Ice Box Pie Warms Reputation (Corner Office by Jeffrey Wood)

At the heart of the city synonymous with global big box retailing, Main Street is beating Wall Street’s britches off.

Bentonville’s downtown square is buzzing this spring with a renewed spirit of entrepreneurial Americana. Some of that is thanks to the $2.3 million worthwhile investment the city made to transform downtown with improved infrastructure and aesthetics.

A bunch of it, however, is just plain “want to.”

Take Java on the Square, a nostalgic coffee shop at the corner of Main and Central, where the décor is as nouveau as the relationships are old fashioned. Its owners Richard and Peggy Smith recently created “customers for life” with some above-and-beyond service that’s worthy of note.

A friend with a March birthday was “jonesing” for a lemon ice box pie. Another couple volunteered to round up the crème de la local version of the treat. After calling all over town on the day of the occasion, they were still scrambling to find the right product at the last minute.

With an hour to spare, one of the party hosts ran into Java’s in a Hail Mary attempt the score the coveted dessert. The coffee shop was out of that variety, but what happened next is the point.

Richard Smith called his wife and asked her to begin making the pie at home. It would be done by golly, and it would be ready in time for the party if it hair-lipped Rachel Ray.

Despite the “umpteen” times that the customer suggested it wasn’t necessary, Smith insisted. And not only did Peggy Smith deliver on the pie, the customer was sent by the Smiths’ home to pick up the treat free-of-charge and ready-to-go in Tupperware, no less.

Somewhere in that great Mayberry in the sky, Aunt Bea beamed.

“We take care of our customers,” is all Smith had to say.

The customer was obviously flabbergasted at that kind of hustle for what amounts to a general consumable. But there’s even another kicker.

It turns out the birthday boy was one of Java’s regular customers and none of the players involved even knew it. So now in addition to the one repeat customer, the shop created a group of supporters evangelical enough to sing its praises to the point where the story wound up here.

Java’s isn’t the only place on the Bentonville square, or in Northwest Arkansas for that matter, where local business people simply hustle and do what’s right. Less than a block north on Main Street the ladies at B LaRue, an eclectic gift shop, and the folks in the kitchen next door at The Station Café are also on the hop.

Walk into any of those three businesses most any day and you immediately feel the energy. Credit again the city for investing in the future of downtown, where improved lighting and design have created space and access never before enjoyed.

Back before the renovations were even complete last fall, and traffic was a bit of a nightmare, there was already something happening though in those stores. It’s a something that Washington and Wall Street simply don’t get.

Those “Mom and Pops” don’t have their sleeves rolled up because it looks good for a photo op. They’re rolled up because they’re neck deep in messes and opportunities. They’re not playing with everyone else’s money. They’re working for their own.

They know success isn’t legislated, it’s earned. They’ve stopped bellyaching about the economy and started building for the future one customer at a time.

National markets and government always forget that part – the elbow grease.

Wall Street and big media like to focus on the pixie dust that the Sam Waltons, Don Tysons and J.B. Hunts of the world transfer from their fingertips into the pulse of their organizations. Icons all three, it is true their personal touches made the difference.

What was on the end of their fingers, however, wasn’t magic. It was calluses.

Calluses they rubbed all over their companies in the form of work ethic, creativity, passion, optimism and, yes, accountability.

My guess is all three of those gentlemen whipped up more than their share of lemon ice box pies, whether they ever darkened a kitchen or not.

Think about the last time your company whipped up an ice box pie for a customer, and remember the folks up on the square in Bentonville.

For all you know, your creation could wind up in the hands of one of your best existing customers, or in the hands of a new fan for life.