Salina businesses find success in Best of the Best awards
It appears that people in the Salina community love and support local businesses after several of them beat out national chains in this year's Salina Best of the Best awards.
The operators of these local companies, which range in variety from pharmacies, steakhouses, shoe stores and hearing aid specialists, have one thing in common, serving the community with quality, local service.
Taking care of people in their own community
The community choice for best pharmacy or drug store was awarded to B&K Prescription Shop, which general manager Leroy Burks said goes to show how the business serves the community.
"For us, it's about customer service, and taking care of patients and people," Burks said.
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He said that something that sets B&K apart from some of the national chains is that it can provide and focus their efforts on healthcare and not trying to sell things like "greeting cards and gallons of milk."
"We can't always compete with them in price, because they're buying in such large quantities of inventory...but we make up for it in our service," Burks said. "When you give those customers good service, they recognize you for that, which I think you see in Best of the Best."
That same kind of service is what Alan Grigsby, a hearing instrument specialist at Hearing HealthCare of Salina, believes is one of the reasons the downtown Salina business came out on top as the best hearing aid or hearing specialist center.
"We give lifetime free service," Grigsby said.
The shop's service extends to providing help for customers in areas that they might not realize. Grigsby believes his partner Brian Green is a "wizard of electronics" and is able to help by working his way around a cell phone, something that is very important when it comes to those using hearing aids.
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Finally, something that Grigsby said he believes is a reason the community chose Hearing HealthCare of Salina is the fact that the product it sells is part of an American-owned business, Starkey Hearing Technologies.
"We're the only American-owned company (in the business)," Grigsby said. "I think a lot of people value that and that's why they choose us."
Some other local wins were Tucson's Steakhouse Saloon, Innovative Flooring and Brown's Shoe Fit − all winning over national chains.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina's Best of the Best awards see support for local companies
