A Smile - Coulee Region Women Magazine

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The racks at Once Upon a Child are packed with gently used clothing for children of all ages. The store also sells used toys and baby equipment, as well as new merchandise at a reasonable price. It’s one of many good options for area families to recycle used items while saving money on products new to them. “I couldn’t afford the name brands at the mall,” she says. “My daughter needed ice skates. I got them at Goodwill.” Clements, who bought Wee Repeat five years ago, after it had been a South Side fixture for two decades, notes that consignment resale isn’t a way to get rich. But she likes that her shop helps people afford clothes, toys, equipment, games and books for their children as well as maternity clothes for mothers-to-be. Many of her customers are grandmothers, she notes. “Money is tight now,” she says. “Maybe Mom isn’t into resale, but Grandma is.” Over the past few years, Clements has seen a change in her customers, from mostly low-income people to middle-class and upper-middle-class. Twice a year, a line of customers drawn by her $1-an-item seasonal closeouts stretches out the door. Unsold clothing at the end of each season goes to area charities. A recent visit to Wee Repeat showed a wealth of name brands in children’s clothing size zero to teen. The advantages over buying standard retail are obvious: Prices range from $4 for a Carter’s newborn sleeper to $7 for a London Fog jacket, $8 for a Gymboree sundress, $10 for a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and $45 for a Graco double stroller. Kara Tomashek, owner of Once Upon a Child in Onalaska, another area children’s resale staple, says the gently used products 18 APRIL/MAY 2009 www.crwmagazine.com she buys from parents and resells cost about half of what they would new. The new products sold at Once Upon a Child cost the same as similar products in retail stores such as Target. Tomashek says parents like being able to recycle their kids’ outgrown toys and clothing and get cash. “By recycling your kids’ stuff, cool toys end up in a child’s arms or keeping someone warm, rather than in the landfill,” she says. get active and go green Dale Maly, owner of Play It Again Sports in La Crosse’s Shelby Mall, notes that a couple of generations of Americans have gotten used to buying new instead of used, but he says the current economy may force a change. Maly remembers getting new Penney’s plain-pocket jeans at the start of each school year; fancy brands weren’t an option unless he wanted to pay for them himself. He thinks current kids will have to be less picky about name brands and buying new. “There’s going to be more of ‘You get what you get,’” he says. Play It Again Sports buys sports gear outright or lets sellers trade it in on something else. Larger items are taken on consignment. The store’s sales of used equipment were up 50 percent in 2008 over the previous year, Maly says. The store, a franchise, carries new and used material for major sports—hockey, baseball, golf, snowboarding, soccer—as well as cardio and strength-training fitness equipment. He, like Clements, has noticed a change in customers. “I am seeing more middle- and upper-class customers willing to look at used,” he observes. Take pride in going green Mike Bechtel, a La Crosse Central High School science teacher, says he likes to flaunt to his students that he buys clothes at Goodwill. His three daughters won’t do it, though, and when he meets an acquaintance while shopping at Goodwill, the other person sometime avoids making eye contact. That doesn’t bother Bechtel. “It doesn’t make sense to pay $50 for things that get worn a couple of times a month,” he says. “Dress shirts are way overpriced. I am constantly on the prowl for 36x36 brown jeans.” He likes feeling he hasn’t overpaid. “After all, they are just clothes.” D Writer and editor Ellen Dodge Severson watched her husband check the La Crosse ReStore weekly for four months, looking for an odd-size, hung-on-the-wrong-side door for their funky La Crosse Victorian. He found it, too, for $10.
THE BEST In Children‛s Consignment AND THE ONLY Children‛s Consignment shop in La Crosse! 1732 Market Street La Crosse WI 54601 weerepeat@ymail.com HOURS: T-F 10-5 • Sat 10-3 MOM‛S SEAL OF APPROVAL! 608.785.7111 Dreams don’t retire. ® A unique and collaborative approach to financial planning that starts with your dreams, not just numbers. Jeannie Dubiel, ChFC® Financial Advisor 134 Second Avenue North Onalaska, WI 54650 (608)781-3000 jeannie.l.dubiel@ampf.com Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC. “Dress for Less” at THE SECOND SHOWING “Featuring all the names you love... Liz, Gap, Koret, Old Navy, A. Dunner, AE Celebrating 27 years of classic consignment! Junior, misses, women, & men’s clothing 1400 West Avenue S. | La Crosse | 785-1220 Visit our web site at www.TheSecondShowing.com Hours: mon, Tues, wed, Fri: 10-5 | Thurs: 10-6 | Sat: 10-3 Monthly Specials 1220 Crossing Meadows Dr, Onalaska, WI 608-779-5437 www.OUAC.com Stop in & see lori and ahna www.crwmagazine.com APRIL/MAY 2009 19
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A Smile - Coulee Region Women Magazine

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