the very beginning.

Tim Fulton 6:55Mm-hmm.

Timothy Wolf Starr 6:55What we discovered in the path to figure out who was the right partner to transition-

Tim Fulton 7:00Right

Timothy Wolf Starr 7:01... this into was that they were the ones who carried the, the best rockstar, independent, sort of pirate attitude of we're independent businesses, we're gonna do this together, uh, we're gonna move it forward. But we have a lot of great partners which are also involved in this deal that are adding some of the concrete and helping it be much more structured.

Tim Fulton 7:22Can you talk about those partners?

Timothy Wolf Starr 7:24Yeah. We've got a handful of different neighborhood associations which we're working with. We have a couple of foundations which are helping us improve our outreach to New American populations, to areas which have been underserved by the traditional SBB program.

Tim Fulton 7:42Mm-hmm.

Timothy Wolf Starr 7:42One of the goals of the new Connect Columbus is how do we make this, uh, city and region wide? SBB did a phenomenal job of connecting businesses and consumers along the High Street corridor for years, and we had pockets and great neighborhoods in some of our suburban communities, but it wasn't everybody. And one of the goals is-

Tim Fulton 8:04Well, and you can't be everywhere at the same time. You were never a staff of more than, like, three, plus some salespeople maybe.

Timothy Wolf Starr 8:11R- Correct. And, and this allows us the opportunity to really reach all of Central Ohio, and I'm excited to help them with that journey.

Tim Fulton 8:19Great. Can you talk about sort of the importance of shopping local?

Timothy Wolf Starr 8:23Absolutely. So shopping local is really voting with your dollars for the groups that you believe in and that you wanna support and you wanna see stick around. Nobody is ever going to be able to shift all of their shopping local. We live in a global economy, and a lot of our commerce is done online. A lot of our commerce is much more convenient when we do it at, uh, the traditional retailers. But when you're looking for those unique gifts, when you're looking for those items which are special, the best place to find those are at local businesses. It's difficult to find the pair of shoes that you're looking for at a local business. Uh, for example, I very much need a new pair of shoes to go with my blue jean and blazer ensemble.

Tim Fulton 9:10Mm-hmm.

Timothy Wolf Starr 9:11And so I'll check out Tigertree. I'll check out Hat & Sole. I'll check out a handful of different ones. But if I'm not able to find what I need there, my options are quite limited. But on the other side of things, if I need to go get a cup of coffee, it's very easy for me to say, "I would rather go support my friends at Cup O' Joe or Stauf's or Impero or Mission or Crimson Cup," than to take the easy out of just going to a Starbucks and, and making that option. So it's really shifting the way that you target where you want your money to go.

Tim Fulton 9:43Great. Small Business Saturday is coming up this Saturday. There are tons of sales going on. Some credit card companies will offer you additional points or discounts. Uh, this episode of the Confluence Cast brought to you by American Express. Um...

Timothy Wolf Starr 9:59Well, so Small Business Saturday is an interesting occasion.

Tim Fulton 10:02Okay.

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:03It was founded by American Express-

Tim Fulton 10:05Mm-hmm

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:06... in an effort to encourage small businesses-

Tim Fulton 10:09Small businesses to accept American Express.

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:12Right. Which traditionally they have not because it's a higher rate and it's more expensive.

Tim Fulton 10:16Very.

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:16But that being said, American Express did a very good job and spent a lot of money on encouraging people to shop local. It, it's one of the few great examples of a forced program that has really worked.

Tim Fulton 10:28Mm-hmm.

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:28A lot of businesses see a great return from people coming on in, using their cards. Whether or not it's fundamentally a good thing that they are accepting the card or not, a lot of people think about shopping local in a different way because of it.

Tim Fulton 10:42Right. And I would, I would argue that they think about shopping local differently all year long because of it.

Timothy Wolf Starr 10:48They have invested a significant amount to addressing the challenge that small businesses don't traditionally accept their card. Uh, and there are other cards which they don't accept because of similar problems, but I think that the solution which they brought forward is one that has truly helped the small business community.

Tim Fulton 11:05Whether that's evil or not, it has indeed helped the small business community. Any other events or, uh, sh- like craft fairs that people can check out in this upcoming month?

Timothy Wolf Starr 11:17Absolutely. We are right now compiling a list, uh, which you can find at connectcolumbus.com that will, uh- Showcase different deals for Black Friday, for Small Business Saturday, and really for the entire holiday shopping season. We encourage our businesses to create deals which are unique that allow people to save money while shopping local, but don't harm the entrepreneur in the process.

Tim Fulton 11:44It should be mentioned that people that already have an SBB card, uh, those are still valid. All those deals are still valid. Those deals now live at connectscolumbus.com. If you're interested in getting a Connects Columbus card, you can pick those up at, uh, CD102.5 at their offices down in the Brewery District. Wolf, tell us how businesses can get involved.

Timothy Wolf Starr 12:04Businesses can get involved if they are local and independent by going to connectscolumbus.com.

Tim Fulton 12:09Define independent.

Timothy Wolf Starr 12:11Absolutely. So if they are autonomous to the central Ohio region.

Tim Fulton 12:15Okay. So God bless Jenny's, but Jenny's doesn't qualify anymore. That's actually an example that you've used in the past.

Timothy Wolf Starr 12:22Correct. So Jenny's is actually a gold SBB member, being one that grew up here in central Ohio, uh, expanded and are now carrying out what they do to the rest of the nation.

Tim Fulton 12:33So local and independent.

Timothy Wolf Starr 12:35Correct.

Tim Fulton 12:35And then they contact their friendly neighborhood sales rep for CD102.5 or...?

Timothy Wolf Starr 12:41The easiest way is for them to go to the website, to fill out the Contact Us, and even take the survey to let us know what kind of businesses they're interested in working with, how we can provide them the best service, the best connections, and, uh, then someone will, m- most likely myself, will be reaching back out to them, uh, to figure out if we can provide them a great value.

Tim Fulton 13:02Great. Wolf, thank you so much for your time today.

Timothy Wolf Starr 13:05Thank you, Tim.

