SPEAKER_01 0:00

Bankers don't die, we just go to new banks.

SPEAKER_05 0:02

The STL Bucketlist Show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor and the official banking partner of STL Bucketlist, Royal Banks of Missouri. Royal Banks is a full service, independent community bank, locally owned, locally run, and proudly investing in St. Louis since 1964. That's more than 60 years of taking care of the people and businesses who make this city special. From checking and savings to mortgages, business banking, and wealth management, you get real personalized service from neighbors who actually know your name. With 16 locations across St. Louis, St. Charles, Illinois, and Northeast Missouri, there's a branch right around the corner. Royal Banks of Missouri, proudly investing in our communities.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

If you wanna hear about St. Louis, tune into the Bucketless Show Weekly. Hear what Marissa and Luke say. It drops every Wednesday. Got a dope new guest every single week. Buckle up for the ride. Who's it gonna be? Who's on the show today? They rap St. Louis. What to do in the loo on a late night? I maybe what to do on a date night. Yeah. Bucket list as you cover, they know what's going on. What's going on? They'll give you 18 different things to do on 19. If you need one more to choose, yeah. The city, city, city is a place we call home. A place we call home.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

Yeah. St. Louis, welcome back to another episode of the STL Bucketless Show. We've been recording episodes every single week for over four years. We've done 200 episodes with the people, places, and events that make St. Louis special, local entrepreneurs. Today we have a very special episode today, our new official banking partner of the STL Bucketless Show. You guys see the cup, Royal Banks of Missouri. We have the CEO, president, Mitch Baden in studio today. Mitch, thank you so much for coming in.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

Yeah, no, I'm excited. I I came in, uh, met your team, Katie, and uh we met on Instagram and then ended up connecting and coming to your guys' Creave Court location and super excited to not only you know work on some of the stuff we're doing from the marketing side, but also from the sponsorship side of us as a small business, you being able to support these podcasts and support the other things that we're doing, and hopefully vice versa, reinforcing you guys as a local bank here in St. Louis. So I want to first learn about your story because I read some stuff and I want to make sure that I get your story correct. So walk me through your first day in the banking industry. And also before that, are you a St. Louis guy? Like walk me through your childhood a little bit too.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

I am from St. Louis. And first uh, thank you for having us. And we're excited about the partnership. Um, I'm not sure what you're talking about in terms of the first day. Yeah, but I started, I think you may be talking about a story that happened to me when I started the first day at an old bank called Boatman's Bank.

SPEAKER_05 2:42

Yeah, was that 1972?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Is what I read. Sometime. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Um, you know, old. I just got a 50-year pin for banking, so I'm old. So I walk into the president's office who um was a really tall, stately guy. George H.W. Bush's brother, Bucky, was the president of the bank. And I walked in thinking I was dressed to the T's. I'm wearing a Mr. Guy blazer, everything looks great. Grace lacks. I walk in, shake his hand, and he looks at me and he as I'm walking out of his office and puts his hand on my shoulder and said, Well, Mike, someday when you grow up, you might have a big boy suit. First of he got my name wrong. I must have made really made an impression. And then the other was uh I was embarrassed about the suit. I thought I was dressed to the T's. I ended up uh taking the Mr. Guy suit back, buying our jacket back, and buying a couple of cheap suits so that I had suits to wear during the week. But it was it was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_05 3:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

The guy that was training me, I thought it was hysterical. I took me about 20 years to to really think it was funny, but I do think it's it's pretty funny now. I use that line now when somebody wears a really ugly sport coat into our offices. I'll tell them someday you'll grow up and have a big boy suit.

