Business models / Thrift / Consignment Store / Own a franchise

A thrift / consignment store franchise, or your own?

11 franchise brands run a thrift / consignment store. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for a thrift / consignment store: $120k to $500k in sales, and the owner keeps 10% to 20% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.

Your own thrift / consignment store and each brand, side by side

The independent version

Your own thrift / consignment store

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$30k to $147k
Annual sales
$240ktypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$36,000
The owner keeps in a year, after about $7k of marketing
Taking new owners

Rhea Lana's

Children's consignment sale events

Total investment
$42k to $69k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$20k
Royalty + ad fund
2% of sales
$31k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $5k to the brand
$5k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Just Between Friends

Children's consignment sale events

Total investment
$67k to $98k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
3% + 1% of sales
$29k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $10k to the brand
$7k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Children's Orchard

Children's resale clothing and toys

Total investment
$207k to $321k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$20k
Royalty + ad fund
4% of sales
$26k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $10k to the brand
$10k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Clothes Mentor

Women's resale apparel

Total investment
$305k to $429k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
4% of sales
$26k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $10k to the brand
$10k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Style Encore

Women's resale apparel

Total investment
$323k to $449k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% of sales
$24k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $12k to the brand
$12k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Kid to Kid

Children's resale clothing and gear

Total investment
$327k to $587k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 1% of sales
$24k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $14k to the brand
$12k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Uptown Cheapskate

Teen and young-adult resale apparel

Total investment
$328k to $597k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 1% of sales
$24k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $14k to the brand
$12k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Music Go Round

Musical instrument resale

Total investment
$337k to $431k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
4% of sales
$26k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $10k to the brand
$10k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Play It Again Sports

Sporting goods resale

Total investment
$343k to $457k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% of sales
$24k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $12k to the brand
$12k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Once Upon A Child

Children's resale clothing and gear

Total investment
$356k to $486k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 5% of sales
$19k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $24k to the brand
$17k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Plato's Closet

Teen and young-adult resale apparel

Total investment
$356k to $468k
Avg. annual sales
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
5% + 5% of sales
$19k
The owner keeps in a year at $240k in sales (your sales), after $24k to the brand
$17k less a year than on your own
Free account

See all 11 thrift / consignment store brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.