Tim Fulton 13:08Sitting down here with Lynn Stan, the co-founder of Celebrate Local, which is a retail store up at Easton, also now located for the past year or so at Liberty Center in Westchester, Ohio, just north of the IKEA, as Lynn told me. Lynn, how are you?

Lynn Stan 13:25I'm good. Thanks, Tim.

Tim Fulton 13:27Good. Tell me about how Celebrate Local got started.

Lynn Stan 13:30Well, it got started because my business partner, Heidi Maybrook, has a relationship with Steiner at Easton, who is the creator and managers of Easton.

Tim Fulton 13:40Okay.

Lynn Stan 13:41And she is the short-term leasing agent. So that means that empty spaces or those little carts of the, that are seasonal-

Tim Fulton 13:48Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 13:48... that falls under her, what a relationship that bus- with businesses that she's been having for a number of years.

Tim Fulton 13:53Okay.

Lynn Stan 13:54And so she asked for permission to do a farmers market, and had asked for it before, and Easton had had one in the past, and they said, "Sure, have one. Great. Go ahead and do it." So Heidi's a really great researcher, found a woman in California that had about 14 farmers markets.

Tim Fulton 14:11Okay.

Lynn Stan 14:11She agreed to give us a day and a half of her time, or part of her day, and we went out to California and looked at a couple of them and talked to her about what that meant to be-

Tim Fulton 14:20So she sort of walked you guys through, "Here's how you do a farmers market."

Lynn Stan 14:23"Here's how you do a farmers market." So we came back and started planning it, and this is in the fall.

Tim Fulton 14:28How do you plan a farmers market?

Lynn Stan 14:30Well, um-

Tim Fulton 14:31You get some farmers.

Lynn Stan 14:32You get some farmers. Well, the first thing is your location.

Tim Fulton 14:35Okay.

Lynn Stan 14:36What is your goal in terms of who you're trying to think are your audience-

Tim Fulton 14:39Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 14:39... like most things in life.

Tim Fulton 14:41Well, and I imagine Easton is a lot different than, say, the North Market.

Lynn Stan 14:45Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 14:46Right.

Lynn Stan 14:46Because of your history of what people expect from you. So the first year, we had 50 vendors, and we were in the parking lot, um, behind Fado's.

Tim Fulton 14:56Okay.

Lynn Stan 14:56Okay? And beautiful setting. But it's interesting about properties is that bushes, people will think that it's not, that that's becomes a wall. And although that's-

Tim Fulton 15:07Right

Lynn Stan 15:07... one of the beautiful things about Easton is, in properties like that, there are no back alleys. There are no back doors. All of it is pleasant and beautiful.

Tim Fulton 15:16Right.

Lynn Stan 15:17But people don't always take that as a meaning that all the activities there are open to you.

Tim Fulton 15:22Right. If I'm imagining the parking lot correctly, it's sort of, while it is a public space, it is almost cordoned off by these large buildings.

Lynn Stan 15:31And the bushes that make it more pleasant.

Tim Fulton 15:34Right.

Lynn Stan 15:34So-

Tim Fulton 15:35Because people don't wanna look at parked cars.

Lynn Stan 15:38Absolutely. And it, so it, it was a beautiful setting, and to have 50 market people when that was-

Tim Fulton 15:44Right

Lynn Stan 15:44... concepts like green concepts, um, electric cars. Uh, we always had a cooking demo, always had, um, some type of music and entertainment.

Tim Fulton 15:52Okay.

Lynn Stan 15:53So it was great. So when you ask about different people, it's really, well, then, who does your audience want? And invite them, and six years later, there is more markets, but there's lots more vendors looking for businesses looking for those opportunities.

Tim Fulton 16:07Okay.

Lynn Stan 16:08So really, you just wanna put out the word and then be realistic about who the audience is and come up with a format that allows you to perhaps rotate vendors.

Tim Fulton 16:19Okay.

Lynn Stan 16:19Because I know that one thing that happens is if you're not a very big vendor who offers a lot of different things for people to buy-

Tim Fulton 16:25Right

Lynn Stan 16:26... they may not want you every week-

Tim Fulton 16:27Right

Lynn Stan 16:27... or need you every week.

Tim Fulton 16:28Well, like, if you sell soap or something like that, like, it's, you know, maybe it would, you would be a better quarterly fit.

Lynn Stan 16:36Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 16:37Right.

Lynn Stan 16:37And it depends what your season is. Are you doing it indoors? Are you doing it outdoors? Honestly, s- in the last six years, it's been wonderful how the whole concept of creating Um, agoras

Tim Fulton 16:49Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 16:49... is now what they call them in other parts of the world.

Tim Fulton 16:51Yes.

Lynn Stan 16:52Those kind of just marketplaces, and it's wonderful that we still have the North Market. They have their challenges of how to meet their current audience, who is their audience, and what a nice discussion. I encourage you to bring them on and talk about that.

Tim Fulton 17:06Indeed.

Lynn Stan 17:06They, they have a big challenge, and, and that always, because people change, um, people's expectations. What did six years ago people know about farmers markets in our town? Different picture.

Tim Fulton 17:17Yeah.

Lynn Stan 17:18And it was beautiful that lots more were happening. Well, that now becomes a challenge for us. What should this market be? Because after the first year, we moved to the, um, where the, the jumping fountains are, where the kids can play in the water.

Tim Fulton 17:30Yeah, the, like the center area where they would-

Lynn Stan 17:32The town square

Tim Fulton 17:32... they would do concerts there in the past, yeah.

Lynn Stan 17:35Exactly. So we moved there, and then the space limitations took it down to about 25 to 28, depending on set up.

Tim Fulton 17:42Okay.

Lynn Stan 17:43And so it started taking a little bit of a different feel, and then also trying to, um, at that point, Celebrate Local had already opened.

Tim Fulton 17:50Okay.

Lynn Stan 17:51So it was an opportunity then to start tying in, um, directing people to the store.

Tim Fulton 17:56Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 17:56And so that's w- is how Celebrate Local happened. Because we got permission to do the farmers market, we found that people liked that these products were there.

Tim Fulton 18:05Right.