SPEAKER_05 3:57

I know the the sport coat, uh, I don't know if people still wear them in your office, but like that seems like that culture's changed a little bit. It's more casual now in workplaces.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

You know, when I first started, everybody wore suits. In fact, um, one of my favorite stories I tell at a different bank, bankers don't die, we just go to a new bank.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

I get on the elevator with the president of that bank, and he was an older guy about to retire. And he I have a brother in banking who also worked at the bank, and he looks at me and he goes, Steve, uh, you doing okay? And I said, Yeah. He goes, and boy, Mitch is really doing a great job over in St. Charles. Why I already recognize I already said that I was Steve.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

So I said, Yeah, I heard he is. And I get off the elevator and jump off uh into a conference room. Take my only thing that I did differently is I took my jacket off. Same guy walks into the office, he goes, Hey, Mitch, I just ran into Steve. Yeah. So I guess we both look alike. Yeah. But yeah, so um, it's totally changed. Um, I think um there's some people that I've worked with for years and years that uh cannot believe that I go without a tie. Um, but much more casual, um, especially in our rural markets, uh, like up in northeast Missouri and in Jerseyville. We really need to look more and more like our clients who are more ag based. And so um it's a lot more casual than it used to be. I still prefer ties, but you can see what I'm dressed like today.

SPEAKER_05 5:22

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

By the way, this isn't a Mr. Guy. Yeah, you've upgraded. A little bit.

SPEAKER_05 5:27

A little bit. For over 150 years, SSM Health has been providing hope, healing, and opportunities to the St. Louis community. With over 40,000 employees across four states, they're not only delivering exceptional care, they're one of the region's largest employers, shaping the future of healthcare. We're proud to present SSM Health as the official healthcare partner of the STL bucket list show. If you've dreamed of a career where you're truly making a difference every day, SSM Health can help you take that to the next step. Learn more at their website in the link in the show notes. So I I guess I I want to learn more about your story with World Banks of Missouri. So the the version of how it fits into St. Louis banking, you know, the the current locations that you guys have, who you serve, and and how you originally got into the infrastructure and and really built your career in banking.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Well, I jokingly say bankers don't die, we just go to new banks. Um and that's sort of true. It's certainly true in my career. Our company's 62 years old, and we're very proud of that. Started by a group of St. Louis investors who got tired of paying high fees from uh the banks locally, especially as it related to automated clearing house. So they created a bank to avoid those fees, and uh eventually that bank turned into Royal Banks of Missouri, um, which had now has about 17 locations. We're about to have 17 because we're open two more. Um and we serve uh Missouri, Illinois, and northeast Missouri as well. Um yeah, I always tell people to be successful as a company, you have to have three main legs to the stool. The first is you have to have great employees, and I'm really lucky. I work with a great team. Um you have to have great ownership. They are amazing, they've allowed us to invest in our company. And then you have to have a group of people, and especially the CEO that's willing to change and change direction if you need to. And I think if those things are in place, most companies will be successful. And that's our recipe for for success in our company. We've really been able to really been nimble to be able to support our clients.

SPEAKER_05 7:35

And it's changed so much over the years. I mean, um, when I started my business in 2019, everything was digital and it was so easy to file an LLC and set up a bank account within a couple of clicks. And you guys have also had to evolve. So from the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, early 2000s, and now it's 2026, we're heading into 2027. You've probably seen in your career in 50 years the biggest shift in technology from any other previous era. Like all the guys that you your mentors, let's say they were working from the 40s to the 70s, it was basic banking, was banking. But now it's like you've evolved into so many different ways of like, how do you guys continue to do that? And for our listener base being younger, ages 25 to 35, it's like, what's the differences of using you guys compared to some of those digital resources?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Well, first of all, you're absolutely right. When I started in banking, everything was paper, everything was on microfiche. Most kids don't even know what that is anymore. Um, everything was manual, everything took a little bit more time. Um, but now everything, this is your phone. Yeah, this is your bank. Um, and so um we have to be nimble and be able to provide good service through the through the digital technology that's available. You know, this all really started and blew up with COVID. And I can't believe that um we we acquired man oh management of our company right before COVID started. And the crazy thing was how we had to be changing in order to meet the needs of our clients. So first thing we did was we invested a lot of money in interactive teller machines. Um that's the next generation of um ATMs, automated teller machines. We can actually press a button and get to a person. We have we have a team of people on the third floor of our uh office in Creve Core, and they do nothing but take care of our clients that are driving up to our drive-up facilities and providing great service to them. We were able to use that technology during COVID to actually expand our hours. Most banks reduced their hours. We expanded our hours. We were open from eight o'clock to s till seven every day during COVID, Monday through Friday, uh, eight to two on Saturdays, and that's our still our hours uh on Saturdays. But we were able to provide the same service that other banks weren't because we were able to provide them through our eight our ITM network. And then you talk about digital banking and phone and mobility. You know, most young people don't want to come into the bank. You can open an account now and not even walk in the bank. You can um do everything you uh need to do on your on your mobile app. We have a terrific um, I think, mobile app for consumers. And I think it really, really makes the difference. And that's the difference, I think, from us and a lot of organizations. We've spent a lot of money on technology to keep up with what's going on in the workplace and providing great service to our clients.

