I Have a Dream for Turnmeyers — And It’s Bigger Than a Store
If you've walked into Turnmeyers recently, our store on Main Street in Front Royal, you may have noticed something changing.
There wasn't an announcement. We didn't hang a banner saying we were trying something new.
We just started experimenting.
We began making more of what we sell ourselves. We designed products. We printed shirts. We tried new ideas. We watched what customers picked up and what they walked past.
Some ideas worked.
Some didn't.
And that's exactly what we wanted.
Because somewhere along the way, one of those experiments started becoming something much bigger than I expected.
We called it Back Porch Apparel Company. Why? Because it’s our favorite place to be and it’s where I feel at ease, at home. The Back Porch.
At first, I thought we were simply creating our own apparel line for Turnmeyers.
Today, I'm beginning to wonder if we've actually been building the first piece of what Turnmeyers becomes next.
And once I allowed myself to think about that possibility, the vision became surprisingly clear.
I don't just see our store anymore.
I see a Front Porch.
I see a completely different retail experience.
And I see an actual Back Porch.
Firepits glowing as the sun goes down.
Adirondack chairs.
Cornhole.
Food trucks.
Live music.
A small country-style bar.
Visitors sitting beside locals.
People who came downtown to shop but decided they weren't quite ready to leave.
I see a place that doesn't simply ask people to come inside and buy something.
I see a place that invites them to stay.
Maybe it's a crazy dream.
But almost everything I've ever built started as one.
And this one has a name.
The Back Porch Company
It Started With a Few T-Shirts
The interesting thing about this dream is that it didn't begin as a dream at all.
It began as a business experiment.
Retail has changed dramatically.
Independent retailers increasingly compete with enormous online marketplaces, manufacturers selling directly to consumers, national chains and thousands of other stores carrying many of the exact same products.
When you sell someone else's product, you control very little.
You don't control its availability.
You don't completely control the margin.
You don't control where else it's sold.
And you certainly don't own the brand.
So we started making more things ourselves.
Apparel became one of our biggest experiments.
Instead of creating a huge collection and hoping people liked it, we used the Turnmeyers sales floor as our laboratory.
Design something.
Make it.
Put it out.
Watch what happens.
If customers don't respond, learn from it.
If they do, make more.
Over time, those experiments became Back Porch Apparel Company — a brand inspired by mountains, back roads, small towns, the outdoors and a lifestyle that feels very much at home here in the Shenandoah Valley.
And people responded.
During a recent 30-day period this summer, Back Porch Apparel accounted for roughly 25% of Turnmeyers' revenue.
Products we create or manufacture ourselves collectively accounted for approximately 35% of revenue.
Those are our actual internal sales numbers.
And Back Porch Apparel is beginning to move beyond our store.
We've started developing wholesale distribution. Other independent retailers have begun signing up to carry our shirts. We're expanding into additional sales channels and learning what it takes to build a product in Front Royal that can be sold somewhere else.
We still have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us.
But I believe we've answered the first question.
Will people buy it?
They already are. And they are buying it in store. It’s so new that online will take 6-12 months to catchup, but it will.
And that's what got me thinking.
What if the shirt isn't the destination?
What if it's the beginning?
What If Back Porch Became the Brand?
That's when my thinking about Turnmeyers started changing.
Today, Turnmeyers carries products from many different companies.
But imagine turning that model around.
Imagine walking into a store where Back Porch isn't simply one section.
Back Porch is the store.
Back Porch Apparel.
Back Porch home goods.
Outdoor products.
Gifts.
Accessories.
Photography.
Locally inspired products.
Things we design.
Things we manufacture.
Things made specifically for us.
And complementary products from other companies that belong naturally in that world.
Instead of asking, What other brand should we carry?
We begin asking:
What belongs on the Back Porch?
That's a completely different way of thinking about the business.