Lynn Stan 18:06But they couldn't get there those three hours-

Tim Fulton 18:08Right

Lynn Stan 18:09... and come and deal with all of that, and it just wasn't working.

Tim Fulton 18:14Right.

Lynn Stan 18:14And oh, by the way, Harry and David had a beautiful space and closed on February 15th of that year.

Tim Fulton 18:20Okay.

Lynn Stan 18:21So we would always joke, "Wow, we could fill it with products." And at that time I was working for ECDI, and so that was always the... Heidi and I have always are those types of people. "Oh, great. What kind of opportunities? How can we connect people?"

Tim Fulton 18:35Right.

Lynn Stan 18:36You know, da, da, da, da, da. So with the farmers market, it was good. It was great. That brought a lot of attention. Did we do great sales for all of our 50 vendors? No.

Tim Fulton 18:47Okay.

Lynn Stan 18:47Um, were people a little... Some of our vendors a little younger at that time. So we all learned, but when it came for the opportunity-

Tim Fulton 18:54So maybe not setting up, like, the most optimal booth or not having enough product out on the table or not having enough product at all. Uh, did they pay a fee to be in the farmers market, or was it just a revenue share?

Lynn Stan 19:05It was, um, in this case, it was Easton, the Easton Farmers Market has always had a booth fee.

Tim Fulton 19:11Okay.

Lynn Stan 19:12Try to keep it very, um, limited. I mean, very small. Easton is very generous. They provide the tent.

Tim Fulton 19:18Great.

Lynn Stan 19:18And yes, that makes a big difference. For a few years, um, up until this last year, we actually had a trailer that was refrigerated so people could leave their products there-

Tim Fulton 19:27Wow

Lynn Stan 19:28... and keep them cold. And, you know, Easton really helped us do it.

Tim Fulton 19:32Good.

Lynn Stan 19:32Top-notch. And so it's, it was beautiful in that we could really see that, oh, people like that these things are available more on the east side in the Easton area.

Tim Fulton 19:42Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 19:42So with Harry and David closing, it made it a- available because that's, developers like to fill it.

Tim Fulton 19:49Right.

Lynn Stan 19:49And at that time they had some interest, but nothing long term.

Tim Fulton 19:52So they basically said, "Hey, it's okay if you take over the space, but we may lease it to somebody else."

Lynn Stan 19:58Exactly.

Tim Fulton 19:59Okay.

Lynn Stan 19:59And so the, the, the who became Heidi leading it for Easton as their representative trying to fill a space. I was working for ECDI, so I was representing them. They agreed to be part of the project.

Tim Fulton 20:13Uh-huh.

Lynn Stan 20:13And at that time, Connie DeJong from Global Gallery had been reaching out to Heidi about perhaps coming back to Easton for a holiday pop-up.

Tim Fulton 20:23I forgot that they had been there, but they were no longer there, yeah.

Lynn Stan 20:26Exactly. So one thing led to another, and so Heidi, you know, said to Connie, "We're doing this. What do you think about being part of that?"

Tim Fulton 20:35Right. Do you wanna basically put product in?

Lynn Stan 20:37And what a challenge. Having a Celebrate Local Ohio and then having product sitting on the shelf made in Belize or Ecuador or whatever. And we knew that.

Tim Fulton 20:47Right.

Lynn Stan 20:47And I, and I joked from the beginning that that was okay because buy local, fair trade are the same, just different phrases-

Tim Fulton 20:57Right

Lynn Stan 20:57... uh, taking care of different audiences, but it has the same meanings behind it. Getting less in between people, good quality, knowing your producers, all of that. So we dealt with it, and from the very beginning when we opened our doors, we realized that, hmm, we are more than a store.

Tim Fulton 21:16Okay.

Lynn Stan 21:16We are about concepts. We are about why is honey important? Why are the bees important to our environment? What does this mean to he- help little small businesses put a product on the shelf? Yeah, we know sometimes it's not very readable, and yes, they don't get all their this and that together because they're new, and how do you-

Tim Fulton 21:33They-

Lynn Stan 21:33... the marketing functions, putting their packaging, because you're talking the, to the... You're putting it on a shelf and having people look at it, and they're confused, so then you have to, of course, you're trying to sell it-

Tim Fulton 21:44Right

Lynn Stan 21:44... so you have to get rid of the confusion. But I think the funniest thing was being in that store, the old Harry and David, and seeing people walk in thinking that they were coming in for their moose tracks and that they could see food on the shelf, but they knew they were not in Harry and David anymore.

Tim Fulton 22:01Right.

Lynn Stan 22:01And that things had changed. And that was really fun to see them go from, "Oh, what I was looking for isn't here, but oh, this is kinda cool."

Tim Fulton 22:10But let me explore this.

Lynn Stan 22:12Let me-

Tim Fulton 22:12Right

Lynn Stan 22:12... explore this, exactly.

Tim Fulton 22:14Can we give a little bit of credit to Steiner and Associates for... I, I imagine given the nature of the business, they sort of helped you maybe-

Lynn Stan 22:22Immediately.

Tim Fulton 22:23Okay.

Lynn Stan 22:24Once it was truly even thought about in the discussions of going up for the farmers market, and Heidi was very involved because of her business of knowing what their plans were and having their ear and making things connect, and they move, they're happy to move fast because they love to make-

Tim Fulton 22:42They want that space to be filled.

Lynn Stan 22:44Absolutely. Any person who has empty space is always looking for a new tenant.

Tim Fulton 22:49Right.

Lynn Stan 22:49So they were very embracing of it.

Tim Fulton 22:51And so you guys, with some support, I imagine maybe a relaxed lease- From Steiner and Associates.

Lynn Stan 22:57Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 22:58And then did some financing help from ECDI?

Lynn Stan 23:02Some financing, a little financing, mostly through loaning the assets.

Tim Fulton 23:06Okay.

Lynn Stan 23:06Okay? Loaning me, allowing me to be there and to be an entree into helping-

Tim Fulton 23:11Oh, I see

Lynn Stan 23:12... helping current ECDI clients who could perhaps put their products on a shelf, who, what vendors would be interested in the services that ECDI did because at the time they were creating the Food Fort.

