Growing up, if a Saturday morning began with two large, rectangular white boxes sitting on the kitchen table, we knew it was going to be a good weekend.
Donuts from our local shop were an occasional treat, usually picked up Friday night to enjoy Saturday morning. With five kids and plenty of others joining the mix, my mom always grabbed two boxes filled to the brim: regular glazed, twists, sugar-dusted, Boston cream, jelly-filled, Long Johns—you name it. Donuts as different as each of our personalities.
That shop helped set my expectations for what a good donut could be. So when I moved to the West Memphis area, one of my first questions was: Where are the sweets?
I’m a dessert person. On a recent visit to Colton’s Steakhouse and Grill in Marion, the waitress laughed when I asked for my cheesecake to come out first. But hey, I’m grown. I’m going to spend my money the way I like.
One of my favorite dessert destinations since moving here has been Howard’s Donuts, hands down.
Tucked into a small shopping center in West Memphis, Howard’s greets you with the smell of a little something sweet as soon as you open the door. On my visit, a café area to the left offered seasonal drinks, while T-shirts, hoodies, and other merchandise to the right gave customers another way to support the business. Straight ahead was what I had come for: the donuts.
I had driven past Howard’s for nearly six months before finally stopping in. I wanted a good glazed donut—my favorite—and decided it was time.
A young woman with a bright smile and a kind voice greeted me. Another man and I had arrived around the same time, and while she finished helping a customer, we studied the selection. When she asked who was next, we looked at each other. Neither of us was ready. It was our first visit, and we both needed a minute.
We laughed, then he explained that he lived about an hour away. His wife had seen Howard’s on TikTok, and he had decided to make the trip.
"An hour for donuts?" I thought, "They must really be good."
The woman behind the counter joined our laughter and told us that customers came from across the region to visit Howard’s.
That conversation stayed with me. As someone who works in communications, I spend a lot of time thinking about how people discover businesses and what encourages them to walk through the door. Here was a customer who had made an hour-long trip because something his wife saw online caught her attention.
I later shared the encounter on LinkedIn because it illustrated something I’ve learned through developing communications strategies and creating content: effective digital marketing gives people a reason to act.
For a local food business, that can mean showing the texture of a fresh donut, introducing the people behind the counter, or capturing an experience customers want to have themselves. The man beside me had traveled about an hour after his wife saw Howard’s on TikTok—a reminder that content can reach beyond the person watching and become part of a conversation, a recommendation, and eventually a purchase.
One visit doesn’t tell us the full impact of a business’s marketing, but it does show how online discovery can bring someone through the door. For businesses in West Memphis, that creates an opportunity to turn the products, people, and everyday moments customers already enjoy into stories that give someone else a reason to stop in.
For people getting to know West Memphis, those recommendations can also be an invitation to explore. I live in Marion, and finding favorite places in West Memphis has been part of making this area home. Each visit gives me another reason to get out, meet people, and pay attention to the businesses around me.
Howard’s has become one of those favorites for a straightforward reason: the donuts are good. The staff is friendly, and what I’ve picked up has been fresh. I came looking for a glazed donut, and I found a place I wanted to return to.
If you’re exploring West Memphis, stop in and choose something sweet. Give yourself a minute at the counter—you may need it.
Those two white boxes still remind me of home. I’m glad to have found a place here that brings back a little of that Saturday-morning feeling.
