Kyndall Hicks blinked and built a boutique…or so it may seem from the outside looking in. In this episode, learn all about the little shop that could…..and did….. and the Mom who envisioned it all, but takes none of it for granted.
The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For guest or sponsor opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com.
This episode sponsored by Nexthome Team Ellis, Security Bank of Pulaski County, and TK’s Pizza of St. Robert.
— Automated Transcript —
**Opening**
Welcome back to season five of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. I’m your host Tracey O’Quinn. Thank you for joining me.
On last week’s podcast, as well as the season four, August 26th episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast, we talked with Pulaski County native Rick Gibson, about a true labor of love. It’s an audio drama written and produced by Rick, about his grandfather, Curtis Lee. Now, last week we shared a special trailer about the audio drama at the end of the episode.
This week, Rick was kind enough to let me share a special minisode, kind of like a mini episode. It’s kind of a combination of episodes six and seven of the audio drama. Rick calls those episodes a tale of two cities. This is a really special part of the series to those who are from or have spent time in the Fort Leonard Wood area.
Those two episodes of the audio drama, six and seven, are all about Curtis Lee traveling to Fort Leonard Wood and working with prisoners of war during the Fort’s infancy. Again, Rick calls it a tale of two cities, and you’ll see why. Please stick around for that special glimpse into the life and times of Cursley at the end of this episode. And of course, check out the entire audio drama at Ozarkanthology.com.
A real quick thanks to my sponsors. I love these folks, Security Bank of Pulaski County, Next Home Team Ellis, and TK’s Pizza of Saint Robert. We’ll be right back with today’s guest, Kindle Hicks from the Riverside Shop in Waynesville.
**Intro Song**
Don’t stop, let it up, just shine.
Like the morning sun.
Don’t stop, turn it up, just shine, shine, shine, just shine.
**Interview**
Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have today’s guest here because even though I don’t know you, Kindle Hicks from Riverside. Um, even though I don’t know you personally, I feel like I’ve sort of watched your business come in and grow and it’s just a really neat story of what you’ve done. So I can’t wait to find out all the things about you and the Riverside Shop, just how you had the guts to do what you have done in the world that we live in today.
So, let’s start from the very beginning. Are you from this area or where are you from?
**Kindle:** I am from this area. I actually grew up in Smalltown, Little Newburg, Missouri.
**Tracey:** Oh, that’s like twenty minutes down the highway.
**Kindle:** Yeah. So, um, born and raised there, graduated from there. And then about the time I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, so about nineteen, I moved to Saint Robert and I’ve been here ever since.
**Tracey:** Did you have an online boutique before you actually opened the the store?
**Kindle:** I I did. Um, I actually started making t-shirts in my basement. I was always too nervous to ask someone to put the, you know, my t-shirts in their store. And so I had told my husband, I said, it would kinda be cool to have my own, you know, boutique or, you know, online store for this stuff. And so I started selling them online. We had a small website. And then I just thought it would be fun to have an actual online boutique now. So, yes, we did actually begin online.
**Tracey:** So it was the next step. Yeah. And then, now, when you first moved in, I was telling you this a little bit off the air that that that location that in my head I still call it, well, now it’ll be called, remember the old Riverside location? But in my head it was always the Seller 66 location. She was one of my marketing clients, Twyla and I just loved the place and loved her. And so I spent a lot of time there, not just because they had wine and good food, but I actually worked, but I always love that location and I always sort of wanted to be down there in the Ruby Doo Plaza, just because it was so, especially like in the spring and summer. It’s just, I don’t know, it’s just cool. It’s just, it’s a whole vibe. It’s just a whole vibe. And so I always wanted to be down there.
And when Seller 66 closed, I actually looked at the location for a couple different businesses and went back and forth, and eventually chickened out because I have too much on my plate already. But I loved when the Riverside Shop came into that location. Were you nervous about that? Like taking it from online to actually, oh now I’ve got overhead.
**Kindle:** Oh yeah, no, absolutely. Um, I was actually at home and my husband came home and he said, hey, I um, I went and looked at a location.
**Tracey:** Oh, really. He looked at it first.
**Kindle:** Yes. And he did not tell me because once we were online, my basement was just full of inventory. And we were making paths to get to my daughter’s bedrooms. And I have like, yes. It was. But it was like organized chaos. And if you know me, I have the world’s worst OCD. Like I am the cleanest person in like neat and organized. So my head was spinning. It was just hard to function. So that was like two months online.