Tim Fulton 23:23Right. I was about to say, people creating things at the Food Fort, then bag them up and ship them on up to Celebrate Local.

Lynn Stan 23:30Exactly. And then that's when you really realize all different kinds of businesses may be doing the same thing, but they don't have the same thinking about how to get to their end.

Tim Fulton 23:40Right.

Lynn Stan 23:41And so when you talk to what you were just referring to, a shelf stable something-

Tim Fulton 23:45Right

Lynn Stan 23:46... that itself is so different from opening your door-

Tim Fulton 23:50And we're talking about like granola or-

Lynn Stan 23:51Right

Tim Fulton 23:51... you know, whatnot.

Lynn Stan 23:52As opposed to opening up your food truck and serving it.

Tim Fulton 23:55Right.

Lynn Stan 23:55And, and it's been fun to see some of the vendors that I was first exposed to at that time, like OH Chips, okay?

Tim Fulton 24:02Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 24:03Ohio Chips. He was there at the same time, and now to see him in the store with his product and find that is... It's very, very, very exciting.

Tim Fulton 24:10And so your website touts that you guys have over 300 products.

Lynn Stan 24:14We have 300 businesses that we have relationships with. We have about-

Tim Fulton 24:18That's better than 300 products, right?

Lynn Stan 24:20Oh my God, we have about probably 20,000 products, I swear.

Tim Fulton 24:24Now, did you have a retail background before this?

Lynn Stan 24:27I did and didn't.

Tim Fulton 24:29Okay. So what's it like sort of navigating into that space? You had talked about going out to California to learn how to do the farmers market. Was this the sort of thing where you were given that Heidi had so many retail relationships, at least, that you sort of leaned on her and, and her connections to figure out how to do it?

Lynn Stan 24:46Well, I think the one... Absolutely she has experience in terms of helping people take a c- take a space-

Tim Fulton 24:53Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 24:53... and make it and adapt it to it.

Tim Fulton 24:56Right.

Lynn Stan 24:56The beauty of this particular space at the Harry and David is we didn't have to do anything other than fill the shelves-

Tim Fulton 25:02Okay

Lynn Stan 25:02... and put in a computer system.

Tim Fulton 25:04Because when they, they vacated and you s- you had the...

Lynn Stan 25:06They... It was beautiful built-in shelving. There was no furniture that was-

Tim Fulton 25:12Well, and-

Lynn Stan 25:12... moved in and... Well, other than some, than some tables, but the beauty is they had refrigerators and freezers.

Tim Fulton 25:17That's awesome. Well, and that's also-

Lynn Stan 25:18It was beautiful

Tim Fulton 25:18... probably lends itself to why people would walk in and think they were still in the same location because sort of the, you know, the, the palette, the layout, it's all the same.

Lynn Stan 25:27All the same. And -

Tim Fulton 25:29That's great. I mean, that's a fortunate opportunity.

Lynn Stan 25:31And it's interesting to say, well, why did Harry and David leave?

Tim Fulton 25:34Okay.

Lynn Stan 25:34Harry and David left because their business model could not support them having that type of a business to rely on the traffic to support it.

Tim Fulton 25:44Right. So you get going, put in a point of sale system.

Lynn Stan 25:48We put in a point of sale system. By Connie being there, um, she created... I mean, we borrowed computers. So she really became the runner of the store.

Tim Fulton 25:57Okay.

Lynn Stan 25:58Okay? Heidi was the manager of the space and, and getting our infrastructure in terms of social media.

Tim Fulton 26:05Well, and she was still working for S- Steiner as well.

Lynn Stan 26:05Oh, yeah. Nobody ever really stopped doing, really working for anybody else.

Tim Fulton 26:09Okay.

Lynn Stan 26:10Connie always was still doing her Global Gallery, was still doing her, um, World Pieces, which is a, her own private business with which she does now only.

Tim Fulton 26:20Oh, okay.

Lynn Stan 26:20She does not work for Global Gallery anymore.

Tim Fulton 26:23So Connie came and said, "Hey..." You guys were already working on the concept of the store, getting really close to getting it going. Connie came and said, "I wanna do a holiday pop-up," and you said... And basically someone said, "I'll meet you halfway," and said, "Help run this store, and you can have your product there as well."

Lynn Stan 26:40We were very lucky, and honestly, that is why Celebrate Local is where it is today, is that we think of something or you run into someone and you think, "Oh. Hmm. You could help us," and, "Hmm," you're all... then become interested, and then-

Tim Fulton 26:56Right

Lynn Stan 26:56... wow, it happens. It just, it happens. I mean, I, like-

Tim Fulton 26:59It sounds like a really happy confluence. Yeah, absolutely.

Lynn Stan 27:01It is. And as a business, we all know that that's not always the best way to choose your direction.

Tim Fulton 27:08Right.

Lynn Stan 27:08But since we started up, and truly have always still trying to struggle with, how are we not a pop-up-

Tim Fulton 27:15Okay

Lynn Stan 27:15... anymore? Even though we're in a space, because we have a nice relationship with Steiner on our properties-

Tim Fulton 27:22Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 27:22... we have responsibilities. But honestly, if someone wanted to come pay the rack rate-

Tim Fulton 27:28Right

Lynn Stan 27:29... we would have to go.

Tim Fulton 27:30Okay.

Lynn Stan 27:30So that then becomes, in any property, are we worthy of the benefits that happen to a property-

Tim Fulton 27:38Right

Lynn Stan 27:38... even though we're not paying the rack rates?

Tim Fulton 27:40Basically, are you showing that added value for being there, whether that be drawing in more customers or whether that be just generating goodwill from the community?

Lynn Stan 27:52And those are hard things to put down on paper.

Tim Fulton 27:55Absolutely.

Lynn Stan 27:56And that's why I said that Steiner jumped to the opportunity because they see those things, and they are really wonderful-

Tim Fulton 28:06Right

Lynn Stan 28:06... to work with. I've always encouraged people to not believe... And actually for anybody with property, don't assume they may not be open to your ideas.

Tim Fulton 28:16Don't assume that they're some big faceless corporation that is simply, "Well, it doesn't work like that. We can't offer that."