SPEAKER_05 10:35

Yeah, no, that's amazing. And it seems like St. Louis is such a a local business community and and gather around people like you and you mean what high school did you go to? Exactly. Yeah, yeah. What high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Parkway North. Oh my gosh. A Parkway North kid.

SPEAKER_05 10:49

My wife's a teacher at Parkway Central.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Oh, well, we don't like Central. They were the cults.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

They were our trivals.

SPEAKER_05 10:55

Yeah, she's a teacher there, so I know how I know how that goes. But I guess that, you know, where I'm getting at with the St. Louis business community is whether they're local businesses, restaurants, uh, auto body shops, everybody has a relationship with the bank. And it seems like in in I've only lived in St. Louis, so you can probably correct me if I'm wrong here, but that we have so many local banking options in St. Louis. I don't know if that's the same in other parts of the country. Is that because of the the history of St. Louis, the the how long it's been around? And what do you what do you kind of see in that as like why there are so many locing local banking options and as well as local businesses too?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Well, let me preface this by saying we love St. Louis, and so I don't want to sound negative, but there are so many banks in this market, it's overbanked. It is the second or third highest uh banking percentage in the entire country. It's behind only Chicago and sometimes uh Baltimore. But the issue is there's so many banks that have been uh chartered in this in the city that competition is great. Now that's good for the consumer and good for commercial, but it's not very good for for the banks.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

So our strategy's been a little bit different. We're very proud of being in St. Louis and we're very proud of the business that we have here, but it's hard to grow here. So we're um actually looking at a strategy where we look over in Illinois. We have new banks over there in the last seven years. We have banks up in northeast Missouri in the last five years. And so those markets are a little bit more steady, uh, give us a little bit more ability to compete better because there's fewer banks. Um and so the overbank market in St. Louis, I think, has forced us to look differently at how we market ourselves and how we grow our company. And we're a little bit different than others. There have been a lot of banks that have gotten a charter that they've purchased in other cities, smaller communities, and then moved to St. Louis with an office and then moved the charter. We've done exactly opposite of that. We've purchased charters in other markets, kept people in those markets, and named the bank after the markets that we're in. Yeah. So, as an example, but Royal Banks at Grant City, Royal Banks of Jerseyville, up in northeast Missouri, we have three banks up there, all different names for the communities that they're in.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

So we want to serve the communities that we are in and distinguish ourselves by keeping the name of those communities in our name.