But anyway, so I had like toyed with the idea of like, it would be nice to have a storefront. Like this is too much. So he came home and he said, I went and looked at a rental space downtown. I think it’s perfect for your store. So, hesitantly, I went and looked because I have three girls. So like I I was busy, but I also needed something for me. So I’m like, okay, let’s go. And the the size was perfect, but we I knew we had a lot of work to do with. Yeah. We just
**Tracey:** It’s pretty amazing how you transformed it. I mean, it was a neat-looking space, but you made it light and just brighter and just, I don’t know, you totally transformed it.
**Kindle:** Oh yeah. Well, when I walked in, the the um, the walls were blue and lime green and brown.
**Tracey:** Oh, that’s right, because after Seller 66 there was like a daycare or something, right?
**Kindle:** Or something. Yes. That’s what I’ve been told. I’m not exactly sure what that was, but I know like kids went there.
**Tracey:** I remember that. Yeah, I’d forgotten about that.
**Kindle:** Yeah. So the the colors on the walls were kinda wild. Um, and so we just fixed some things up and just made it ours.
**Tracey:** So, at what point did you decide did you decide, well, maybe we wanna do something in a larger location before that building that you’re in, we’re gonna talk about where that’s at, by the way, came up, or did that building come up and you’re like, I need to be there.
**Kindle:** So, shortly after we moved in, we realized I had way too much stuff in the space, what we thought was gonna be perfect and it was. It was a great start.
**Tracey:** It’s a good stepping stone.
**Kindle:** Right. Yes, but then we kept seeing that building, the old Gun and Pawn Shop, just sit there vacant. And every time we passed, I’m like, it would be so cool to have, you know, to be in that building, the Riverside Shop. It’s next to the river. I’m like, how, you know, how incredible. So,
**Tracey:** Yeah, it’s perfect.
**Kindle:** And then the opportunity just kind of fell in our lap.
**Tracey:** Don’t you love how that happens?
**Kindle:** Yes.
**Tracey:** When things are right, you know? That’s how that happens, I think.
**Kindle:** Right.
**Tracey:** I call it a God thing. It’s like it just happens perfectly.
**Kindle:** Well, and you know, before um, I called ourselves the Riverside Shop, I was making t-shirts, my oldest was making earrings. So we had a little, you know, side gig going on. We were going to the lake one day and I told my husband, I said, wouldn’t it be so cool. This was before we were renting downtown, just online still. I said, wouldn’t it be so cool to have that shop downtown? Like, how fun would that be? And that’s when I changed our name to the Riverside Shop.
**Tracey:** Oh, I got you.
**Kindle:** For like, you know, what if this does happen one day, let’s be called the Riverside Shop. That would be cool. So sorry, kind of backing up there a little bit to how we got there.
**Tracey:** No, that’s that’s perfect. So what was it called before?
**Kindle:** It was So, it was actually called um, Kindle’s awesome and instead of A W E, it was A U. My middle daughter has autism. So, we kind of in honor of that.
**Tracey:** That’s cool. Yeah.
**Kindle:** Um, it was Kindle’s, it was such a long name. Kindle’s awesome t-shirts and so my daughter’s first name is Ariana. We’ve always called her Air. So, you know, her dad, he’s thinks he’s a pretty funny guy. Um, he said, why don’t you call it Kindle’s awesome t-shirts and Air’s ear-rings. I’m like, A I R instead of earrings because she was making earrings.
**Tracey:** Wow, I love all that. Um, the Riverside Shop is so cool. It has a ring to it.
**Kindle:** So, yeah. That’s when I changed our name, created the blue logo and then we ended up downtown in the Ruby Doo Plaza.
**Tracey:** Yeah. That is so cool. And you were there were you there how long? A couple years? Or was it longer?
**Kindle:** Um, so yeah. No, it would’ve been two years this April. So, just shy of two years. We were in that location.
**Tracey:** That’s pretty quick scaling up, you know? That’s awesome.
**Kindle:** Yeah.
**Tracey:** So, when everybody’s chit-chatting online about, what is it gonna be? What is it gonna? I heard it’s this. I heard it’s that. It’s probably another Dollar General. It’s probably this. You know, and all the negative, and then all the, was it so hard just to keep your mouth shut?
**Kindle:** It was so hard.
**Tracey:** I would be so.
**Kindle:** It was so incredibly hard. And we would just check that that thread going around on social media. Because I’m like, I have to see like, what the rumor is today, and what what are we going to be. So, yeah.