Lynn Stan 28:22Right. And it helped that at the time I was at ECDI that things were happening in the country. There's this thing called Temporium. That was a Washington, DC economic development little project.

Tim Fulton 28:35Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 28:35Temporium. Think of the word. Emporium with a word, with the letter T in front of it. Isn't that funny? Temporary emporium. And that was so we didn't- We weren't making these things up, and I, as I always have been saying lately, there's nothing new to make up. It's products and buyers.

Tim Fulton 28:55Right.

Lynn Stan 28:55It's sellers and, and it's the environment. It, it's what do you name it now?

Tim Fulton 29:00Right.

Lynn Stan 29:00It's how you package things. It's embracing in the customer service. It's... And we've been fortunate that people have loved it from the beginning, and I have to admit sometimes don't understand it, but love that it happens and that... And I love that you watch people really think out loud.

Tim Fulton 29:18Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 29:18Okay? That's why I can... I love when people will say things out loud because then you can really see how it's happening in their head, and that they understand that what was going on in a farmers market and new things in a farmers market, or going to a craft show or whatever, is really their retail and another... If you were doing it at home, you could be doing Etsy.

Tim Fulton 29:37Right.

Lynn Stan 29:37But here you're coming into a retail store where you're having access to all the different producers. And also, let's be honest, some artisans and some producers do not sell their products very well.

Tim Fulton 29:49Okay.

Lynn Stan 29:50So-

Tim Fulton 29:50Even in, even in your store?

Lynn Stan 29:52No. I'm saying if they are the one in front of the customer-

Tim Fulton 29:55I see

Lynn Stan 29:55... trying to sell it.

Tim Fulton 29:57Right.

Lynn Stan 29:57Let me rephrase that. They're not good salespeople.

Tim Fulton 29:59Okay.

Lynn Stan 30:00And sometimes people don't find them very, um, wanting to be bought from.

Tim Fulton 30:04Right.

Lynn Stan 30:04So a store like us gives people's products the chance to just be evaluated on what the products are. And let's be honest, at a craft show or a farmers market, especially if you know the person and you pass by them every week on the way to your farmers, that you don't want to have eye contact because, oh my goodness, I'm-

Tim Fulton 30:21Then you're obligated to buy something.

Lynn Stan 30:23Exactly.

Tim Fulton 30:23Right.

Lynn Stan 30:24And so we give them that third party place, both sides of the equation.

Tim Fulton 30:28Right.

Lynn Stan 30:29A third, a, a neutral space for the products and the, the desires for that product to happen on a separate level.

Tim Fulton 30:37Right.

Lynn Stan 30:37'Cause I see it myself, too. And that's an important part to know because sometimes people will say, "I've sold a lot at a farmers market." And then you have to say to them, "Who are your repeat customers?"

Tim Fulton 30:47Right.

Lynn Stan 30:47Do people, do they come back to you? Are they gi-

Tim Fulton 30:50Are they seeking you out?

Lynn Stan 30:51Are they seeking you out? And we will tell you things your family and friends do not want to tell you.

Tim Fulton 30:57Right. Well, and that, listeners of this podcast will remember the episode that we just did with ECDI, and if you haven't heard it, it will be linked in the show notes. Uh, but what I was surprised by, which, uh, may not have translated so much into the podcast, is how frank they are in that they talk about their stage one entrepreneurs coming in, and they're gonna tell them if they have a bad idea.

Lynn Stan 31:20Oh, absolutely.

Tim Fulton 31:21And I think that's good because it allo- It then frees you up to work f- towards a good idea and something that hopefully is profitable.

Lynn Stan 31:30Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 31:31Talk about Celebrate Local has been at Easton now for roughly five years, a little bit over.

Lynn Stan 31:36Under two different business entities.

Tim Fulton 31:38Okay. Talk, talk me through that.

Lynn Stan 31:39Okay, so when the Harry and David, the after... Um, so this is a project of three entities, okay? And so the books were, you know, run through as a project.

Tim Fulton 31:48Okay.

Lynn Stan 31:49And, um, at the end of that, so it went from Oct- um, October 2011 through December of 2012.

Tim Fulton 31:57Okay.

Lynn Stan 31:57And when that project ended, because American Girl was coming to town-

Tim Fulton 32:01Mm

Lynn Stan 32:01... they were ready to move in. They were ready to start their construction. Then, um-

Tim Fulton 32:06And pay the full bore rent

Lynn Stan 32:08... and p- exactly.

Tim Fulton 32:09Right.

Lynn Stan 32:09And bring a great new entity to Columbus, which is really very, very exciting-

Tim Fulton 32:13Yeah

Lynn Stan 32:13... for them to choose this property and choose Columbus to do that. And as a process of that, so we had to close, but we offered, did the project want to move to another location?

Tim Fulton 32:24Okay.

Lynn Stan 32:25Well, at that point, those three entities, because of a variety of things, said no, but Lynn and Heidi, if you wanna go do it, we'll help you.

Tim Fulton 32:33Okay.

Lynn Stan 32:33Okay? So by helping, they helped because I was still working for ECDI, so they were, you know, helped me to kinda give time and, but also to, um, pull from some of their resources. Then also, um-

Tim Fulton 32:46They were still loaning you out.

Lynn Stan 32:47They were still loaning me out.

Tim Fulton 32:48Okay.

Lynn Stan 32:49Mm-hmm. And, and helping to direct people to them-

Tim Fulton 32:53Right

Lynn Stan 32:53... and vice versa. And-

Tim Fulton 32:55It's all about partnerships.

Lynn Stan 32:56It is all about partnerships. And-

Tim Fulton 32:58So you had proven the concept and the, and there was, there had always been sort of a deadline to that, sort of a this is how long we're gonna try it. Then what did you and Heidi do?

Lynn Stan 33:08So Heidi, um, it was suggested that the old Roll Bike Shop that was on Townfair Way-

Tim Fulton 33:14Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 33:15... um, next to Panera, has never really found a good tenant, and it was still empty, and how about moving there? And okay, great. Can we know that, knowing that American Girl was going to have their look, they were not gonna be using any of the wonderful things that Harry and David still had left-

Tim Fulton 33:32Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 33:33... as well as Bigelow's next door. So we went and got permission and brought labor and all that good stuff so that instead of it being removed and gone to the landfill, it would be removed and be repurposed in the space.