SPEAKER_05 13:15

I like that too. And I like, I like the Royal Banks of Missouri, but then these smaller towns of Hannibal and all these other towns that you guys serve. And I just was at the St. Louis Hills uh freshly remodeled location, I think what, two, two, three weeks ago, um, set up an account over there. They they got me set up really quick, got everything taken care of. But I really loved the remodel in a in a neighborhood like St. Louis Hills, where when people when we were there, um people were walking in, it's like, oh, what'd you guys do? Like they just were coming into a normal bank visit, but you guys were remodeling the bank and you're constantly investing in the communities. I know you guys got Glenn Carbon coming uh this fall, and then also South County also coming this fall, too. So you're continuing to do more brick and mortar, where other banks that I'm reading about when I look at the business journal are maybe slimming up to do more digital. So, what is the value of brick and mortar? Because you did mention that there's a change of younger people. I personally I like going to the bank. I like having a personal banker to talk to, but sometimes I like just being on a phone call relationship because some of the bigger banks you don't even you can't even get on the phone with someone. So that's the big difference with being local. But what are you're betting on brick and mortar, though, it seems like is what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Well, it's a combination. Yeah. Um we we've invested heavily on our uh plat digital platforms. Um, but I think there are clients that still want to come into a bank, and we need to have places where our our relationship managers and our bankers can be housed. You can't be a community bank and not be in the community. Yeah. So we don't have a bank in South County, but we have clients down there. So we want to move to South County. It will house our business banking group, which caters to smaller clients, smaller commercial clients, and then hopefully grow some of our retail clients as well. Well, the same is is true in Glen Carbon. We have a bank in Edwardsville, and that bank is only uh a loan production office, so we're making that into a full service office again to house business banking, house mortgage lending, and house commercial lending along with retail. So it's a combination and you have to do it creatively. The the locations that we've opened lately are all in shopping centers. So we're not building a brand new building. So it keeps our costs down, but gets us into the community. And most importantly, each of those locations have an interactive teller machine that gives you the freestanding drive-up if you want that capacity and that ability to work with us without having to get out of your car. Yeah. So you still have all three abilities. You can walk in, you can do it in your car, or you can do it digitally.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

The STL bucket list show is proudly sponsored by Suede Dispensary with 11 Missouri area locations. Suede does so much for the St. Louis community. We've been working with this team for a couple of years, back since Medical was here, and we're excited to support their new product launches, events, and community initiatives. We couldn't be happier to work with this premier cannabis brand, and we're excited for them to sponsor the show. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. So I read that your brother Steve was a huge influence in your path into banking. Um, is he your older brother? My older brother, five years. Yeah. So, you know, getting inspired by him, and he also, you know, worked in the Royal Banks group as well. So what was it like? What was that pre was it a privilege to kind of follow his lead into banking? Like, tell me, kind of walk me through that mentorship that he gave you too.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Well, I'm very proud of my brother. Um, he uh I think is uh was a great banker before he retired, lives in Florida a lot of the time. He uh he and I have different personalities. I think he was uh, like I said, a great banker, really positioned our company very well for uh success. And candidly, I think any of the success I've had was built on the foundation that he and his team put together.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Um, but that foundation gave us an opportunity to grow. Um, I um I started in banking as a teller. I visited his office one day in high school, and the lead teller was ranting and raving about how she had to fire somebody, and now she had to go look for somebody. And I happened to be standing there. It was the easiest interview I've ever had. She asked me to count backwards from five from a hundred. I was able to do that. Good Parkway North Education.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Then she had told me to do some multiplication, which I did. Then she asked me like three other questions, and I had a job. I wasn't even looking for a job.

SPEAKER_05 17:29

Yeah, you were just there visiting him.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I just was there visiting. Um, but my brother was amazing. My father died when I was young. He raised my younger brother and helped raise my sister. And um, so he was my mentor. I wanted to be like him. And so I went into banking, and um here we are.

SPEAKER_05 17:48

Yeah, yeah, you mentioned your father, and I I kind of was was he working in meat processing and stuff like that. Yeah, you have a great memory.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

He uh worked for a company called Ruckert Meat, which was on 21st Street, yeah, right next to the train station. Yep. Uh next to the old YMCA, which is now the Drury. So yeah, he worked down there, unfortunately died when he was very young, and um left my mother with five kids, all under the age of 18. Um my youngest was six. Um, so she was an amazing woman. But uh Steve, uh Steve was a great mentor. So when our company um sold, um, I joined um Royal right after that, almost 25 years ago. Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_05 18:32

Yeah, because you were at some of some banks that you know, the landmarks, uh mercantile or uh all those, and those aren't around anymore, are they? Or uh or that have they just been sort absorbed by other banks?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Like I said, bankers don't die, we just go to new banks, and banks do die.

