We live in a world absolutely saturated with advertising. Every scroll, every search, every street corner is competing for someone’s attention. So here’s a question worth asking: if you already have an audience’s attention, why not use it to lift up the people around you?
That’s the idea behind the way we’ve been doing business here in Coffeyville — and honestly, it’s been one of the most rewarding things we’ve done.
Building a Community, Not Just a Customer Base
When I took over Brown’s Shoe Fit Co. in Coffeyville, we were primarily known as a work boot store. And we’re proud of that. The working men and women of this community are the backbone of everything here. But we also knew we had more to offer — and more people we wanted to serve, particularly the women in our community who might not have thought of us when it came time to buy shoes.
The question was how to reach them in a way that felt genuine rather than just another ad in an already-noisy world.
The answer turned out to be simpler than we expected: partner with businesses that those customers already love.
Green Acres Florist — Coffeyville’s 2025 Small Business of the Year
Green Acres Florist is exactly the kind of business that makes a community worth living in. Locally owned and deeply rooted in Coffeyville, they were named the 2025 Coffeyville Small Business of the Year — and it’s easy to see why. Their arrangements are stunning, their customer service is genuinely exceptional, and they represent everything a local business should be.
When we started giving away Green Acres gift cards and arrangements in our store and tagging them in our social media posts, something interesting happened: their audience started noticing us, and our audience started noticing them. People who followed Green Acres and had never thought about Brown’s Shoe Fit were suddenly seeing our name in a context they trusted. And people who already shopped with us got a chance to discover a florist they might not have known about.
That’s the magic of cross-promotion done right. It’s not transactional — it’s relational. We’re not just swapping logos. We genuinely admire what Green Acres has built, and we’re happy to point our customers their way.
Coffeyville Coffee Company — Brewing History, One Cup at a Time
If you want to understand Coffeyville Coffee Company, you first have to understand that they’re not just selling coffee. They’re telling the story of this city — one blend at a time.
Coffeyville has a history that most of the country doesn’t know about, and Coffeyville Coffee Company is on a mission to change that. Their blends are named after the real people and events that shaped this place:
| Blend | The Story Behind It |
|---|---|
| The Dalton Defenders “Death Alley” Blend | On October 5, 1892, the infamous Dalton Gang attempted to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville — one of the most brazen heists in American history. Armed townspeople took to the streets, and in the gunfight that followed in what became known as “Death Alley,” four of the five gang members were killed. The town lost four of its own defenders too — men remembered to this day as heroes. That’s the spirit in a cup. |
| “Wayward Son” | Named after Phil Ehart, the drummer and founding member of the legendary rock band Kansas. Ehart was born in Coffeyville, and while the band went on to fill arenas around the world, Coffeyville never forgot where he came from. “Carry On Wayward Son” is one of the best-selling rock singles of all time — and now it’s a blend worth savoring. |
| “Space Monkey” | Named after Able, a rhesus monkey from Monkey Island in Montgomery County, Kansas, who made history on May 28, 1959, as part of NASA’s early space program. Able became one of the first living creatures the United States successfully launched into space and recovered alive — a quiet piece of Kansas history that deserves far more recognition than it gets. |
Coffeyville Coffee Company’s mission is a “Great Coffee Revival” for Coffeyville — bringing people together over something great while reminding everyone that this city has a story worth knowing. That’s a mission we’re proud to stand behind. When we give away their gift cards and products in our store, we’re not just handing out coffee. We’re handing out a little piece of local pride.
The Mother’s Day Shopping Spree:
Sharing the Love with Mom
This Mother’s Day, we wanted to do something that went beyond the typical giveaway. Moms work hard every single day, and they deserve more than a card. So we put together a shopping spree and invited our community to do something simple: tag a mom who deserves to treat herself.
The goal was exposure — but the right kind of exposure. Not the kind you buy, but the kind that happens when someone who already loves you tells the people they love about you. When a daughter tags her mom on our Facebook page, that mom sees Brown’s Shoe Fit for the first time through someone she trusts. That’s worth more than any ad we could run.
Many women in Coffeyville simply haven’t thought of us as their shoe store yet. We want to change that — not by interrupting their day with an advertisement, but by showing up in their social feed as something a person they love thought was worth sharing. The shopping spree is just the invitation. The real goal is a new relationship.
Why This All Works
& Why It Matters for Coffeyville
Here’s the honest truth about cross-promotion: it only works when you genuinely believe in the businesses you’re promoting. We’re not tagging Green Acres Florist and Coffeyville Coffee Company because it’s a strategy. We’re doing it because these are people doing good work, and we want to see them succeed.
We’re all in this together. A stronger Green Acres is good for Coffeyville. A thriving Coffeyville Coffee Company is good for Coffeyville. A Brown’s Shoe Fit Co. that keeps growing and serving this community is good for Coffeyville. When local businesses lift each other up, the whole community benefits — and that’s a better outcome than any of us could create alone.
In a world where advertising is everywhere, the most powerful thing you can do is point your audience toward someone worth knowing. We’ve found our people here in Coffeyville. And we’re just getting started.
