diff --git a/core/app/models/spree/preferences/store.rb b/core/app/models/spree/preferences/store.rb
index 80dcdeb72d9..cee07d59239 100644
--- a/core/app/models/spree/preferences/store.rb
+++ b/core/app/models/spree/preferences/store.rb
@@ -23,11 +23,35 @@ def set(key, value, type)
     end
 
     def exist?(key)
-      @cache.exist? key
+      @cache.exist?(key) || Spree::Preference.where(:key => key).exists?
     end
 
     def get(key)
-      @cache.read(key)
+      # look first in our cache
+      val = @cache.read(key)
+
+      # return the retrieved value, if it's in the cache
+      return val if val.present?
+
+      return nil unless should_persist?
+
+      # if it's not in the cache, maybe it's in the database, but
+      # has been cleared from the cache
+
+      # does it exist in the database?
+      preference = Spree::Preference.find_by_key(key)
+
+      if preference.present?
+
+        # it does exist, so let's put it back into the cache
+        @cache.write(preference.key, preference.value)
+
+        # and return the value
+        return preference.value
+      else
+        # it never existed and our initial cache miss was correct
+        return nil
+      end
     end
 
     def delete(key)
diff --git a/core/spec/models/preferences/store_spec.rb b/core/spec/models/preferences/store_spec.rb
index f63cf748c7c..2d5a091934e 100644
--- a/core/spec/models/preferences/store_spec.rb
+++ b/core/spec/models/preferences/store_spec.rb
@@ -15,4 +15,10 @@
     @store.set :test, false, :boolean
     @store.get(:test).should be_false
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+
+  it "returns the correct preference value when the cache is empty" do
+    @store.set :test, "1", :string
+    Rails.cache.clear
+    @store.get(:test).should == "1"
+  end
+end