SPEAKER_05 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Um landmark became uh regions, um, Mercantile became US Bank, Boatman's became Bank of America, Southside, another bank I was at, became uh PNC. So bankers don't die, but banks do. Our goal at Royal is to not die. Our goal is to stay independent. And that's what we're really striving to do. And we have an ownership group that really allows us to do that.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

Yeah, and you guys are so invested in the community. I mean, when we first met, you guys are so invested in giving back to St. Louis. You guys sponsor uh events with different publications and different magazines and different events, and you're always out in the community, and that's one thing that you know is important if you're gonna be headquartered here because your headquarters and you said you guys just redid your headquarters as well. I went to the offices in Creve Core. I've I've seen the St. Louis Hills freshly uh remodeled. We're gonna go visit the Glenn Carbon one and the South County one in in a few months when those get into a good spot as well. But you you're like you mentioned, you're a St. Louis company that's that it's expanding to smaller markets where where people are at. As people move to these smaller markets, they still need to go into a user bank and they still need to go in and use this technology. So what is the kind of feedback around why the you mentioned ownership, but the continued investment in St. Louis, whether it's remodeling the headquarters, whether it's the St. Louis Hills location? Because at some points you could be like, oh, it's good enough, it works, but it's like you guys are pushing it forward.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Well, I think it's real easy to answer that. First of all, our our our management team for the last seven years has given record earnings virtually every quarter, every every every year. The first half of this year is the most profitable period in our history. The first six months of this year are the most profitable six months we've ever had. So it makes it easy to invest in our franchise. But you know, a lot of companies would just say, well, dividend that out to the shareholders. Our owners, though, understand that to be really successful, you've got to reinvest in the company. So we've done that. We built a new branch uh in University City, moved a little farther west, closer to some of the development that's happening where um new Costco's located, where where the new uh Target's located, but didn't leave the the third district in University City, which was our home. So we wanted to stay there, wanted to stay in that market to continue to provide that service to our clients. We've renovated our office in you in St. Louis Hills, a total renovation. I mean, gutted the place, spent a lot of money doing that on both these buildings. We did the same in in in Cree Core with a total remodel of that building. So they allow us to continue to reinvest not only in infrastructure, but also the technology to be successful as well. And like I said, that those three legs of that stool really mean that your ownership uh needs to be uh in line as well and understand what your vision is. And they they've been wonderful to work for.

SPEAKER_05 21:41

Yeah, that's amazing. So I want to talk about St. Louis a little bit because I'm sure you got some some spots that you love in St. Louis when you're not when you're not working in the bank and stuff like that. Are there any specific restaurants or any specific events or things that you love about this city and and living here or places when you go to celebrate? So if you celebrate the Grand opening of a new location. Are there certain restaurants that you like to enjoy?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Well, I have three favorites. They're all in West County. One is called Bishop's Post, owned by Butch Bishop. A great location. Love the restaurant. Great food, great service. Another is Timothy's, not far from our office in Creve Core. If you haven't been there, they have the greatest wine list in St. Louis. Stephen would appreciate your business. And then we, my family, has grown up at a little bar restaurant in West St. Louis County at the corner of Clarkson and Manchester called Mulligan's.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Steve and his family have owned that. They started it. Unfortunately, Steve passed away recently, but Melanie and her kids are still running the restaurant. We have a great time. Mulligan's is very special to me. They have my favorite margarita. We helped them fix it and make it. It took them about 15 years to get it right. We change the recipe like every day. My brother was very disappointed one day. He went there after playing golf, was picking up some wings, which they're known for. And he kept hearing baden margarita, baden margarita. And and he came back to the bank the next day and he said, I cannot believe that there's now a drink named after us. And I said, Well, it's better than other things named after us. Right. And it's a great drink.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