Tim Fulton 33:48Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 33:49So Tim Lye and his partner helped us to kind of, um, take those parts and assemble it into what is now Celebrate Local.

Tim Fulton 33:58Okay.

Lynn Stan 33:58And Heidi, um-

Tim Fulton 33:59And it's a larger space.

Lynn Stan 34:01Oh my God, it's... Yes.

Tim Fulton 34:02Not as much foot traffic there, I imagine.

Lynn Stan 34:05Actually, much, much more.

Tim Fulton 34:06Really?

Lynn Stan 34:07Much, much more. We are between two hotels. We are one away from a coffee shop, Cheesecake Factory-

Tim Fulton 34:13Oh, and you gotta think-

Lynn Stan 34:14... Trader Joe's

Tim Fulton 34:14... the hotels would be a fantastic partnership for you 'cause they're like, "Oh, I'm in O- Ohio. I'm gonna buy an Ohio thing."

Lynn Stan 34:22Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 34:23That's great.

Lynn Stan 34:23In fact, it really opened up more of what we were about. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:28That's awesome.

Lynn Stan 34:29Definitely. Definitely just exploded really the possibilities, and that's when location, location really takes on a lot more meaning.

Tim Fulton 34:36Right.

Lynn Stan 34:37And now we're half a block away from the farmers market, so we can do some tie in. Yeah, so, and then here we are. Three and a half years later into our fourth year, finishing our fourth year in the current location. And when we say 300 vendors, it's really hard to say. Probably over the course, it's probably more over 500 vendors that we have touched.

Tim Fulton 34:56Right.

Lynn Stan 34:56Some that learned quickly-

Tim Fulton 34:58That it's just not for them

Lynn Stan 35:00... not for them, and sometimes it's because, you know, when you make a product and people like it, you gotta make it again-

Tim Fulton 35:06Yeah

Lynn Stan 35:06... and again, and sometimes the same way. And artists don't always like to be told what to do.

Tim Fulton 35:12Right.

Lynn Stan 35:12And, and so it's also been fun to then have a- We have success stories where somebody had the graphic, somebody else could really do the producing, married them.

Tim Fulton 35:22Right.

Lynn Stan 35:23And we still have that product in the store, um, that's a Molly Madden and Cowtown Coasters. And so to marry them so that because she always had trouble making her product better, but she can make images galore, galore, galore and-

Tim Fulton 35:37Okay

Lynn Stan 35:37... is so talented with that. I've learned so much from ECDI because at that time it was really very obvious you had to be very blunt with people.

Tim Fulton 35:46Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 35:47Because you were asking them to invest their time and money because entities like ECDI need you to go on for- move forward.

Tim Fulton 35:57Well, and be successful.

Lynn Stan 35:59And take those loans out.

Tim Fulton 36:00It's not a sandbox. Right.

Lynn Stan 36:02And that's what I really learned. They're great-

Tim Fulton 36:04There is some virtue to a sandbox, but EC- it is not a sandbox. Right.

Lynn Stan 36:08Absolutely. That's where... And that's why it's nice that there's ways to develop themes like the social enterprise. So if that truly is your mission-

Tim Fulton 36:16Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 36:16... great, it's still gonna be serious. You still gotta know your audience, but you can take a different direction and go a little to the, I don't mean this way, to the left, but you can go down that path.

Tim Fulton 36:27You-

Lynn Stan 36:27And-

Tim Fulton 36:27That is exactly what you mean, but yeah.

Lynn Stan 36:29It... Yes. And then the Kiva, um, I don't know if you're very-

Tim Fulton 36:33Yeah

Lynn Stan 36:33... and the, and it's so wonderful that there are these different ways, and some of it is how does Ohio encourage people to do these types of things fiscally-

Tim Fulton 36:42Right

Lynn Stan 36:42... that other states do? I didn't realize that it really does differ. And even something simple like if your fa-

Tim Fulton 36:49Can you speak to that? Like what does Ohio not do?

Lynn Stan 36:52Well, it's, I don't know the details it-

Tim Fulton 36:54Or what does it do differently?

Lynn Stan 36:55I think that it doesn't allow you as a family member to give to someone in the f- How do you invest in a business?

Tim Fulton 37:03Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 37:03I guess that's really what it comes down to.

Tim Fulton 37:04Right.

Lynn Stan 37:05The narrow ways that you can invest in a business and the tax advantages to it.

Tim Fulton 37:10Right.

Lynn Stan 37:10And this is because I come from a very community background.

Tim Fulton 37:12Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 37:13I worked in the arts. I've worked in community development types of stuff that that's never been out of my head that there's different ways to do things.

Tim Fulton 37:22Right.

Lynn Stan 37:22It's n- it's not the o- You can't make enough money and then hopefully give it away because then you're charitable.

Tim Fulton 37:29Right.

Lynn Stan 37:29I would never give anything away. I'd never make it to that point.

Tim Fulton 37:31Yeah.

Lynn Stan 37:31But I think-

Tim Fulton 37:32Celebrate Local is a for-profit entity.

Lynn Stan 37:34We are.

Tim Fulton 37:35Yeah.

Lynn Stan 37:35We are trying to be a for-profit entity.

Tim Fulton 37:37Got it.

Lynn Stan 37:38Yes.

Tim Fulton 37:38We're, we're trying.

Lynn Stan 37:40And then but the question then becomes is that the best business model for us?

Tim Fulton 37:44Right.

Lynn Stan 37:45Can people invest in us in some of our mission and for us to still be for-profit? And of course, we used to call those things sponsorships. They'd be marketing ch-

Tim Fulton 37:54Right

Lynn Stan 37:54... you know, there's different types of collaborations and, but now there's different ways to be looking at it, and so much of it is tied to not just the economic need, but the social needs of our communities. When you have someone like Aunt Flo-

Tim Fulton 38:07Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 38:08... you know, getting credit for, you know, working on making tampons and healthcare, you know, products available for women-

Tim Fulton 38:16Right

Lynn Stan 38:17... that's a very specific social enterprise.