But if we're going to build a brand around a Front Porch and a Back Porch lifestyle, I've started thinking that the building itself should become part of the story.
Imagine Main Street With a Front Porch
Picture the Turnmeyers building you know today.
Now change it.
Yes, this is a rough draft created from AI. Sign placement, and other things would be different, but you get the concept.
Across the front is a simple covered porch.
A lean-to-style roof creates shade and shelter.
There are rocking chairs outside.
Planters.
Warm lighting.
Maybe somebody is sitting there while their spouse shops.
Maybe a couple visiting Front Royal takes a break before continuing down Main Street.
Maybe someone just sits for a few minutes and watches downtown go by.
Before you ever walk through the door, you understand what this place is trying to say.
You're welcome here.
That's The Front Porch.
Then you walk inside.
And instead of entering a conventional gift store, you're entering the flagship home of The Back Porch Company.
But the part I keep picturing comes next.
You keep walking.
All the way through the store.
And then you open the back door.
Welcome to The Back Porch
This is the part I can see most clearly.
Firepits.
Adirondack chairs gathered around them.
String lights overhead.
Cornhole boards.
A small stage.
A local musician playing guitar.
Food trucks rotating through.
Maybe a small country-style bar.
Maybe local beer.
Maybe a family coming down from Skyline Drive looking for somewhere to eat and relax.
Maybe a couple from town meets friends there after work.
Maybe somebody comes for a shirt and stays for the music.
Maybe somebody comes for the music and leaves with a shirt.
Kids are playing cornhole.
Someone is sitting beside the fire.
People are talking.
Visitors and locals are sharing the same space without really thinking about which is which.
And nobody is in a hurry to leave.
That's the part of this idea that matters most to me.
Because I don't envision The Back Porch as another place where the objective is to move people through as quickly as possible.
It's the opposite.
Stay.
Have something to eat.
Listen to some music.
Sit around the fire.
Meet somebody.
Play a game.
Have a drink.
Come sit awhile.
That's The Back Porch.
And Front Royal Is Exactly Where I Want to Build It
Somebody could reasonably ask:
Why here?
My answer is simple.
Look around us.
We're at the northern gateway to Shenandoah National Park.
Skyline Drive begins just outside town.
The Shenandoah River runs through our community.
The Appalachian Trail passes nearby.
We're surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And we're within a relatively easy drive of the Washington metropolitan area.
More than 1.7 million recreational visits were recorded at Shenandoah National Park in 2024.
Through June 2026, the park had already recorded more than 617,000 visits, with nearly 319,000 entries associated with its North District.
People already want what this area offers.
They're already coming.
I've spent a lot of time looking at our local tourism economy, and I've become convinced that one of our greatest opportunities isn't simply attracting another visitor.
It's getting more value from the visitors who are already here.
Not by charging them more.
By giving them more to experience.
Give People a Reason to Stay
Think about someone visiting Shenandoah National Park.
Maybe they drove down from Northern Virginia in the morning.
They hike.
They drive Skyline Drive.
They stop at an overlook.
It's 4:30 in the afternoon.
Now what?
That's the opportunity.
What if they knew they could head into downtown Front Royal?
Walk through some shops.
Grab something to eat.
Sit beside a fire.
Listen to live music.
Have a drink.
Let the kids play cornhole.
And instead of leaving Warren County at 5:00, they're still downtown at 8:00?
Maybe next time they stay overnight.
Maybe they discover another restaurant.
Maybe they buy something from another store.
Maybe they tell friends:
"You need to go spend a weekend in Front Royal."
That's destination development.
And it doesn't benefit one business.
It benefits an ecosystem.
That's why I don't see The Back Porch as competing with the businesses around us.
I want it to help create another reason for people to visit all of us.
The Business Behind the Dream
I'm a dreamer.
But I'm also a numbers guy.
And I'd have a much harder time getting excited about this if there weren't a business model underneath it.
What intrigues me is how many parts of The Back Porch Company could reinforce one another.