**Tracey:** I wouldn’t even be able to look at it. How long did you know before you finally said, okay, I’m letting the cat out of the bag?
**Kindle:** Um, it was probably a good four months. It was really hard.
**Tracey:** Wow. Because there was speculation that entire time. It’s like you could barely even get on any of the local Facebook groups without somebody chit-chat. At least every few days somebody would refresh that whole thread and it’s like,
**Kindle:** Right. I know. It was fun to read. But it was hard. I’m like, oh. But yeah. And and also with that, I was really nervous that people would be super disappointed too.
**Tracey:** Right, because it’s like that we already have. Yeah.
**Kindle:** Right. So, um,
**Tracey:** Did you experience that?
**Kindle:** I personally did not. Now, I’m sure there are people that did feel that way, but I do not know that.
**Tracey:** That’s good. We don’t need to know.
**Kindle:** I’d rather just because I would fret over that. But um yeah, I was really nervous to if, you know, we were going to get some negative feedback.
**Tracey:** Yeah. Well, and you know what? You you can’t really do anything or be a go-getter or a mover or a shaker or make one of those make things happen kinda people without getting that is what I’ve learned because I used to have such thin skin. You know, it really hurt my feelings if people were were not supporting, you know, the what I was putting all my time and effort and money and everything into. Still bugs me sometimes, but I have gotten better. But gosh, the negativity sometimes. It’s so disheartening. It’s just like, you know, these are people that are putting everything they have into something.
**Kindle:** Everything. There’s lots of sacrifices that come with it and yeah. Just lots of things that are that go on behind the scenes.
**Tracey:** Right. And then you have people who, I’m sorry. I’m saying this is not this is not the opinion of Kindle. This is me. But you have people that don’t ever step out of their comfort zone to do anything. Don’t put anything on the line. And they want to sit and criticize those who do. And I’m sorry, but that’s just ridiculous.
**Kindle:** Yes. It is.
**Tracey:** Yeah. It is.
**Kindle:** Because it takes lots of guts.
**Tracey:** It does take lots of guts and time and energy and money and just everything.
**Kindle:** Yeah, and time away from your family and yeah.
**Tracey:** Exactly. Yeah. So, how has it been? You had your grand opening on
**Kindle:** Um, Valentine’s Day.
**Tracey:** Well, so we’re recording this a couple weeks after Valentine’s Day, but how did your grand opening day go?
**Kindle:** Holy cow. We were so absolutely swamped. We had two hundred and fifteen orders.
**Tracey:** Wow.
**Kindle:** That day. Um, only three of them ended up being online later that night once we opened because I shut the website down because it’s hard to keep up with both when I know we are going to have a really busy event. So, yeah. Over two hundred orders.
**Tracey:** That’s amazing.
**Kindle:** In the store and yeah, that is actually a lot even during our busiest events because we were down on the square. We would, you know, busy events, if there’s anything, like Christmas on the Square for instance. Anything like that anywhere between like eighty, ninety is a busy day.
**Tracey:** Hmm.
**Kindle:** So, when we jumped up to, you know, over two hundred, it was a lot. But I just I had to like step in our back room a few times because I’m like, is this happening? Like, is this real? I mean, we were so excited to have our own parking lot. That was the one thing about being downtown on the square is it’s always full. Like, there’s no parking ever. So, we were like, oh, we have this parking lot. Well, people were coming back the fall, you know, last week after our grand opening and we weren’t able to come. There was no where to park.
**Tracey:** I know.
**Kindle:** But they’re coming back.
**Tracey:** Yeah, that’s good.
**Kindle:** Yes. It was so busy. It was it was a great turnout.
**Tracey:** Well, let’s talk about what you have at the Riverside Shop. You know, what can people expect to find when they go down there?
**Kindle:** Obviously, women’s clothing and shoes and accessories. We have fun gifts. Um, our Christian table. We we have Bibles even. I know um, that was something we put into our last location about a year in. There’s just nowhere to find good Christian gifts around town, especially, you know, Bibles.
**Tracey:** That’s a good point.
**Kindle:** Yeah. So, I’m like, let’s try it out. And honestly, that stuff just flies off our shelves. So, you can definitely find that there. We keep Tiger’s graphics and even like personalized mugs in the the shop for Waynesville. jewelry. So, we have a good section for our locals. And once we moved on to um, Route 66 where we are now, we have some Route 66 puzzles and games and all kinds of fun things.