Tim Fulton 38:19Right.

Lynn Stan 38:19That is also helping society to pick up some of the pieces they're, they're not taking care of.

Tim Fulton 38:25Right.

Lynn Stan 38:25Just like when we... I love Greater Columbus Arts Council, but I always felt when they're in the fourth grade, when they were having... Artists would come into the schools.

Tim Fulton 38:33Okay.

Lynn Stan 38:33They made a permission for the schools to not support their art programs-

Tim Fulton 38:37Okay

Lynn Stan 38:38... because they're, it's, that's outsourcing. It's outsourcing.

Tim Fulton 38:41Right.

Lynn Stan 38:42Okay? And, uh, do I need to say more? And Amazon and all that type of stuff, that's outsourcing. That's outsourcing services, and so it's nothing coming back into your community.

Tim Fulton 38:52Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 38:52And now I'm on my soul speech.

Tim Fulton 38:54Right.

Lynn Stan 38:54It all is about supporting your local economy, and what does that mean? Why are taxes important? Why are some of these things important? And-

Tim Fulton 39:02There you go

Lynn Stan 39:02... there you go.

Tim Fulton 39:03Right. Anything else that you've, that may not be immediately obvious that you've learned in the evolution of Celebrate Local?

Lynn Stan 39:11I've learned that it's challenging. We're moving into a new fiscal year.

Tim Fulton 39:16Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 39:16And that always is you wanna do better.

Tim Fulton 39:18Right.

Lynn Stan 39:18Um, after being at our certain location for a number of years, need to go to the landlords and really discuss, you know, "Is it working for you?"

Tim Fulton 39:27Right.

Lynn Stan 39:27"How, how do you want it to be better? How can we improve?" And Easton and Liberty both have different challenges.

Tim Fulton 39:33Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 39:33And I always talked about that Celebrate Local's role is what is its role in that property?

Tim Fulton 39:39Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 39:39That's why the farmers market was always great, why we helped Ohio Proud do events there, why we brought the electric car event for three years-

Tim Fulton 39:47Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 39:47... because we think it's important. Easton actually happens to have a lot of energy saving abilities-

Tim Fulton 39:53Yeah

Lynn Stan 39:53... plus all those car charging stations.

Tim Fulton 39:56Right.

Lynn Stan 39:56So it just made sense, and to me, since so much is not just... It's how you spend your money on everything is what affects your economy.

Tim Fulton 40:05Right.

Lynn Stan 40:05So for us, it's not just buy your honey here and your maple syrup. Don't forget, look at electric cars. Don't forget, in your own societies, when you're electing people to office, do you know what they're planning for you?

Tim Fulton 40:17Right.

Lynn Stan 40:17Do you know how they feel about things that MORPC... Do they understand that... And actually, in this particular case, Mr. Steiner is very involved in that, and if you ever want to read some of his, um, Google his name, he's really a good writer about what are public spaces.

Tim Fulton 40:35Right.

Lynn Stan 40:35What are their roles?

Tim Fulton 40:36Okay.

Lynn Stan 40:36And if you go to Liberty now, seeing that space 25 years after Easton was created, you see more of today's thinking.

Tim Fulton 40:45Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 40:45There are quiet spaces. People think it's a, it's a shopping district. Sure it is, but people go to shopping districts to be together. Sometimes-

Tim Fulton 40:52And to hang out. Right

Lynn Stan 40:53... and hang out, and sometimes if you wanna go over there and have something quiet and some wanna go eat The Cheesecake Factory, you have to have a little bit of both because they come on groups.

Tim Fulton 41:02Right.

Lynn Stan 41:03And you want them to come back, and you don't want them to always come back thinking, "I have to buy."

Tim Fulton 41:07Right.

Lynn Stan 41:07"I have to shop. I have to..." Of course, you want them to always think about that. So he really is such... And that's the one thing that I've really learned is how do you have these kinds of spaces? Yes, it is about bu- ... commerce.

Tim Fulton 41:19Right

Lynn Stan 41:19But it doesn't mean that it still can't be involved in a community, and people don't think of that area of having a community.

Tim Fulton 41:25Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 41:26They do. There's 150,000 people that work there every day.

Tim Fulton 41:29Right

Lynn Stan 41:29And that is one of our challenges is we know they love Ce- Celebrate Local. How do we get them to come to Celebrate Local-

Tim Fulton 41:35And actually support it

Lynn Stan 41:36... when they don't wanna move their cars? So I'm putting this out to anyone who works in the Easton area and wants to buy from Celebrate Local, you can place an order online. We will deliver it to you at your office, or you can swing on by and we will just hand it to you, a little drive-through, because that is a big problem right now. Because you drive to your Huntington-

Tim Fulton 41:58Right

Lynn Stan 41:58... to your Wine Gifts, to all those great places that are there, and then you don't wanna leave because it takes you forever to get to your car-

Tim Fulton 42:04Right

Lynn Stan 42:05... then to find a parking spot.

Tim Fulton 42:07Great idea.

Lynn Stan 42:08Yeah.

Tim Fulton 42:08Anything else that you want to include or touch on?

Lynn Stan 42:11It truly is about shopping local, and I go back to your dollars really do count wherever you spend them. Talking about my past, I had worked at Midwest Photo.

Tim Fulton 42:18Okay.

Lynn Stan 42:19Okay? And they're a beautiful, um, camera store, small business f- small business, for a long time small business. Been around in Columbus. Now moved into a new facility that they created.

Tim Fulton 42:29Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 42:29But the point was that people would stand there and talk to these ph- uh, camera experts who are making money selling cameras, and they're online looking at B&H Photo and-

Tim Fulton 42:38Yeah

Lynn Stan 42:39... and I would... And it's hard, as you know, for me to hold my mouth. I would say things like, "Wow, who's gonna win, FedEx or UPS on this one?"

Tim Fulton 42:46Right.

