WINCHESTER — Over a decade ago, avid backpacker Garry Green took a job at a specialty outdoor equipment retailer out of a love for adventurous pastimes, not expecting to have the opportunity to purchase the shop from his friend and boss years later.

Now, Mountain Trails on the Loudoun Street Mall in Old Town Winchester is celebrating 31 years in business and its popularity seems to expand by the day, Green said. The retailer is appearing in magazines, opening a third location and bringing in new customers.

His explanation? The store offers items Winchester shoppers cannot find elsewhere in the city, paired with a high-quality experience.

“You get hooked on it,” Green said. “I mean, you literally get hooked on taking care of people and the quality of the goods and research and development on the fabric and how it functions.”

The emphasis on product quality and consumer care is often specific to small businesses, Green said.

National Small Business Week, as declared by the United States Small Business Administration, was April 28-May 4 in the interest of recognizing the economic and community accomplishments of the firms often considered vital to the American economy.

Small businesses are being formed at record highs across the nation, according to reporting from The Associated Press in April. In 2023, 5.5 million new business applications were filed in America, topping previous years’ numbers by almost half a million.

In and around Winchester, grassroots and family-owned businesses have been known to pop up frequently, often met with success. The region’s natural and historic destinations, complemented by the vibrant shopping and dining scene, are attractive to tourists, which is sometimes pointed to as a partial explanation for small business relevance.

“I was shocked by how many people came here just for a holiday or vacation,” said Jillian McGehee, who opened Lion and Ram Fashion Boutique with her sister-in-law on North Cameron Street almost a year ago.

Businesses rely on consumers to remain in operation, which means that where you spend your money matters, she said.

Director of the Laurel Ridge Small Business Development Center, Christine Kriz, painted a similar picture, but in numbers. For every $100 spent at a local establishment, about $68 stays in the local economy. And for every $100 spent at a non-local establishment, about $40 stays in the local economy.

The positive impact of small businesses does not end there, McGehee added, emphasizing quality of service and product.

“Boutique shopping is so special,” the Virginia resident of nearly three years said. “It feels like you always have a friend you’re shopping with — instead of it being a big box store where you’re all by yourself and searching for whatever, then you go to the park and see 17 other people wearing what you’re wearing.”

“I think this creates more individuality,” McGehee added. “And promotes a healthy system downtown.”

Having owned businesses in Canada, California and beyond, McGehee and business partner Molly McGehee-Hanson are no strangers to start-ups.

Lion and Ram Fashion Boutique was their first Virginia venture, and in the almost year since its establishment, the two have discovered an unfamiliar element to the social landscape of the Winchester region.

“The community vibe in Winchester is really strong and it has a really welcoming feel to it,” McGehee said. “Everybody just wants everyone else to succeed and there’s no animosity. ... The feeling is like home, you know?”

For the two fashion entrepreneurs, whose clothing store is not far from the Loudoun Street Mall, the cold season is their most challenging time of year. As spring picks up and the weather warms, they’ve been seeing more eager shoppers who arrive on foot.

Green echoed her sentiment, noting that the store used to be located on Cork Street and now reaches a larger audience with its location on the walking mall.

“If Winchester hadn't been so darn quaint and so full of history and just gorgeous around here, I probably wouldn't have moved here,” said Green, noting that the city was a far ways from the places he’d formerly called home in North Carolina, Alaska and California.

Mountain Trails currently employs 18 people between their two shops — the flagship store in Winchester and the second in Front Royal. Having since “exploded” in success, they are set to open a third location in about three weeks in Davis, West Virginia, as well as earned an appearance in the “Best of Virginia 2023” issue of Virginia Living magazine, he said.

Asked what he’s done to warrant upward growth, even after years in operation, Green pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst to outdoor enthusiasm. People went camping, took walks and enjoyed nature, often because they had no other choice due to widespread shutdowns, but it turned out that “a lot of them liked it,” he said with a chuckle.

With the increase in hikers, campers, climbers and other adventurers came a greater interest in outdoorsy brands, Green continued. Many only knew of large companies such as “Under Armour or Columbia or Nike or things they’d see in the mall,” but the offerings at Mountain Trails are intentionally curated and collected, he noted.

“Some of these brands and things in here you can't get anywhere else,” Green said. “The business is unique.

“That’s what people are kind of looking for. They’re not looking for McDonald’s and Walmart.”