**Tracey:** Are you so excited about the big celebration of Route 66 this year?
**Kindle:** Yes. We are we have been told to be prepared for that. So, yeah.
**Tracey:** Oh, yeah, yeah. That’s gonna be huge.
**Kindle:** Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. No, this location has been awesome.
**Tracey:** So, do you do you do custom work?
**Kindle:** I don’t do customs myself. I do have um, vendors that I will send them like a logo that I want to use, like for our Tiger stuff. And they have their own designs and they just throw on that logo.
**Tracey:** Okay. Can they go on your website or Facebook or how does that work?
**Kindle:** Yeah, you can shop online. We have an um, we have a website. It’s shoptheriversideshop.com. Actually a lot of our locals will do that and pick you have the option to pick up in store or ship.
**Tracey:** So, that’s what you mean when you say that they’re doing the orders.
**Kindle:** Yes.
**Tracey:** Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha.
**Kindle:** So, you a lot of our people, you know, our local people will do the pick up in store because a lot of our stuff does just fly off the shelves as far as like our Tigers and our Christian table.
**Tracey:** How awesome, though. I’m so happy for you to see that success, you know?
**Kindle:** Yeah. It’s been pretty amazing.
**Tracey:** What’s been your biggest challenge?
**Kindle:** Um, social media. No, no. It that no, really. It is a lot to keep up with.
**Tracey:** It is a job in itself, isn’t it?
**Kindle:** It really is.
**Tracey:** I’m it’s funny because I have a marketing business, but I’m terrible at my own social media. I I just don’t make time to do mine. I’m doing my clients and it’s like, and I just it I don’t even do it for fun anymore. I you know, it’s work to get on to get on my phone or my my laptop. It’s just it’s like work. I don’t just very rarely do I actually just sit and enjoy social media. So,
**Kindle:** Yeah. No, I get it. Honestly, I and I don’t know if it’s a challenge, but it is.
**Tracey:** It’s a challenge.
**Kindle:** It is. It is the most challenging. It’s a lot to keep up with. Um, but I can’t say that nothing is sticking out other than just when we first started and just learning the business because I don’t have a business degree. My husband does not have a business degree. This was just something I thought of a few days after Christmas in two thousand twenty-three.
**Tracey:** Wow.
**Kindle:** And within two weeks we were just going through the motions of getting the business started, had no idea what we were doing. Um, but so if anything, that was probably the most challenging part. But
**Tracey:** Isn’t it so cool, though, and you’re really I don’t know, maybe if you don’t mind saying, how old are you?
**Kindle:** I am about to turn thirty-eight in a couple weeks.
**Tracey:** Well, I was gonna say you’re you’re much younger than me, but even at this age when I learn something new or when I come up against a challenge and then I overcome it on my own, the amount of I don’t know, I guess pride is one thing, and not I don’t mean pride in a prideful bad kind of pride way. If you know what I mean. Like sometimes pride can be a bad thing. But being proud of yourself, but also just the level of confidence like, oh, I don’t know what I was worried about. I can handle that. I mean, I bet doing what you have done now you sort of feel like, well, okay, what’s next? I can do this.
**Kindle:** Exactly. Right. Yeah.
**Tracey:** That’s how I feel anyway.
**Kindle:** Yes. Absolutely. Once we got through that, it, you know, there was that sense of like, oh my gosh. Okay.
**Tracey:** Accomplishment is the better word instead of pride.
**Kindle:** Right. Now, I will have to give most of that credit to my husband.
**Tracey:** Nah.
**Kindle:** Because once I realized I wanted to do this, I was so busy with inventory and getting things done on that end. So, he did do a lot of the business getting it set up and legal and make sure no one went to jail.
**Tracey:** We don’t have to. It’s always a plus. That’s that’s the kind of thing you don’t wanna learn. Like what jail’s all about.
**Kindle:** So, um, I I let him handle, so I will have to give most of the credit to him. I do have new um, small business owners reaching out asking kind of how I got started and I always have to like refer it to my husband. I’m like, hey, how did you, you know,
**Tracey:** What’s your husband’s name?
**Kindle:** Ryan.
**Tracey:** He’s from the area too?
**Kindle:** So, he is actually from Moberly, so just about thirty minutes north of Columbia. But when I met him, he was actually working for the police department here in Saint Robert. So, um, just a mutual friend introduced us. So, yeah.
