Main Street Axe
Just have fun together.
At the risk of getting super cheesy with something that’s actually incredibly not, the story of Main Street Axe Company is a bit of a Hallmark movie.
(And since this is being written in December … let’s go with it.)
Young woman grows up in Chicago, moves to Southern California, works in investing. She meets a boy. The boy happens to be from a small town. She visits that small town, falls in love with the Christmas lights downtown. They end up moving to the small town to start a family.
And while she loves the small town, she’s also trying to figure out her second career here. And admittedly, she often misses the big city. So her girlfriends take her to Chicago for her birthday.
“We’re in Chicago, and my friends are trying to take me to this axe throwing place,” said Michelle Fowler. “We couldn’t get a reservation anywhere. They were all full. So we just showed up at one and asked the guy if we could look around between sessions. As it turns out, my girlfriends were trying to take me there because they thought it would be a good business opportunity for me.”
“After one throw, I got it. It was so infectious. So when I got home, I told Ben I had another crazy idea for him to consider.”
Ben, that small town boy who grew up in Pittsburg before enjoying an illustrious culinary career in Vegas, San Diego, and other places, wasn’t quite sure about this axe throwing thing. But he knew Michelle well enough to know she was gonna go for it .. and odds are she’d succeed.
“This was all her,” Ben said. “This was her design, her work, her vision. She made this happen.”
Four years later after opening Main Street Axe at 216 S. Broadway in Pittsburg, the company has expanded to locations Emporia and Joplin. The success of the business, Michelle said, is validation of what she believed was possible when the family moved here in 2016.
“I just saw so much potential here,” she said. “When I first came to Pittsburg and drove downtown, there were quite a few empty buildings. And there are two ways to look at that. You can see it as a real bummer, or you can see it as a real opportunity. I tend to always see things as an opportunity.
“During my first visit to Pittsburg, Ben took me around to different neighborhoods, and you see the historic homes, the historic buildings. I just remember thinking that there is a lot more going on here than I imagined. I really felt like Pittsburg was a place where we could start and build something.”
Ben and Michelle met at The Flying Pig restaurant in California. They both often rode their bikes there, and that’s where this love story began. Especially with Ben’s background in food and beverage, they both have a strong appreciation for customer service and creating a quality experience for customers.
“I think the customer service side is what sets us apart from other axe throwing companies,” Ben said. “We want people to come in and have a great time together. The quality of their experience means so much to us, and we take great pride in that.
“You can see that even in the drinks we serve. With my background in food and beverage, I take a lot of time to curate a fun, craft beverage selection.”
More than just a place for friendly competition, Main Street Axe aims to be a place for connection and community. There aren’t televisions in the stores. Everything is geared toward real, genuine human interaction.
“This is a place where you can have dedicated time with people that you might not get in other places,” Ben said. “We want you to have quality, fun, uninterrupted time together.”
Michelle said their emphasis on community is actually inspired in part by what she loved about Pittsburg when she first visited.
“There is a real sense of togetherness here,” she said. “People talk to each other here. People care.”
And it’s because people care, she said, that Pittsburg is enjoying such an explosion of energy and business and optimism.
“If you just look at the time between now and when we opened up four years ago, it’s incredible what has happened here,” she said. “There are a lot of people here who are really interested in creating and curating quality experiences. From the boutiques downtown to the breweries and restaurants, there are so many people taking a chance in order to make this place better.
“When people care about what they’re doing, they make others care about their own things, their own community,” she said. “I think that’s what has led to so much growth in Pittsburg. You can get early small wins in a place like Pittsburg. And those small wins give you the confidence to keep going.”