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Welcome to Visit Bentonville's podcast in

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New American Town . As always , we're coming to

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you from the Hackston Road Studios off

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the bustling Bentonville Square and I'm your host

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, Alan Woody , Joining me in studio

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. Today I have Megan and Tony

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. Megan is with in season here

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in Bentonville and Tony is with

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Blue Moon here in Bentonville . And

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, ladies , you got to be getting jazzed

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up for holidays . This is our time

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to shine , most definitely my

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wife's already got the what

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the , the lifetime movies rolling

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.

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That's hard in the season .

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Yep , yep , I mean we're getting there . So

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tell us a little bit about some of the things coming

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up to each of your prospective businesses . We'll

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start with you , megan .

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Well , we are already hustling

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and bustling this season as

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it gets closer to Thanksgiving

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and then Christmas , and

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we have been just really overrun

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with tourism and which

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is awesome . It's awesome with

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the new exhibit down at Crystal Bridges

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. It has been an incredible experience

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.

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I just went there this week and saw

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that new one , the Annie Leibowitz two . Yes , really

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yes , oh my gosh , amazing

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yes .

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And people from all over the world are

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coming just to see Annie's exhibit

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and it has brought an amazing

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tourist to come

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in and specifically shop for women's

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apparel .

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Nice .

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Gifts . Some

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of our unique

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things that are stored in season

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would be Arkansas food . People

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love to sample that and take home

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back with them , because everyone loves food for gifts

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.

1:48

Yes , food is awesome .

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Ranging from all over the state to

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so from fun fact I eat food

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every day .

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I love that . Did you know that ? Yeah

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, it's true , so I'm a big fan .

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So we're yeah . It's just an exciting time

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to be in retail

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.

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Absolutely , Tony . Tell me a little

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bit about what you got going on at Blue Moon .

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Well , we're very similar . We have women's clothing

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and we also see people from all over

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the country . It's always fun to find out

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where people are visiting us from , and lots

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of mountain bikers and lots of people in town

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for Crystal Bridges and just

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incredible .

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Is that what makes it and we're going to veer from

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the holidays a little bit how exciting

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is it to own , you know , a

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really cool boutique or shop

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in an area like downtown

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Bentonville ? That's just always kind

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of a bustle . It doesn't

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seem like you guys even have to wait for the holidays

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. There's just a new crop of shoppers come in

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about every Sunday or Monday .

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That's true . We get a little bit of a lull in

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January and February and then it picks up mid-March

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and we're busy the rest of the year and

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we literally see people from all over the world . It's

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just really cool to meet people and

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find out where they're from and why they're here and share Bentonville

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with them , and tell them oh , go here , you know

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, go there to the shop or go to this restaurant

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or whatever .

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So I get off topic

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easy . If I go

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in there , what restaurant do you recommend

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to people ?

3:13

Oh gosh , I like this .

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We're going to get difficult here .

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Some of my favorites would be Table Mesa

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Oven and Tap Tusk

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and Trotter .

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You can't lose .

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Peddler's Pub .

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Yes , ma'am , one of my favorites .

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I always tell them you can't go wrong with any of

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the restaurants downtown .

3:29

No I can't ?

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It just depends on what you're hungry for .

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If they've made it down here because it is a very

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competitive restaurant scene , then they're all

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really good . They are really good . They're such a good variety

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.

3:38

There really is . I know I typically

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refer everyone to Barclayda . I just

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love that restaurant I love the owners

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. I think they're amazing . He's a Bentonville native

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.

3:52

Got to talk to him . I had him on the podcast

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a couple months ago . Really

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cool story with those two

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Moving from New York .

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They're wonderful .

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Really amazing stuff . But let's

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talk a little shopping . Let's get how

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is the shopping scene here in downtown

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Bentonville ? And now

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you could spend probably a whole morning

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literally shopping all around the square

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.