Lynn Stan 42:47And, and it just really... And I've done overseas manufacturing, so I've seen factories. I've seen... So for me to be that close to the producers, that's why the shop local is important. Not even if you d- they don't even represent little local people-

Tim Fulton 43:01Right

Lynn Stan 43:01... but that they are choosing products specifically for you and hope that people locally will come and support them and then their communities. And this is Small Business Month, being, you know, hey, nice way to do it, um, going into the holidays.

Tim Fulton 43:15Right

Lynn Stan 43:15And American Express is rewarding people. Put it on your American Express and some people will, you'll get double points. You know, it's great that they do encourage that.

Tim Fulton 43:23Right

Lynn Stan 43:23I don't think people know that. And we have people who are working very hard to put products on the shelf that people wanna buy. And what's nice about us is the old style of if you like someone, what they're doing, but do you wanna change it just a little bit, we give you that opportunity.

Tim Fulton 43:37Okay.

Lynn Stan 43:38We can work with our businesses to say, you know, where I'm from, where I met this wasn't this city, can you put this city's name on it?

Tim Fulton 43:46Okay

Lynn Stan 43:46And personalize those things. So that's something that we can do. We become a door to our vendors by just their stuff on the shelves or online at celebratelocalohio.com or by coming into the store and seeing things and making, trying to personalize it, and that's a, we do a lot of that kind of work. So there's so much in town between the craft shows and the farmers markets. There's a lot going on in town-

Tim Fulton 44:09Absolutely

Lynn Stan 44:10... for shopping local and opportunities.

Tim Fulton 44:12And just to sort of, like, summarize your argument about shopping local, it's great if you can give money back to a local producer. It's great if you can give money back to a local vendor. Those then create both jobs for the producer and wages for your actual retail employees-

Lynn Stan 44:29Absolutely

Tim Fulton 44:30... all, all the way to that extent. And so however many check boxes you can check off, that's what the important thing is. Starbucks is, you know, we did a whole episode with coffee roasters, and while you should be buying locally roasted coffee, Starbucks also employs local people.

Lynn Stan 44:50Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 44:50And, and we are a local economy, and we are a global economy, and you can't fault everybody.

Lynn Stan 44:56Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 44:57But you can do your best.

Lynn Stan 44:59I agree. It's not that we're anti-Walmart, okay? Well, some may be anti-Walmart. But I know that working with overseas factories-

Tim Fulton 45:08Right

Lynn Stan 45:08... how Walmart worked, okay? I see Walmart changing-

Tim Fulton 45:11Right

Lynn Stan 45:12... and trying to change what they are. Because you know what? Who else was employing the older people who really didn't have a way to go, and our society isn't very good at using our resources of just people and their knowledge-

Tim Fulton 45:21Right

Lynn Stan 45:22... and hooking people up. But it's when your business has, or a Walmart or a Staples or whatever, and they don't keep those money in your community-

Tim Fulton 45:30Right

Lynn Stan 45:30... and they don't, and they have, play those games where they don't support the people they are hiring, that's when the problems really happen.

Tim Fulton 45:38Right.

Lynn Stan 45:38And those are the things that all of the society needs to be looking at and challenging our governments to buy p- correctly-

Tim Fulton 45:46Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 45:46... to buy locally and what that means. We are certainly learning what it means to what rules do we have to obey by and-

Tim Fulton 45:52Right

Lynn Stan 45:53... and then how can we act. Um-

Tim Fulton 45:55Well, and I think certainly-

Lynn Stan 45:55... and it's exciting times to-

Tim Fulton 45:58Right

Lynn Stan 45:58... to know that we do have abilities to do it.

Tim Fulton 46:00I think also we have an opportunity and an obligation to challenge our government to provide a correction when the market is not serving us. We should certainly-

Lynn Stan 46:10Right

Tim Fulton 46:10... you know, encourage them to spend, yes, obviously spend, spend your local government dollars locally, 'cause that's what our taxes are for. They are for roads, and they are for the things that we need, but we need for that money to stay as local as possible.

Lynn Stan 46:27Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 46:27But also providing for, like you were talking about, just simply if there is a need for something, then encourage them to correct it.

Lynn Stan 46:38Absolutely. You know, as you were talking, uh, the first thing that comes to mind is why did the prisons have to close their farms?

Tim Fulton 46:43Mm-hmm.

Lynn Stan 46:44I do not understand. It still upsets me because we're talking about bees. We're talking about just the impact on bees in Ohio-

Tim Fulton 46:51Right

Lynn Stan 46:52... let alone whoever, and perhaps it is because it needs to be outsourced and it doesn't fit someone's budget, but those are important. We need to be able to talk about those types of things and not-

Tim Fulton 47:01Well, and that goes back to your argument of what are the a- what is the added value for you guys being at Easton? What, uh, uh, beyond the, the cost of the farms, yes, they're not actually making money, but they are producing something. But w- you know, what are the, what's the added value of rehabilitation? What's the added value of teaching someone a skill? What's the added value of frankly just giving someone self-worth?

Lynn Stan 47:25Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 47:26Yeah.

Lynn Stan 47:26And food, it was providing food for them to eat.

Tim Fulton 47:30Right.

Lynn Stan 47:30So what not pride is there and, um-

Tim Fulton 47:32Indeed.

Lynn Stan 47:34Indeed.

Tim Fulton 47:34For, for another podcast episode.

Lynn Stan 47:36Right. And so, but it's, it is exciting. Columbus is exciting. It's exciting that there are people who are interested in having these discussions and, and really love when they stumble upon us in the store. Um, whether they call us the Ohio store or, um, here at that local store-

Tim Fulton 47:53Mm-hmm

Lynn Stan 47:53... I'm in the souvenir shop, I never really care what they call us. That they come and they- talk about us and they're happy to be able to take these little cute products, um, in the shape of Ohio, about Ohio, from Ohio, by Ohioans, and, and it's very exciting.

Tim Fulton 48:12Great.

Lynn Stan 48:12It's very exciting.

Tim Fulton 48:13Great. Lynn, thank you so much for your time.

Lynn Stan 48:16Oh, thank you, Tim. I appreciate it very much.

Tim Fulton 48:33Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, your family, contacts, enemies, your local shopper. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a good week.