The physical store sells Back Porch products.
Those products can also be sold online.
Back Porch Apparel can be wholesaled to retailers outside Front Royal.
Those retailers introduce new people to the brand.
The physical Back Porch brings people to the flagship location.
Food, beverages, music and events give them reasons to stay longer and return more often.
Visitors discover the products.
Products introduce people to the destination.
The destination builds the brand.
And the brand brings people back to the destination.
The store markets the products.
The products market the destination.
The destination markets the brand.
That's when I stopped looking at this as simply a cool idea for the back of our store.
I started wondering whether there might actually be a business model here.
And Then I Started Dreaming Even Bigger
Here's where I'll admit I let myself get a little carried away.
What if it works?
Not just Back Porch Apparel.
We're already proving that people will buy the apparel.
I mean the whole thing.
What if people love the Front Porch?
What if they love the store?
What if The Back Porch becomes one of those places people tell visitors they have to experience when they're in Front Royal?
What if the products work nationally?
What if retailers around the country carry Back Porch Apparel?
Then I start wondering what we've actually created.
Is The Back Porch Company a store?
Is it an apparel company?
Is it a hospitality concept?
Is it a destination?
Or is it some combination of all of them?
And if that combination works here...
could it work somewhere else?
A mountain town.
A lake town.
A beach town.
A tourism community somewhere else in America where people come because they want to slow down for a few days.
Maybe there is only ever one Back Porch.
Maybe there are someday dozens.
I have absolutely no idea.
And that's okay.
Because we're nowhere near needing to answer that question.
But it's fun to ask it.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
That's the question I'm asking now.
The apparel has given us something I didn't have when this started.
Evidence.
Customers have validated the product.
Our own products are becoming an increasingly important part of Turnmeyers.
We're beginning to test distribution outside our own store.
Now we keep testing.
We keep measuring.
We keep building.
The next logical step is to take Back Porch Apparel beyond proof of concept and give it the opportunity to become a much larger brand.
Then expand the Back Porch product family.
Then begin transforming the physical store.
And ultimately, if the opportunity and resources come together...
build The Back Porch.
There are plenty of details between here and there.
Design.
Construction.
Permitting.
Operations.
Partners.
And, of course, capital.
That's the part of the dream I haven't solved yet.
I know what I want to build.
I increasingly believe there's a business case for building it.
Now it's a matter of determining how to fund it and finding the right people and opportunities to help make it possible.
That's a challenge for another day.
Today, I simply wanted to share the dream.
Because sometimes putting an idea out into the world is how you discover where it might lead.
Maybe Someday...
Maybe this entire thing stays on a computer screen.
That's possible.
Or maybe we only build pieces of it.
That's possible too.
But I can picture another possibility.
It's a Friday evening a few years from now.
The sun has disappeared behind the mountains.
The lights are on over The Back Porch.
Someone is playing music.
There's a line at a food truck.
A couple of kids are arguing over whose turn it is at cornhole.
People are sitting around the fire.
Someone walks through the store carrying a Back Porch Apparel bag.
There are locals there.
There are visitors there.
And nobody particularly cares which is which.
They're just enjoying Front Royal.
Maybe I'll be standing there thinking about the first few shirts we printed inside Turnmeyers and how something so small somehow led to all of this.
That's the dream.
I don't know yet exactly how we're going to get there.
But I think it's worth trying.
And before I spend too much more time dreaming about it, there's one group of people I really want to hear from.
You.
If we transformed the Turnmeyers you know today into The Back Porch Company — with rocking chairs on The Front Porch, a store built around products created here, and an actual Back Porch with firepits, Adirondack chairs, food trucks, cornhole and live music —
Would you come sit awhile?
More from Scott Turnmeyer
I write about photography, business, mindset, bowling, and the bigger questions that don’t always have easy answers. You can explore more articles, photography, and projects here:
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