Hilltop Packs making strides in backpack industry
Courtesy of Hilltop Packs LLC
Christian Wilson, foreground, Brandon McMillen and Steve Carrett keep their backpacking business on the move.
Courtesy of Hilltop Packs LLC
Shop supervisor Amanda Phillips is among staff members entrusted with keeping Hilltop Packs on a successful path.
Courtesy of Hilltop Packs LLC
Brandon McMillen is taking care of business as Hilltop Packs’ business-to-business manager.
Courtesy of Hilltop Packs LLC
Hilltop Packs Coffee also is sold at 1006 E. Greene St., where it lines the shelves and where customers can sip a cup.
Courtesy of Hilltop Packs Coffee LLC
Ben McMillen and his aunt, Bridget Vilenica, pour coffee beans into a roaster at Hilltop Packs Coffee LLC.
Ben McMillen had been an experienced backpacker who manufactured his gear. It was an exhilarating pastime, but not one he envisioned would link a hiking path to a career path.
Then one day, he had a germ of an idea. “Backpacking was taking off like a rocket in 2019,” McMillen said. He thought maybe – just maybe – he could produce gear and market it to hikers, but was wrought with uncertainty. That was until he passed that germ on to his wife, Kailee, and daughters Danielle and Hanna.
“If they had said no, there would be no company, but they liked the idea,” McMillen said. Together, the four launched Hilltop Packs LLC in the basement of their Waynesburg home in 2019. Like any new retail endeavor, theirs started as an uphill climb, but the family negotiated theirs like a savvy backpacker.
Four years and two venues later, Ben McMillen owns a global company that operates at 1006 E. Greene St. in Waynesburg. It shares a chic space with another independent company, Hilltop Packs Coffee Co., which he co-owns with his aunt, Bridget Vilenica.
The backpacking operation specializes in creating ultra-light and ultra-custom hiking products, including backpacks, food bags, fanny packs, T-shirts, dry bags, zipper pouches, cookware and other items.
Hilltop Packs, according to its website (hilltoppacks.com), strives “to personalize your backpacking equipment. We can custom print any color, pattern or photo submitted by the customer with most of our backpacking products.”
“Through our website, we can customize every order,” said Ben, a father of four. “We develop every order from scratch and print.”
Skilled gear manufacturers are among his 12 employees, who, collectively, are a profoundly productive bunch. Hilltop Packs, McMillen said, sends out 1,000 to 1,200 orders per month, and has served 30,000 customers over the past three years.
The company sells backpacks directly to customers in 44 countries, and ships items to 12 stores in the United States. Retailers in more than a half-dozen countries also carry Hilltop Packs merchandise, a list that includes Japan, Taiwan, France, Slovakia and Canada.
So it’s easy to understand why he thanks his family every day. Although his pioneering daughters are not on staff, several of Ben’s relatives do work for the firm. Kailee oversees human resources and payroll, and Ben’s brother, Brandon, is business-to-business manager. Amanda Phillips is shop supervisor.
Hilltop Packs Coffee is a comfortable on-site complement to the backpacking business. The sister company launched in July 2021, the first – and still only – coffee roaster in Greene County. This is a location where beans are roasted and likely sold fresher than most java displayed in grocery stores.
Roasting is not the extent of the coffee operation, however. The company bags and sells a variety of brands, whole bean or ground: regular, decaffeinated, flavored, and light, medium and dark roasts. There are K-cups as well.
Items can be purchased from the orderly shelves at 1006 E. Greene St., a stylishly appointed location – especially considering that two businesses are percolating there. Hilltop Packs Coffee also offers free delivery for customers residing within 8 miles of the shop. And if you prefer to relax and savor a cup of joe inside the store, you can have it brewed there and sip it at any of six tables.
Although the newer business is not global – yet – that could be ahead. “We ship all around the United States,” said Vilenica, retired circulation director of the Observer-Reporter and its weekly sister paper, The Almanac. She has a staff of five and resides in Clarksville.
Until last summer, she was not a coffee drinker. Now she is a bona fide coffee enthusiast.