But it you can't have more than one. It will knock you on your socks. It's a top shelf one.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

Yeah. That's that, yeah. Mulligan's is a the three spots you just mentioned were spots with so much history in St. Louis. And I think Bishop's Post recently went through a lot of renewable. I mean, they're they're killing it now. I see them all over the place. And and Mulligan's is just a great spot um to bring the whole family kids and everything like that too. No, that's really cool. So when you go to celebrate, you're like, hey, we're going to, you know, kids are in town or things are happening, we're going to Mulligan's to to drink one bad and margarita, just one.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Well, one. Yeah. Some of us might have more, but you better have a designated driver.

SPEAKER_05 23:57

Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, so what about um any like events that you grew up going to as a kid? Are there any specific events or parks or anything in St. Louis that really make you think of like, you know, the community and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Well, again, growing up in University City, there's Heeman Park.

SPEAKER_05 24:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Then my family moved to Creve Core, so we spent a lot of time at Creave Core Park.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Um, but love the, you know, love the greatest thing about St. Louis is there is a lot to do. I mean, there really is. We have we have great baseball. This year's been really exciting to watch. A lot of surprise for people. But the stadium is great, so it's fun to go to. Just was down there Thursday. Um love to love the blues. Um, we're really fortunate. We have St. Louis University here as well, and they're they're really going through a renaissance in terms of their athletic program. And our T our team at Royal sponsors uh a lot of the programs at St. Louis U. Um, so we're um a lot of things to do here and lots of great memories in St. Louis.

SPEAKER_05 24:55

Yeah, it was fun watching uh the Billikins go through the NCAA tournament this year. That was pretty cool to get just to get one win and then go up against the number one seed in the champion and actually give them a pretty good game versus.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

I think we gave them a really good game and we beat the heck out of Georgia, which was nice. Um, but yeah, an SEC school getting beat by a mid-major, that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_05 25:13

Yeah, and then our coach being able to lock up the coach, which we which I thought he was leaving too, and being able to lock him up has been has been huge, and and uh he's really changed the but yeah, like you mentioned sports and and all these different things. I was just down at Bush Stadium um the other day, too, of the Cardinals, and then all the development from the DeWitt family going around Ballpark Village and the new Arch grounds development where they're doing the Millennium Hotel and all this exciting stuff for St. Louis, but it takes people like you, it takes people like us, takes people like you know, those families that are betting on the city and reinvesting. It all comes down to reinvestment, you know, and and that's what you guys are doing with Royal Banks. And since becoming a customer and also a partner of you guys is like, how do we work with a local bank in a way to shed light on our community? So our community with Sauce Magazine, our community with STL bucket list of that younger generation of people, the 25 to 35, that's your first-time home buyers. Those are your people that are starting their business for the first time. And the biggest scalability is those customers because they're going to be using the bank more and more for different things. And and you guys have shown that. And it's been fun to be able to, you know, work with you guys. I mean, we just met a month ago and just being able to kind of develop this relationship of like you're aligned with the goals that you guys have here too. And I noticed you guys did the family play dates with St. Louis Magazine. You know, I definitely want to bring my kiddos to something like that too. And and just all these things you mentioned with the sports team. Isn't the voice of the Billikins? Doesn't he work with you guys too? He should have come here on the podcast. Yeah, he should have been here.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Uh he's he's got I've got a face for T uh for radio. Um, but no, Bob Ramsey's been our voice for uh 25 years. Uh before that, he was the voice of uh the the bank I was at before. Um, you know, part of the reason I think this partnership is so valuable to us when Katie Carricker brought it to me, it was it was your view of St. Louis is the same view as what we have. You know, I when I uh when I tell people where I'm from, I don't say I'm from Wildwood. Um I don't say I work in Creeve Corps, I say that I I'm from St. Louis. And until we as community leaders are proud of the fact that we're from St. Louis and trumpet that, we're we're never going to change the image. And you're doing some things with your groups that really reflect certain things that are fun. Like as an example, we get to sponsor, you know, your apartment guide and those things.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Well, there's great great new apartment buildings and all kinds of great uh amenities around those throughout the city. Yeah. We need to trumpet those things.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

We need to, we need to improve our downtown. Um, and if we can do that, I think everything else good follows.