**Tracey:** Well, that’s awesome. I love that. Well, we’re gonna take a quick break. And when we come back, we’re gonna talk with Kindle. I asked her to tell me three things that people might be surprised to learn about her. So, we’re gonna let you know what she had to say about that. Also talk a little bit about the Pulaski County area. Why she chose this area for her business and what her favorite thing about the area is. So, we’ll be right back with Kindle Hicks from the Riverside Shop in just a moment.
**Ad Break**
**Tracey:** Back with Kindle Hicks from the Riverside Shop. So much excitement around what you’ve got going on down there. Why did you choose Waynesville?
**Kindle:** You know, I just I had family here when I was younger, and um, when I was pregnant, we just moved closer to be by her grandparents and for that extra help. And then I just it’s felt like home really ever since, and not that I, you know, ever was very far away from Waynesville. But yeah, it just there’s something about just
**Tracey:** I know, isn’t there something about Waynesville? There’s a whole vibe there.
**Kindle:** I know. Like, we get a lot of military and they’re like, oh, it’s so boring, there’s nothing to do. I love it.
**Tracey:** I know. Exactly. Same.
**Kindle:** I do. I I love going out, you know, of town maybe for the weekend to, you know, do stuff in the bigger cities. But like, maybe for like, two hours. And then like, get me back home.
**Tracey:** Get me back home. And I just love that it seems like most of the business owners and people that work downtown Waynesville, everyone just is so supportive of each other. It’s just a neat neat vibe.
**Kindle:** They really are. When we moved into the Ruby Doo Plaza, there are other shops and businesses in there. And they were just all just so supporting and, you know, we’d pop in and we’d watch each other’s stores so we could shop in there.
**Tracey:** Yeah, I know. It’s so Hallmark movie-ish.
**Kindle:** It really it did feel like that, especially during Christmas. Yeah, for sure.
**Tracey:** Oh, I love that. I love that so much. I asked you some things that people might be surprised to learn about you. And we’ve already kind of covered it, but you’re a small-town girl from Newberg.
**Kindle:** Yes.
**Tracey:** And you have a daughter with autism. How old is she?
**Kindle:** She is fourteen.
**Tracey:** What has been your I have a a grandchild with autism, and I I really wasn’t familiar, you know, I’d heard about it, but I didn’t really know anything about it before we were blessed to have that little guy in our life. And I find him to be one of the most interesting, coolest kids in the world. What tell me about your daughter.
**Kindle:** Absolutely. So, she was diagnosed when she was three. She actually didn’t talk up until she was four, did she start putting sentences together. But she’s so sweet. She is just so genuine. There’s no gray areas with her, which I love. Now that she is a teenager, like, it’s all very like, there’s no reading between the lines with her. And she she is high-functioning as she can, you know, read and she can write and she can talk now and she can do things independently. But yeah, so this is our first year. We actually just started home-schooling her. So, there’s an interesting, you know, maybe something that people didn’t know about our family is that she has had some real struggles academically. So, this year we decided to um, pull her and I homeschool, which has been, I guess, one of those challenges is just trying to juggle all of that. But
**Tracey:** That’s really interesting. It’s it so we’ve been talking with my grandson about what would be the best course of action for us to be able to give him the help that he needs to teach him and communicate with him the way we need to. So, how have you how have you done that? Because I would imagine even a high-functioning autistic individual, it’s gonna be a little bit different to teach them something when homeschooling than it would be someone who is not that way. So,
**Kindle:** Absolutely. No, it’s been trial and error. I feel like every year we have to we have to tweak something. Like, it’s like, this worked then, but it’s not working now. So, we’re constantly changing the course of action and trying to figure out how her brain works. And it is very challenging. I am not a teacher. I am not good at explaining things. And Covid taught me that when I had three kids at home.
**Tracey:** Something I learned about myself.
**Kindle:** Oh, I am not a good teacher. Just scoot over, let me do it and I will explain it to you. I’m that kind of a teacher. So, to be a special education teacher, God bless all of our teachers, but especially our special education teachers.
**Tracey:** They have to have patience.
**Kindle:** It is so challenging to to just understand how their brains work. Um, Claire is that’s her name. Claire. Uh, my daughter. She um, like I had said, she struggles pretty severely academically. But the way her brain works. She’s got like an engineering, like, type of mind. I mean, it’s just amazing. Like, she can bypass the math and the science that’s usually required for that stuff. And the things that she creates in her bedroom is just unreal. Like, the mechanics of it. And how she makes her, you know, she loves to make puppets. Like, how she makes those things move. It’s it’s unreal.
