T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
They nicknamed their first location the “Little Green Building.” It was an eight-by-eight-foot stand with one shaved ice machine, so inevitably they were stepping on each other’s toes. By 2010, they constructed their current building and now have two machines. Southern Tropics is “still just full to the gills.” The newest edition is the walk-in freezer Jim built last year where they have their own ice maker. “[Jim] comes in between six and seven o’clock in the morning, and I get there about two hours after him,” said Stephanie. “There’s always ice to be done because we make our own. We use filtered water, and we make our own ice blocks, just like we use filtered water to make all of our own flavors. Everything that we do is all done here, on site.” Jim says they use approximately 100-150 pounds of sugar a day for mixing the flavors. But don’t worry, Southern Tropics has sugar-free options too. Southern Tropics is seasonal; it is active from March 1 through the end of September. “We work here every day, both of us,” said Stephanie. “At least 99.9 percent of the time, we’re here. We are the only ones who touch the machines, so every shaved ice that goes out the window has had, well, I don’t want to say my hands on it, but we’ve touched everything that goes out the window.” “We work, we sleep and we eat. That’s about it,” Jim said. The Raineys have always employed a staff which is typically a younger demographic, namely high schoolers, as a result of the type of business and its environment. Even their own two children worked at the stand all the way through college. “Another thing we really enjoy is this is an entry-level job position for people that we hire,” said Jim. “[Southern Tropics has] had so many good kids.” Stephanie and Jim are the only people working right now, which is out of the ordinary. They have been operating short-handed for the first time in 12 years, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephanie says, “It is what it is, and we will continue on,” a mentality also shouldered by many other small business owners throughout the last year. “[Customers] have been standing in lines, waiting out there. It is now a little bit longer wait-time than normal for that reason. People have been wonderful.” Locals love Southern Tropics Shaved Ice and Southern Tropics loves them. The Raineys constantly look for ways to be involved in the community. Before COVID-19, they provided sugar- free shaved ice for K. I. D. S. Day Camp, a program that serves children with type 1 diabetes. They have also worked with the local non-profit Pink Behind the Thin Blue Line and College Hill Middle School’s P. R. I. D. E. Camp. They plan to work with them again in the near future. There is one important philanthropic activity that the pandemic could not disrupt. “We sell bottled water, and we donate the money to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital; we’ve done that for the last ten years or so,” said Jim. “[The
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