SPEAKER_05 27:43

Yeah, no, absolutely. And it's the whole community. And when we talk about, you know, there's 2.7 million people in the metro, and that's who we serve as you know, people that live in Windsville that go downtown for tourism because that's still local tourism and that still brings dollars. People still stay in hotels. And and I've been working with the convention group and Washington Avenue and like trying to get more bigger conventions downtown because when conventions come to town, that's people's first impression of St. Louis. And it's like, how do we put our best foot forward? And we kind of made that decision in 2019 when we started STL Bucket List to highlight, and the mission is highlight the people, places, and events. So when we talk about people, we have this podcast. The places are the restaurants that we love, the events, the city museums of the world, the zoo, and all these amazing spots that we have here. And then the events. It's like every single weekend we're doing one this Friday. We got Food Truck Friday in Tower Grove Park. We're gonna have 5,000 people out in Tower Grove, kids, families, dogs. It's a free event. Uh, music at the intersection is gonna be down in the Grand Center Arts District this weekend with uh big acts performing at the Fox. And um, St. Louis really is an arts town when you really think about everybody talks about the sports, but all these art organizations that we have and live music and all these, the munis and all these different things. The STL bucket list show is fueled by Upshot Coffee. My friends at Upshot Coffee have some of the best beans in town. I got some of their new packaging here. Look at this bag. Look how big this is. Um, they have four St. Louis locations, their flagship in Coddleville, the break shop over by Lindenwood in St. Charles, their Clayton location called Hi-Fi, um, and then Flyby over in Tower Grove, their newest location. Um, and they also sell their coffee online everywhere. If you guys haven't added Upshot Coffee to your STL bucket list, it's time to try it. Some of the my favorite people in the industry and some of the best coffee in the game. I think it's really cool of what you're doing and the fact that you've been in it for 50 years. I I want to talk about your vision and your your next steps, but what are you trying to build? And and now that you're in the second phase of your career, is like what what are you looking forward to?

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Second phase. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 29:40

Um the back half of your career.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

You know, um, I tell people that um if God forbid our company were to sell, then I failed. Yeah. And I want us to stay independent. I want us to stay focused on the communities that we live in. Our ownership allows us to make significant contributions. Today, as an example, we're um we received notice that several hundred thousand dollars of donations are going to be made in junction in conjunction with the federal home loan bank out of Des Moines in a program that they have as a matching program that we are leading the way for many, many organizations. I the list is probably close to 20 that don't know anything about the donations that we're about to give them. But we are so lucky that our organization has the ability to be able to follow through with the dreams of what our our founders were, very philanthropic St. Louis business people, and we're able to continue that legacy. I think that's really cool, and I'm really proud of that. And so when I talk about community banking, what makes us different than the big banks, we don't check a box. And I say that all the time. I know some of my team members that I work with get sick of me saying we're not here to check a box, but we really walk the walk and talk the talk. We are part of the communities that we that we work in because we live in them. You know, the ex perfect example our Jerseyville office, the the woman who is in who's one of our marketing people, Sharon has been in the bank 35 years. We didn't change a person, not one. The first person we hired was somebody who started his career in that business, was working in St. Louis, but living in Jerseyville and driving back every day. We um we hired that guy because our accountants knew him and it made a lot of sense. So the people that are sitting in our offices are all people that are invested in the community because they live in the communities. And that's what makes us different. We aren't just checking a box and saying, oh, we're gonna go make this donation because, oh, to make us look good. We're making a donation because it's the right thing to do and to the right uh organization in the communities that we live in. And that's why I love our rural market so much. When our folks uh up in Northeast Missouri go to work, they go to work with their neighbors and they go take care of their neighbors. When they go to church and when they go to the store, they're seeing their clients who are also their neighbors. So they have a vested interest in the community, and that's our company. Yeah, that's what makes us.

