Urban Pioneer - In its heyday, the South Minneapolis intersection of 48th and Chicago was a bustling area full of shops, services, and restaurants. People from the surrounding neighborhood congregated there to buy groceries, converse over a cup of coffee, have their suits pressed, go to the movies. 48th and Chicago was a cornerstone of the community.

Years had passed by the time I first drove into the area. Frankly, it was only the lure of “really great Mexican food,” a promise made to me by my friend Mari, that inspired me to park the car when presented with nearly abandoned buildings and barred windows. However, as a transplanted Arizonan, there’s not much I wouldn’t brave for a truly superb tamale.

Now, sitting in my home only a few blocks from that intersection, I reflect on the marvelous revolution that has taken place in what I am proud to call “my neighborhood.” The decrepit and nearly empty grocery store is now a bakery whose shelves are filled with tempting, hot, golden loaves every day. Behind the bakery, hidden in the old boxing club? An award-winning fine-dining restaurant. The abandoned buildings now house a deli, bookstore, gift shop, hardware store, ice-cream shop, pizzeria, fencing club, barbershop, dry-cleaner, veterinary clinic, and oh, a really great Mexican food place. And then there is Twiggs Home and Garden, a small but extraordinary cornucopia of resources for any gardener bent on making the most of our blink-of-a-summer, and a delightful profusion of sights and smells sure to serve as a retreat from the winter chill.

A few weeks before autumn’s first frost, I wandered into Twiggs to buy one large flowerpot. With the success of my summer herb garden, I was rue to forego fresh rosemary in my winter cooking, and planned to pot my plants and place them in the kitchen window. There I met Beth Patrin, the owner and proprietor, who smilingly introduced me to “my new flowerpot.” Inscribed on the side was a line from one of my favorite poems. “Gather ye rosebuds,” it said. We began a conversation about how the author, poet Robert Herrick, from his perspective in 16th century England, urges us even now through his writing, to live life to the fullest, to “make much of time.” I found in that conversation an exceptional invitation, a sense of belonging, and a reason to return again and again.

With a background in healthcare and a desire for a career change, Beth decided to incorporate her desires, passions, and business acumen, and open her own business. In order to learn about the floral industry, Beth worked part-time for nearly three years “in the retail home and garden trenches“ for Smith & Hawken.

Open since December 2003, the two biggest challenges for bringing Twiggs to fruition had been the name (Beth laughs recalling “Weeds” as an option under consideration before she selected “Twiggs”), and finding the right location.

" This was not the location I originally had on my radar,” Beth said. “I stumbled into this area, and decided I wanted to be a part of the redevelopment of the neighborhood. I have a customer who calls me an ‘Urban Pioneer’.”

Beth took the risk, and opened Twiggs. Her continuing commitment to reinventing the area includes monthly meetings with the other area retailers, where discussion topics include the successes and challenges of their businesses, their careers, and their shared enthusiasm for reestablishing 48th and Chicago as a destination spot.

“ I enjoy my customers immensely, hearing about what they’ve done with their gardens and homes, what they’d like to see in the store, and really, just about their lives. I like natural, organic products, handcrafted products, products that have a story. The products that I bring in here, like these rattles,” she says, picking one up and reminiscing about a customer who recently bought one, “have ceremony attached. This twig wreath is made in northern Minnesota by a husband and wife. This jewelry by an artist in England, who hand casts each piece from actual botanical specimens. I choose things like this because it’s what I’d want in my own house, unique, handcrafted, one of a kind.”

Listening to the joy in Beth’s voice, the delight she takes in Twiggs evident in her face, I was reminded of my own work. As a speaker, I travel across the country, holding conversations around the “FISH! Philosophy,” a set of four interconnected tenets; Play, Make Their Day, Be There, and Choose Your Attitude. Such simple ideas, and yet, in my wanderings, I have discovered that they beg to be explored, embroidered, defined in a language that is personal to each organization, each team, and each individual.

For me, the idea of “Make Their Day” actually evolves into the concept of “Make a Difference.” And that is precisely what Beth has done with Twiggs. She explored a neighborhood that was perhaps a little dusty in the corners, a bit dinged around the edges, and she took a risk. Beth is building community, one flowerpot at a time.

Each one of us can walk into our workplace and find a corner, an intersection, a neighborhood, which has been neglected or has fallen into disrepair. Often it seems easier to focus on the new and growing areas of our business. Time and the ever-increasing pace of our economy certainly demand our attention point toward the future. What might we discover, however, if we cast our eye to the incredible resources that are already at our fingertips? What marvelous revolution might occur right in our own workplace when we roll up our sleeves, clear the cobwebs from the corners, and build community right here, right where we stand?