**Tracey:** Isn’t it interesting? That’s how Nicholas is. He’s so interesting. One day he just started um, counting in Spanish. And we’re just like, what? I mean, he was, I don’t know, maybe maybe four. And I’m just like, who where did you learn this? Yeah. And uh, one day, you know, and he’s he’s pretty wired most of the time. He’s he’s he’s got a lot of energy. But one day that Joe Cocker song, um, you’re so beautiful to me, played. And you know, it’s such a slow song. And I noticed that he just kind of stopped what he was doing and he was really in tune with that song. It came on again. Well, I played it again because I thought it was interesting the way his he just like slowed down. You know, just like slowed down and was listening to it. He started singing to it. And I’m like, you know, there’s these long pauses and that song. It’s kind of weird. He got him just like that. So, about, I don’t know, maybe it was a week or so later, I said, do you wanna listen to that song? And he just started singing it and he knew almost every single word and he’d only heard it twice.
**Kindle:** It’s amazing.
**Tracey:** It is amazing. They’re the way their brains work. I guess I used to probably think, oh, I, you know, I feel sorry for that that person because they’re autistic or their. And now I’m just like, wow, I’m not gonna say I see it as a blessing because I know there will be challenges in life because of it.
**Kindle:** Right. Yeah.
**Tracey:** But at the same time, he is such an interesting guy. And I bet your daughter’s the same way.
**Kindle:** Very much. I always say if there’s anyone I could be like, it would be like her. She’s just so genuine and just straight to the point.
**Tracey:** Yes. I always think, gosh, I hope that the way he sees the world is the way it is for him for his whole life.
**Kindle:** Just having a conversation with um, someone the other day and we were talking about her and I just the reason we had pulled her from school. No specific reason other than she struggled, you know, bad academically. But she has a lot of anxiety. So, she was thinking that you know, the kids were laughing at her. And her heart is so pure and so good. Just sees the good in everything. And she’s just so happy.
**Tracey:** Oh, that’s sad. It’s probably a hard age to to be to be different from the or feel at least that you’re different from your classmates.
**Kindle:** Yes. Yeah. Because absolutely. Um, I think in elementary she didn’t see that. But now that she is fourteen, of course, those things those things stand out now.
**Tracey:** How old was she when she got diagnosed?
**Kindle:** She was three.
**Tracey:** How do you feel that society or the world around us, locally and nationally for that matter, has changed during that time? So that’s eleven years ago. I mean, do you feel like people are more understanding or accepting or not so much?
**Kindle:** I think so. I I I think so. I think even when Claire was diagnosed, people thought of autism as like flapping and, you know, having those the, you know, tics and whatnot. And they don’t talk and they don’t make eye contact and they don’t know how to show affection. Just certainly isn’t true. Everyone’s story is different. Every, I mean, you’ve heard it before, you know, just because you’ve met one kid with autism, you’ve met one kid with autism. Because they’re all just very different. Right. But I think that there’s just been so much so much more of an awareness and I think people are, you know, seeing that, you know, not
**Tracey:** Right. Yeah.
**Kindle:** People are getting better at accepting. Just because someone’s different than you.
**Tracey:** Right.
**Kindle:** Absolutely.
**Tracey:** I mean. How boring would the world be if we were all exactly the same.
**Kindle:** I mean for sure. Yeah.
**Tracey:** Let me so boring. I asked you earlier what your favorite thing about Pulaski County area is. And you said the community in general. Everyone’s been very supportive and kind, and I love the small-town feel. That’s what I love about the area as well. Your shop is absolutely gorgeous. Eden, did she have some help with that?
**Kindle:** Yes. So, Eden.
**Tracey:** We’re gonna miss her, huh?
**Kindle:** Absolutely. I know. She just popped in the other day. And I thought she was gone to Colorado for good. But she was like, oh no, I’m here for, you know, several more months.
**Tracey:** Oh, good.
**Kindle:** So, but she’s still around. Um, but yeah, so our shop in the Ruby Doo Plaza was right next to her.
**Tracey:** Hmm.
**Kindle:** So, when I found out that we were buying it, I was like, hey, this is like way above anything that I can do. Here is my vision. Can you help me bring that to light? And obviously, she did an amazing.