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Yes , and the more retail , the

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more shopping , the better I think , agreed

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. I would love to see downtown Bentonville

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be a true shopping

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destination at some point . We

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love all the restaurants and fun

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bars , but the more shops

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that are downtown , the more people

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are likely to come and make it a

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shopping destination .

4:38

Go to Blue .

4:38

Moon . Okay , this , you know , this store

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has X , y and Z . We have this

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and this and this . So I think

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that it's really important . Everyone has their

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own unique taste , which we do because

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we all buy differently , and

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I think that

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just keeping it fresh and just

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different options is really important because

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it reaches a whole

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spectrum of , you

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know , clients .

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Is that an extra challenge for you guys

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in the retail space here ? Because it really

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downtown Bentonville kind of really

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does have almost it's almost like

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a mall , because you've got so many

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great options as far as shopping goes

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and dining goes in the bar scene that you've

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really created its own district

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. But does that make you guys up

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your game competitively to stay

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in the scene ?

5:29

I , you know , a little friendly competition is great

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for everyone . Um , mom and

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I focus on a lot of European brands

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and I tend

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to buy because I , you know

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, kind of have everything . I , okay , what is

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someone who has everything ? What are they

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looking for ? What ? What is something unique

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and new on the market ?

5:48

You sell fishing boats .

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Maybe , hey , I can make that happen .

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Park it outside .

5:56

In season boat broker .

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It could happen , it could be

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a thing .

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And what about you at Blue Moon ?

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Um , I feel like Megan does you know ? She said we , we

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um kind of support each other , we collaborate

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. Yes , there's a competitiveness , but we

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each have our own flavor and so we

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send , like customers say where can I find this , or where

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can I find that and or where else is there to shop

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? I'm always telling them in seasons down here

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, you know , this Southern style is here , go

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, make sure you go next door to remedy road and all

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the different stores and and it's just fun

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to let them know all their different options . And

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uh , and we tend to focus on , um

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, we're kind of like the mid range budget

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price as far as our clothing lines and

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, um , so and very comfortable , casual

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feel . And then , of course , the local

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souvenirs . You know Bentonville t-shirts and and

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gifts and and a lot of razorback staff

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where , oh , you can't lose that , we're very well

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, you can't lose .

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Not this season .

6:48

Yeah , we'll just stick with

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basketball .

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How about that ?

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How about that basketball team ? All right ?

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You can really hit a shot , absolutely , absolutely

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. But yes , we do have a strong razorback

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section with .

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And it is cool and it's different from so

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. I come from a lot of businesses that are

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competitive and very

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exclusive , like when I was in radio

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. We didn't really encourage you to listen

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to other radio stations when you

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know I'm in real estate now , we don't encourage

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you to . You know what use other realtors .

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It'll be great it will . It's a great one

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. Check it all out .

7:21

So it is kind of cool to see a

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cooperative almost because , like

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you said , you don't have everything for

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every person right now and knowing

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the other stores and shops in the

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area kind of make you guys a more powerful network

7:35

.

7:35

Well , absolutely , and if you know everyone

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else succeeds , then we succeed too , and

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that's a really important lesson

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to you know , learn and be

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a part of In what I like to

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call like small , big town . I

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really that really actually works

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.

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It's on the nose really small big town Really

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kind of is , and we're kind of on the vibe

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of your small part of that , whereas if you

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go a little bit to the south

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you get a lot more of big

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town .

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So that's , really cool .

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What makes what is your

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favorite part about the experience

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? When you see we

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all serve locals a little bit different , because they tend to

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know exactly where they're picking and choosing , but

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when you see somebody new to Bentonville or

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a visitor , you know what's kind of the first

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thing that pops into your mind as something

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that you can't wait to share about our home .

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Just how quaint our downtown is , and I , especially , I'll tell

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them you know , you've got to come back at Christmas .

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It's like being in a hallmark movie .

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And whether it's you know marked when

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I'm telling them this or what . But

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but yeah , just how quaint and

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sweet and people are so polite and

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friendly and

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our city does a great job of keeping

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the area clean and looking beautiful

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and year-round it's

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just a beautiful little town .

