Tulsa-based Greenwood Ave. and Oklahoma Toffee Company are working to keep up with online sales after being featured on the “Today” show in early October. The companies’ owners say it’s now giving them a chance to further their goals to uplift Tulsa.
“I started getting texts and FaceTimes from people here that were at Guthrie Green, and then that whole day, pretty much every hour as it aired in different time zones, I (would) see five, six, seven (orders) coming in, another eight, nine, 10. That whole weekend, we got flooded,” said Trey Thaxton, owner of Greenwood Ave., a merchandiser that doubles as a biannual magazine.
Al Roker sported a hat and a jacket adorned with the words “Black Wall Street Tul-OK” from Thaxton’s company. On average, he said he’ll receive roughly 40 orders per month. After being featured on the “Today” show, Thaxton told The Eagle he had over 40 customers from across the country, buying more than $3,000 worth of merchandise.
Oklahoma Toffee Company has also reaped the rewards. The locally-owned candy brand is frantically trying to keep up with an influx of orders on its website, according to its owner, District 2 City Councilor Anthony Archie.
“Hundreds and hundreds of orders, (from) people who are saying, ‘I want to taste this product,’” Archie told The Eagle.
Along with the visibility it brought to the city, the show was “an opportunity for us to showcase what makes Tulsa unique,” Archie added.
For Thaxton, that includes expanding on the history behind the name of his business.
“Greenwood is north Tulsa, but (this business) is outside the 40 blocks that were just in north Tulsa,” Thaxton said. “My goal is to really make sure it always has a home base here in Tulsa, but can spread to different cities.”
Archie is donating 20% of sales to Oklahoma teachers who need school supplies. That mission stems from his time as a teacher, plus his wife and co-owner Chelsea who’s an assistant principal for Dewey Public Schools.
“We’ve received calls and letters of just notes of support stories about other folks around the country who love educators, who have a story about their mom was a teacher, their dad taught for 35 years,” Archie said.
Next, Archie wants to expand from online sales to also selling products in commercial retail space. As for Greenwood Ave, Thaxton plans to relaunch his website in December to reintroduce the magazine as an evolving storytelling device for Black entrepreneurs.
The “Today” show also highlighted local C. Fazel Designs, Agitsi Stained Glass and Topeca Coffee. Visit Tulsa, which sponsored the show’s third hour, called local businesses a “great asset” and said it was a “thrill” to see Tulsans exposed to a national audience.
A couple weeks later, when actor and “The Lowdown” star Ethan Hawke appeared on the show, Pony Coffee also got a shoutout when the hosts surprised him with coffee and a hat they purchased in Tulsa.
The appearance was also a surprise to Joshua Gifford, co-owner of Pony Coffee — though he recalled Hawke often stopping by the shop when “The Lowdown” was filming in Tulsa.
“I had the opportunity to talk to him, he was super nice,” Gifford said. “We didn’t treat him like a celebrity, we treated him like everyone else. We didn’t gawk at him or ask him for autographs.”
He added: “We’re just a coffee shop doing our thing.”
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
