READER’S CHOICE 2015 BUSINESS OF THE YEAR:
BY JACLYN ROSE –
Both natives of Polk County, Tim and Tara Milham married 24 years ago. Together the couple has three children, Timrie, Taryn, and Tanner, and two grandchildren, Raelynn and Allie. “Tim is the hardest working husband ever. He has always worked more than one job to support us and he is a good dad and a great poppy to our granddaughters,” said Tara. “I have got the best wife ever,” added Tim.
Tim and Tara both have Associate’s Degrees in nursing from the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith and Tara added her Bachelor’s Degree from Arkansas Tech University in 2008. “I spent thirteen years in women’s services at Mena Regional Health Systems before moving to home health. I am currently the Performance Improvement Coordinator for Quality for nine agencies in South Arkansas for the LHC Group,” explained Tara. Tim worked for 13 years in local law enforcement before making the change to the medical field where he now works for the LHC Group as the Director of Nursing for Hospice.
With their knowledge and experience in the medical field, the Milham family saw a need for quality scrubs for medical personnel and began carrying a line of Wonder Wink scrubs. “We started thinking about selling nursing shoes to go with the scrubs and Timrie started telling us how she has always wanted a shoe store so it was a perfect fit,” explained Tim. “We feel like there is a local need for the scrubs but also for a family shoe store. We want to appeal to all income levels with shoes for everyone. Shopping local is very important to us and we want to serve our community,” added Tara.
Located in historic downtown Mena, at 822 Mena Street, in a spacious 4,000 square foot building, Shoe Craze boasts a wide variety of shoe styles and brands, such as Sketchers, Dr. Scholl’s, Stride Rite, Bear Paws, Sanuk, Clarks, Hush Puppies, as well as both steel toe and non-steel toe work boots such as CAT, Carhart, and Rocky for the local law enforcement. Shoe Craze is able to meet the needs of every family member. “We are looking to expand the store in other areas and we are adding new styles and brands constantly,” explained Timrie. Shoe Craze will be hosting a grand opening on February 5th at their store.
Shoe Craze can be found on Facebook, as well as Instagram with the handle @shopshoecraze and on the web at www.shopthecraze.com. They have a monthly scrub giveaway and posts a weekly deal of the week. Shoe Craze also offers a 90-day layaway and gives a senior discount on Tuesdays.
“We enjoy spending time with our family, especially our sweet grandbabies; we love farming and horseback riding. We attend Dallas Avenue Baptist Church and the Lord has blessed us tremendously over the years. He has taught us that through Him we can overcome adversity and has delivered us from financial hardship. Almost two years ago, we lost our home in a fire and we have had many medical issues with our son but God has been there with us through it all. We love our community and have always been in the business of serving, whether it’s been helping a mother have her baby or helping the elderly through home care or all those years of serving in law enforcement for Tim, we love serving and meeting the needs of our community. Our favorite verse is Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” said Tara.
About Author
Jeri Pearson
Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.
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