8:56

It does seem to get better month by month

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. By month it does . It's kind of amazing .

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It does , and

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I believe that most of the people that we've met coming into in season

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are that are moving

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from all over the country . They

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are so genuinely happy

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to be here and I love that

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attitude coming in just

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because I was born and raised here

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, so you know when I was growing

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up .

9:20

Oh wow , you're always get off my lawn

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. I drove through the square .

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I didn't even have to stop at a stop sign

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because there was literally

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no car . Okay

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. So I love seeing

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all the people that are so happy to be here

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and they appreciate all of the art

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and the music and what a different

9:41

scene it is now than growing up

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.

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I still really think Someone should be grateful for it . And

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the vast majority of our buyers are coming here from

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other places and they are thrilled to

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be here and it is such a

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cool vibe . Yes

9:55

, like to , because you

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deal with some buyers that don't want it Like

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they didn't want it . This was not their idea

10:02

. That's just not the case with our community . People

10:04

coming here can't wait to experience

10:06

. You know exactly what we have

10:09

from the shopping to the restaurants , to

10:11

the culture , to the bike trails everything

10:13

. They're legitimately excited to be

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a part and it feels ground floor right

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. They're not as ground floor as you , megan .

10:19

We know you're the OG .

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She's an AO . You're the original Bentonville the

10:23

parents . But yes , I

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caused a little ruckus back in my high school

10:28

days .

10:28

Oh , tell us .

10:29

I'm just kidding .

10:31

No , I want to know now .

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My mom's favorite story is probably

10:34

I just got my license and

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I drove around the square backwards and my little

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cabriolet girl . And

10:43

my mom got like 10 phone calls like backwards

10:45

.

10:46

Is it in reverse ?

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You know , when you're 16 you're so silly

10:50

and no , I was never silly

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enough to drive that there was no

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traffic .

10:55

I'm pretty impressed I had a car .

10:57

I got in trouble for a moment Without a backup

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camera , I'm sure no backup camera .

11:01

Not in those days . That's real

11:03

back and out .

11:04

I know , I'm just driving around the square backwards .

11:06

Now you're part of the pedestrians . You back

11:08

into every parking space now , don't you ?

11:10

Absolutely . She

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is that girl in a big , huge truck back into a tiny square

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.

11:18

Ladies , thank you so much for joining me today . I

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really enjoyed our talk . Is there anything we missed

11:22

?

11:24

Just come shop downtown Bentonville for all

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of your seasonal gifts

11:29

and you really are supporting local

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when you come through our doors

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and we're just so appreciative to

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be where we are and

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be on the forefront of so

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many other wonderful things .

11:42

I guarantee you come to the square to shop . You're going

11:44

to have a great time . You're going to come away with that

11:46

special gift for that person that's really

11:48

hard to buy , for that person

11:50

who has everything Megan's got boats .

11:52

I got you , so go to in season . There you go . My

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husband will be your next customer .

11:57

Yes , tony's husband is going

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to be right there to buy that boat and he has everything

12:01

.

12:01

He doesn't even like to shop . Okay .

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To be clear , they don't have boats in season yet

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.

12:06

Wait till 2024 .

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Their lineup is going to be amazing .

12:09

Maybe some boat ornaments there

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we go Nice save , I'll

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send you my address .

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I can't wait to see that . Ladies , thank you so

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much for joining me today . Really

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enjoyed our time and really appreciate you

12:22

guys for being there . And thanks for everybody

12:24

for listening . Remember you can catch

12:26

all of our new American Town podcast

12:28

episodes on streaming channels , following our

12:30

social platforms or going to visit

12:32

Bentonvillecom . And don't forget to follow Visit

12:34

Bentonville on Facebook , instagram , twitter

12:37

, linkedin , youtube and TikTok . We've

12:39

got so many great events coming to Bentonville

12:41

in 2023 . Check out our event calendar

12:43

and plan your trip today . Thanks for

12:45

tuning in . We'll see you next time

12:49

.