The Best: Gift Shop 1. Olive the Best Oils & Vinegars of Flagstaff 2. Flagstaff General Store 3. Crystal Magic
Gifts From Page 57
and order more.” McPeak is quick to point out Olive the Best has several hundred Google reviews, and each one has no less than five stars. Any problem with a shipment gets quickly resolved, often with extra product. “I just kill them with kindness and everyone’s happy,” McPeak said. “We try to give really good customer service and make it an experience.” The same model of operation exists at the Birch Avenue shop where the McPeaks, except for an occasional day off, meet and greet every customer. Customers have fun as they sample plant-based, no-preservative olive oil from all over the world,
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balsamic vinegar from Italy and flavored balsamic. The shop also offers flavored salts, maple syrup and related tableware made by local artisans. When sales dived the pandemic, the McPeaks decided they could either be bummed or find a way to morph. They decided to deliver gifts and products for free to locals. “So you could go on our website, order a gift for a friend, and we’d take it to the destination for free,” McPeak said. “No one else ships free. People nowadays use Amazon because it’s easy, but they’d rather support a local small business. So you just have to find an avenue to make that happen. That’s probably what really helps us.” That, and the fact that Scotty McPeak knows no strangers. When his wife,
Laura, became pregnant after 16 years of marriage, Scotty described the customer reaction when baby Hailey Mae was born three months ago. “Some of our biggest business was when my wife had the baby,” McPeak said. “We were told to never have children because she has cystic fibrosis disease and we adopted two girls who are now 6 and 9. We had so many gifts sent to the store from customers I’ve never met.” And that’s the way the McPeaks like to do business. Give people a good product, go above and beyond expectations, and create a fun family atmosphere. “When you come into the store, it’s a fun experience. We joke. We ship stuff,” he said. “I can’t believe I get paid to do this.”
