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A retail segment that has been around for decades, but has truly hit its stride lately is resale retailing. Businesses in this industry segment allow customers to give or sell goods that are in “like new” or “gently used” condition to the store. The store then resells those goods at a discounted rate (as compared to its usual retail price) to other customers.
According to IBISWorld, the used goods stores industry in Canada is a $2 billion market.
Within the market, a large division of resale retail deals in children’s clothing and accessories. And of all of the franchises in this area, Once Upon A Child leads the way in North America. The company boasts almost 400 locations in the United States and Canada.
Once Upon A Child is owned by Winmark Corporation, which is the parent company of five resale concepts: Music Go Round (music instruments), Once Upon A Child (children’s clothing and toys), Plato’s Closet (teen and young adult clothing), Play It Again Sports (sports equipment) and Style Encore (women’s clothing and accessories).
For some more background on this robust franchise industry, we had the opportunity to interview Alan Majerko, vice president, franchise development at Winmark Corporation.
Along with telling us more about Once Upon A Time, he gives us firsthand insight into how the resale retail market is faring in the pandemic, the advantages of being part of a huge, multi-national franchise company for its brands, and what traits make for a good retail franchisee.
Can you briefly describe Once Upon A Child for those who aren’t familiar?
Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1993, Once Upon a Child became one of the first in Winmark Corporation’s arsenal of franchises. Once Upon A Child, the retail franchise leader in the children’s resale space, offers high quality used, brand-name apparel, shoes, toys, equipment, and accessories at a fraction of the retail cost to primarily female shoppers between the ages of 25 and 65, many being mothers, grandmothers and aunts.
How has the resale retail market been faring with the pandemic?
Our franchisees have been resilient throughout the pandemic and remain responsive to their guests’ needs. Many franchisees have implemented appointment based buying in order to continually purchase high quality used goods for their stores, curbside pick-up, and have turned to posting merchandise on social selling sites.
Once Upon A Child is part of larger organization in Winmark Corporation, what have been the major advantages to being within a multi-brand operation?
The major advantage is the opportunity to receive support from seasoned retail individuals. Winmark has employees dedicated to helping our franchisees with training, marketing, operations, and other functions. The same team supports and provides the franchisees with business plan guidance, site selection assistance, store design and layout, inventory management, professional marketing materials, product, style, and trend training, industry specific training, and proprietary computer systems training. We have close to 30 years of experience in the industry and our franchisees truly benefit from that.
What kind of characteristics are most-needed to be a successful retail franchisee?
Interestingly enough, a typical Winmark franchisee does not have previous retail experience. We look for people who have a strong work ethic, demonstrate solid character, possess previous management and leadership experience, and are committed to being a hands-on, owner operator. It is also important to take note of their involvement in the local community, both in the past and present, because we encourage our franchisees to continue that outreach.
What is a common mistake you see with first-time franchisees, and how can they avoid making it?
A franchisee becomes a franchisee because they want support and guidance from the franchisor, in this case from a well-established brand. The franchisors work hard to be able to provide dedicated teams whose sole focus is to guide franchisees within the brand’s best practices. The most common mistake we see with first-time franchisees is them not following the recommended business model or not actively investing in the business the first year.
What's the outlook for 2021 for your franchise?
Winmark Corporation is excited about the retail resale industry in 2021. As for Once Upon a Child, we’re known for offering brand-name items at up to 70% off the retail price – we’ve built a loyal customer base from that and welcome new ones daily.
We recognize that the cost of raising children continues to rise and that we must meet the demand of the parents and customers who have and continue to rely on us for their shopping needs. This is why we are so passionate about our commitment to reduce, reuse, recycle. It is imperative that we move forward our sustainability efforts, a concept we have embraced since 1993 and see through to this day – almost 30 years later.