June 18, 2018

After a career in the wireless industry, Jordan VanMaanen was looking to own a different sort of business.

With the idea of getting into e-commerce, he browsed the Shopify exchange, where such business owners looking to sell advertise themselves.

It eventually led him to The Porch Swing Store, which he bought in April.

“It’s furniture, and it’s not going to go away with fads,” he said, adding he felt he could improve the website layout and add more products.

“The products are a high-quality outdoor furniture.”

The inventory includes porch swings, outdoor gliders, rocking chairs and Adirondack chairs made out of recycled plastic “so it’s very sturdy and heavy,” VanMaanen said.

The site also sells outdoor dining sets, trampolines, planters, indoor furniture and home decor.

After noticing a nice amount of web traffic from Sioux Falls, VanMaanen decided to try a pop-up shop for the summer. He has set up inventory at the Old Hickory buildings location at 27103 Independence Ave., which is near the Tea exit and opens this week.

“I decided on May 31 to open the store and spent the first couple days just seeing if there would be interest from employees who wanted to work,” he said. “In two days, I had enough staff, so that Friday I ordered inventory.”

He also plans to arrange his inventory in a configuration for movie nights, set up vintage-style string lights and serve s’mores.

Pop-up shop hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. The first movie night will be July 13 after sundown, with the venue opening about 8:30 p.m.