Business focus: New shop will sell gently used children’s goods

An Ohio transplant has identified a niche opportunity in the Spokane Valley – one that he hopes will encourage customers to clean out their kids’ closets and toy chests.

Tom Lewis, who retired last summer from his position as corporate donations director for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, buys “gently used” children’s clothes, toys, furniture and books. He’s building up inventory for his new Once Upon a Child franchise store.

“We pay cash for the items we buy,” said Lewis, stressing that items must be clean, in working condition, and new or gently used. “Our goal is to have outstanding products at outstanding prices.”

The store is a part of a Minneapolis-based chain with more than 200 franchise locations across North America.

Lewis, his stepdaughter Amy Prado of Hayden, Idaho, and a handful of other employees have been available during store hours since early January to purchase items. They’ve been buying, pricing, sorting and hanging their purchases in preparation for the store’s anticipated late-February opening for resale.

“I think there’s definitely a need for both people bringing in what they are done with … and others who don’t want to or can’t pay the full price,” Prado said. “We’re able to deliver the excellent quality at not nearly the cost in a retail store.”

Before they can open for sales to customers, the store must reach a corporate-approved inventory level. Customers can get on the e-mail or phone lists to be notified of that date.

Currently the store is filling up with boys and girls items, including clothes from sizes newborn to girls 16 and boys 18 to 20.

Items you won’t find at the store include car seats or plush toys (stuffed animals). And he and his staff closely monitor safety recall notices to make sure nothing on those lists makes it to his sales floor.

Lewis and his wife of seven years, Deb Strohmaier, a Spokane native who grew up in Lind, Wash., became familiar with Once Upon a Child stores in Ohio a few years ago when they furnished a room at their Columbus home for their first grandchild.

Lewis decided to open the franchise in the Valley when he realized there were few resale stores in the area that specialized in children’s clothes and furniture.

Lewis, 59, moved to Hayden last summer in part to live closer to his stepdaughter and grandson. His wife will join him in the near future.

She is still in Columbus, where she works as director of communications for Greif Inc.