**Tracey:** Is it what you had in mind?
**Kindle:** Yes. Better. It was more.
**Tracey:** Eden from Homestead Designs is what we’re talking about. She’s actually been on the podcast before, but she’s she’s amazing. She’s amazing. Because I always have ideas of something, but how to get it to that point? I’m totally lost. I don’t know.
**Kindle:** Yeah. That’s me. Like, I can I can put everything like in my head. But and I can tell you what what my vibe is, what my vision is. But to get there? I know.
**Tracey:** Right.
**Kindle:** No.
**Tracey:** I’m so in awe of people that can make it happen. Like, I don’t know if you know Lisa Ellis that has next home.
**Kindle:** Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
**Tracey:** Yeah. She’s one of those people to me that she will have a vision for something and then she gets right in there and makes it happen. And I’m just I’m like, well, I I had the vision. That’s all I’ve got. I don’t know. I don’t have the rest of it.
**Kindle:** And I just have like a block.
**Tracey:** Yes. Like people like us need people like them for sure.
**Kindle:** Yeah. Absolutely.
**Tracey:** Well, Kindle, this has been fun. I really appreciate you coming in. And I’m so excited for you and and the future of your shop. Tell us all the things, how we can for those who do not know where you’re located. And then also online, how can we find you?
**Kindle:** So, and we are located at 105 Historic 66 East. I didn’t realize there was an East in there until until after we had purchased it. But it is East. 105 Historic 66 East in Waynesville downtown, right next to the Ruby Doo, right there by the bridge. And then you can also shop with us online at shoptheriversideshop.com. We’re open Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 6. And on Saturdays, 10 to 4. We are closed on Sundays and Mondays. And then we also have um, Facebook that is about the most knowledge I have of social media. Is Facebook. Um, so you can always find us on there. Just, you know, type in The Riverside Shop and we should pop up. I do have some high school girls and they’re good about making some funny TikToks for me and trying to keep up with trying to keep up with that. Yeah, my daughter, my oldest daughter and her friends. So, I have two of um, her friends that work with us on Saturdays. So, they help me with those.
**Tracey:** Oh, that’s good. I almost forgot. Last season I I stopped spinning the wheel and I decided to bring it back this season. So, I’m gonna spin this. Actually, no, I’m gonna let you spin it. I I don’t know if you can read my writing. If you can’t, I will help with that. What do I not understand about people? Oh, my gosh. Um, There’s probably a lot, huh?
**Kindle:** Oh.
**Tracey:** Oh, that’s a good one.
**Kindle:** Oh, my gosh.
**Tracey:** Well, yeah. There are so many. That is an on the spot question. What do I not understand about people? I love the look people get on their face when they spin that wheel and it lands on something like that where your mind is like, there’s so many things.
**Kindle:** Yeah.
**Tracey:** Yeah, there there really are. And I guess I mean, from the boutique and clothing side of it, just when you think people will love what you bring in, and then it just sits there.
**Kindle:** Yeah.
**Tracey:** And you’re like, that is a good point. I hadn’t thought of.
**Kindle:** And you’re like, Yeah. So, I mean, maybe from like, the shopping side of things, like the way my brain works is maybe that. I’m like, oh, people are gonna love this. And then they just sit there and I’m like, well, then what’s wrong with me? Like, is this not cute? Or the opposite. there have been like, this one time we got these sweaters and I immediately wouldn’t put them.
**Tracey:** Oh.
**Kindle:** You’re like, this is horrendous.
**Tracey:** This is horrendous.
**Kindle:** Yeah. I’m like, these are horrible. They were gone that day. I’m like, okay, well, so some things maybe, you know, from that standpoint. Those are things that I’m like, I don’t understand about.
**Tracey:** What? That is so interesting. I had not thought about that aspect of it. Oh, that’s great. What what has been one of the things that, um, you’ve been surprised with such a great seller besides those horrendous sweaters? Or is that it?
**Kindle:** Yeah.
**Tracey:** Um, I mean, honestly, I don’t wanna say I’m surprised. I’m so grateful that it is.
**Kindle:** Right.
**Tracey:** But when we brought our Christian, we’ve always had our Christian graphics. But when we started bringing in those Christian gifts, the Bibles, the devotionals, I wondered how it would go. Yeah. But yeah, it’s one of those things that we have to constantly we’re constant rotation of ordering that stuff.
