WILLIAMSBURG — Walkabout Outfitter has been recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Small Businesses in the ‘Culture Champions’ category, an honor that celebrates workplace excellence and community engagement.
“It means success,” said Suzanne Mayerchak, Chief Executive Officer of Walkabout Outfitter. “Our owners, Tina and Kirk Miller, they have worked really, really hard for 20 years to achieve a great place to work, to have an amazing culture, to have great team morale. And like I guess receiving this, receiving this award, just meant that to me and the team like, we achieved it. We made it. We are successful.”
The nationwide competition saw more than 12,500 applicants. With six locations across Virginia, including in Merchants Square in Williamsburg, Walkabout Outfitter emphasizes community involvement as a core part of its mission.
“We are very involved in all of our communities,” Mayerchak said. “Every single location is doing something for and with the community, whether it’s a cleanup, whether it’s a I’m going to sponsor this, this community race … We’re out in the community and a part of the community, and we support the community, and, you know, in return, the community supports us.”
When the company learned of the award, disbelief quickly turned to excitement.
“I was totally shocked,” Mayerchak said. “I remember getting the email and going, is this real? Is this fake? … Holy moly, we did it. We’re of the top 100. That’s crazy. It’s awesome.”
Walkabout’s workplace culture centers on its mission statement: “encourage happiness.”
“We really are literally living our mission statement,” Mayerchak said. “It sort of helped, just from that mission statement all the way down … through our staff, through our stores, it kind of gave us something like, this is reality, we are encouraging happiness every day, with every customer, with each other.”
That culture extends to community service initiatives that have grown significantly over the past decade.
“I think back to one of our very first fundraisers,” she said. “It started as a raffle to win a prize package… we raised about $1,500 for local nonprofits, and actually that one was specifically for the James River Association. So every year since then, we’ve evolved and changed things a little bit to do a little bit more, and now we’re at the level of having a fundraiser for every single community.”
As the business continues to expand, balancing innovation with its founding values remains key.
“I have never once felt like we strayed away from who we are and what we were built on,” she said. “Preserving that, I think it just comes naturally, because it was already determined when we opened our doors that that’s who we’re going to be.”
Looking ahead, Walkabout Outfitter plans to keep growing as both a business and a cultural leader.
“There’s always room to grow and there’s always room to get better at it,” she said. “When I said we’ve reached it, we’ve reached success, doesn’t mean that we’re done … There’s definitely evolution, and you can always do better, and I know that we can always do better.”
The company hopes to share its success with others.
“If we can take what we’ve learned and share with other businesses, hey, that would be even more successful for me,” she added. “Because you know now they’re going to be cultural leaders in their communities too, which is great.”
Walkabout Outfitter of Williamsburg is located at 402 W Duke of Gloucester St.
Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
