‘Just Friends’ consignment sale grows
Elementary school teacher Rebecca Ray doesnÂ’t have time to hop from garage sale to garage sale for good deals on clothes for her 11-month-old daughter. But with the cost of living steadily rising, Ray said she is always looking for a way to cut costs.
So Ray was ecstatic when another mom told her about Just Between Friends, a massive twice-a-year
consignment sale held at Will Rogers Memorial Center.
And rightfully so.
“I got a play gym for $12,” Ray bragged. “And name-brand outfits for $2. You can find good deals and it’s really worth it. Why pay full price?”
Ray has joined thousands of moms who pour into Will Rogers for the Spring and Fall Just Between Friends sales.
Hours before each sale, hundreds of moms form a winding line inside Will Rogers waiting for the event to open. Because itÂ’s an open-forum sale, there are no formal shopping carts, so moms don everything from over-the-shoulder bags to laundry baskets with ropes tied around them so they can pile on the good finds.
“There’s nothing like it,” said Pam Willingham, who holds the Fort Worth sale with her business partner, Joanie Morrison. “The sales are crazy. Moms are digging in bins and on their knees sifting through books or movies. But boy, does everyone love it. Who doesn’t love a good deal?”
During one sale, Morrison, 45, recalled watching a woman with a rope tied around her waist that connected to a loaded laundry basket, which slid across the floor behind her.
“At the public sale, where children are welcome, you’ll see a child sitting in a wagon, buried under a pile of clothes,” Morrison said, laughing. “But nobody seems to mind.”
As one of more than 60 franchised Just Between Friend sales throughout the nation, the Fort Worth sale is the second largest behind the flagship sale in Oklahoma. The consignment event is open to anyone who wants to consign used baby and childrenÂ’s items and clothes or moms who just want to shop.
Willingham and Morrison started the Fort Worth Just Between Friends before the sale was franchised. In 2003, the women joined forces and hosted 34 consigners at MorrisonÂ’s 1,700-square-foot home in Fort Worth. The result was an overwhelming success.
“It was crazy,” said Morrison, 59. “Our shoe department was my kitchen counter. We were thinking about 15
or 20 people would show up, but we had 34 consigners and a lot more shoppers.
I had to trim the trees in my backyard and we got some tents to put up back there.”
Currently, the Fort Worth sale is held in 50,000 square feet of space at Will Rogers. Amid the sea of bouncies, Tonka trucks and strollers, Morrison said more than 35,000 items were sold during the spring sale and she expects just as many in the upcoming fall sale, slated for Sept. 3-8.
So far, consigners for the upcoming sale have topped 700.
A team of 225 volunteers will help run the fall sale. In exchange for their services, sale volunteers are invited to shop first, followed by consigners, then the open public. Willingham said the early shopping serves as a great incentive for volunteers.
“Some people come for one big-ticket item: a baby bed or an outside play set,” Willingham said. “And if they volunteer, they shop before anyone else so they’re more likely to get what they’re after.”
Consigners make from 65 percent to 80 percent on their sold items. Consigners use a program on the Just Between Friends Web site to enter pricing information for each sale item and can then print off items and attach the price tag, affixed with an assigned consigner number, to their sale items. The Just Between Friends automated system keeps track of sales and a check is sent to consigners in the mail in the weeks following the sale.
While filling out the pricing information for each sale item, consigners can also decide if they want their items to be included in the half-price sale day, which occurs on the last day of the event. Consigners also decide if they want to pick up their unsold items or donate them to the Just Between FriendsÂ’ chosen charities.
Morrison and Willingham donate newborn to 3T clothes to Pregnancy Lifeline and 3T and up clothes are sent to Fort Worth Metro. A portion of the profits from the sale are donated to the Community Enrichment CenterÂ’s Open Arms Program, a program that helps victims of domestic violence, where Morrison once worked and Willingham serves on the board of directors.
“We do the money donation, but our consigners are the ones donating their unsold items,” Morrison said. “So everyone is helping. And everyone benefits. Those in need get donated items and clothes and consigners get more storage space in their attics.”
The fall sale will also be the debut of the Just Between Friends point-of-sale system, which will enable volunteer cashiers to scan the barcodes on price tags like major retailers.
“We’re making improvements all the time,” Willingham said. “Who knows what’s next?”
The top consigner in the spring event took home about $4,000. Morrison and Willingham said they see every type of consigner from parents to those who buy overstock items in bulk and use Just Between Friends as their storefront. The pair has even seen moms-turned professional yard sale scouts.
“It’s like ‘Flip This ExerSaucer,” Willingham joked, referring to a stationary play gym for infants. “I’ve even done it. You go to a yard sale and find someone who’s selling their baby clothes for 25 cents each and turn around and sell them at Just Between Friends for $3 each. There’s a business in it.”
As the franchiseÂ’s 2007 Just Between Friends Franchise of the Year, Morrison and Willingham said they love what they do and are happy to be able to provide some relief to budget-conscious parents through the consignment event.
“A negative contributor to our sale’s growth is how rotten the economy is,” Morrison said. “That is fueling our business like crazy. People are needing to stretch their dollar more than they have in the past few years and kids’ clothes and toys are a good area to start in. It’s a win for everybody. People get good deals on stuff, consigners make some money and we help out some nonprofits along the way.”
Contact Howe at ahowe@bizpress.net