**Kindle:** Right.
**Tracey:** Pleasantly surprised.
**Kindle:** So.
**Tracey:** I love that. And what a great item to have take off. Perfect.
**Kindle:** Yeah. Oh, and our Chiefs stuff. So, you won’t find any Chiefs stuff in the store right now. But during football season, um, our Chiefs stuff is like number one seller, especially.
**Tracey:** I wonder if that’s gonna change.
**Kindle:** I you know, I don’t know, but I will say this year, you can see where we have bandwagon fans. It did it was a really slow seller for us this year. Last year, whenever, you know, January hit and it’s like dead season for retail. No, we were shipping all over the United States. Our Chiefs stuff. So, that is another number one seller for us when we’re doing good. I guess.
**Tracey:** Wow.
**Kindle:** Yeah.
**Tracey:** Dang it. Yeah. Well, thank you again, Kindle. This has been fun and I’ve learned so much. I’m so excited about the future of your business. I look really forward to seeing where it goes.
**Kindle:** Awesome. It’s been a pleasure. It’s been fun being here.
**Outro Song**
**Audio Drama**
This is an American saga. The life and times of Curtis Lee. In the middle of nowhere, in the crux of Ozark Hill Country, along the hilly, curving, ever-stretching path of the old wire road, the US Army had invaded. This modest, century-old country town, parted down the middle by Route 66, was now overrun with thousands of soldiers.
New recruits from all over, anxious to serve the call of their country, and equally naive to the peril awaiting them. They were here to become soldiers. The new army post was a bonanza for this small Ozark town and all its inhabitants. Overnight, the town had been transformed into a human beehive. A massive influx of new GIs and workers were flooding the town. This meant there were needs to be met, jobs to be had, and money to be made.
Housing was just one crisis. The townspeople opened their homes and offered rooms, barns, sheds, even cots in a closet for rent. Construction was happening twenty-four/seven, but still couldn’t keep up with the demand. Throughout the county, small houses, apartments, hotels, and new roads were being built, and changing the landscape of this Ozark Hamlet forever. The makeover was even more evident at the army post.
At Fort Leonard Wood, sand-colored wooden barracks and family housing had popped up out of the ground like a late summer corn crop where once had been a lush National Forest. All the while in Waynesville, the aging stores around the town square and along Route 66 were overflowing with shoppers looking for goods and other necessities. There were makeshift stands on the sidewalks, and more impromptu shops popping up every day, stretching from town, along the dusty road, all the way to the post eight miles away. Where there is opportunity, there are gonna be opportunists.
They crawled out from under the rocks, coming from as far away as Chicago, looking to make a quick buck or get rich any way they could. Some were more modest and only cheated a little. Others were totally unscrupulous and treading on every moral code. With girly shows and such. This was an Ozark gold rush. Over the course of the war, Missouri housed approximately fifteen thousand prisoners of war, spread across several camps.
One of the largest of these camps was named Fort Leonard Wood. Transported from Saint Louis, the POWs arrived by train, then were placed onto buses for the twenty-mile ride to the post. Most were German, a few were Italian. Little spoke any English. None wanted to be here. Winter can be harsh in these Ozark Hills. In early forty-two, a blanket of snow, nearly knee-deep high, lay spread across the ground.
Curtis sat looking out his second-floor shop window as the first buses rolled up. He watched as a herd of men stepped off and trudged toward the wire-fenced compound. They were dressed in dark blue denim with the letters P W painted across their backs. He sat for a long while after they had gone, just staring at the human trail left behind in the snow. One week after the POWs arrived, they were to report to their predetermined job assignments.
That morning, Curtis stood inside the building doorway waiting. A dark blue wall of men emerged from across the camp as they approached. His pulse was racing, and his mouth was dry. The POWs were escorted past and up the flight of stairs. Curtis closed the door, uttered a short prayer, then followed. The early prisoners still held strong Nazi loyalties. However, they also recognized the reality of their confinement. For the most part, they obeyed and cooperated with army and civilian workers. The real problem was between the Nazi loyalists and those who were not so loyal.
The prisoners had their own battles to settle among themselves. Despite the despair of captivity and the often resentful disposition of these men, Curtis set out to train them. He initially relied on translators but made it a point to learn the basics of their language. Within the first week, Curtis had memorized all their faces, called them by name, and referred to them as his crew. He set out to earn their trust and respect by giving them trust and respect in return. He was strict, but fair. Rarely was his authority challenged. But when it was, like the old oak tree, Curtis stood his ground.
You are listening to an Ozark Anthology production. Thanks for stopping by.