SPEAKER_05 32:12

Their kids play on the same team. They exist, they all go to the same school. There's one school.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

And probably we sponsor it.

SPEAKER_05 32:18

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was looking into Operation Shower. I know you guys are a big part of that, that golf tournament that that just happened, I think, in April. And um, so the op Operation Shower is is is a nonprofit that you guys are presenting partner of, but that's for expectant military families to ease the stress of deployment and all these different things of people that are expecting kids. So also with military, with veterans, with these schools, with all these different things that you guys are doing. And and like you said, you're not just doing it to do it. It's like these, these, these places they rely on partners like you to even have these events. So for you guys to be a presenting partner of that event is is probably pretty special, too. Oh, yeah. And it's like the beautiful St. Albans golf course, too.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

It really is. But you know, um the thing that makes that different is this is a St. Louis based charity that fights every day for its existence because it's so hard to raise money. They do these showers all over the country for military women and deployed military uh spouses that are um all over the country. They've done them in Hawaii, they've done them in Washington, they've done them obviously here. They partner a lot with different organizations. The PGA is one of their big sponsors. Um, and so uh it's really gratifying to see. This is their largest fundraiser. It took a while for us to convince uh the organization that it was uh a good thing to do. And it's a major investment for us to be the lead sponsor of the program. But we're proud of it because it's a St. Louis charity and we want to do good.

SPEAKER_05 33:45

Absolutely. So just to wrap up here, Mitch, I mean, for the people that are listening to the podcast today, um, in a few words, um, for those that are on the fence about picking their banking partner, whether they have a small business, we have a huge business community that listens to us. Um, we have a lot of young listeners that are just moving to St. Louis, whether they're students or um starting their first career in St. Louis, is like, what can you say to not not convince them, but just what could you say about Royal Banks to and when choosing their next banking partner?

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Well, I think Royal's the best community bank in our market, to tell you the truth. And it's not because I'm in charge, it's because of the people that I get to work with who really care about their clients. When you walk into our offices, there's just a different feel. The people will get up, they'll greet you. You know, it's kind of like when you get into your house. You don't just say come in, you actually invite people in. And that's what we try to do in our offices. Um, we listen, we're consultative, we don't force people into products. We try to make sure that the products that we provide them are the best products for their our clients. We have a great treasury management suite that Bill Forsyth has put together in our in it for our commercial clients. Again, we have a great digital platform for consumers. We pay good interest rates, but more importantly, you get great service from a bank that's very, very safe and very, very um good to work with.

SPEAKER_05 35:07

Yeah, no, that's awesome. Well, Mitch, thank you for coming into the studio and and thank you for your team for setting this up and super excited to continue on this partnership and highlighting what you guys are doing, but also assisting with the new locations that you guys are opening from a marketing standpoint. Um, and super excited for you guys listening in, and we'll uh see you guys on the episode next week. St. Louis, thanks for listening. Everything we do here is about telling the story of this city, and that doesn't stop with this show. On the Bucketless Podcast Network, we're diving even deeper into the people, places, and moments that make this city what it is. Meet Me in Music with Neil Salc captures the sound of the city, past and present, ending each episode with a live performance. For my Foodie Lovers, the sauce with Lauren Healy brings you inside the restaurants that define our culture every Tuesday. Gateway to Growth with Jamal Cornelius highlights the stories behind the people that make St. Louis work. And every Thursday, Bryce breaks down your weekend with This Week in St. Louis. More stories, more voices. Explore the full bucket list podcast network wherever you listen.