In the Press
New Uses, a home goods resale chain, launches in western suburbs
February 17, 2012
from Chicago Business online
The success of thrift stores in recession-chastened America has been
well documented, but Elaine Krieger's burgeoning resale empire stands
out nonetheless.
After getting laid off from a corporate
marketing job in 1999, Ms. Krieger wandered into a Once Upon a Child
resale franchise without knowing it was a used clothing store and picked
up a few $4 Gap Kids dresses that were remarkably similar to
full-priced versions she'd bought just weeks earlier.
"I ran home and said to my husband, 'Honey, I want to open a resale shop,'" she remembers saying and laughs.
That
same year, she opened her first Once Upon a Child store in Joliet.
Today, she owns 12 thrift store franchises, including Plato's Closet and
Clothes Mentor locations throughout the west and southwest suburbs;
employs 160 people and pulls in $10 million in revenue annually.
This weekend, she'll open her 13th store, New Uses, in Streamwood, selling used home goods ranging from power tools to Waterford crystal.
Part
of an expanding national franchise chain, New Uses plans to have
hundreds of stores across the country within several years. Ms. Krieger
has contracted to open four more within several years.
At
8,100 square feet, New Uses will be two to three times the size of an
average resale shop, Ms. Krieger says. Items generally cost from $4 to
$10. Something that retails new for $40 might cost about $8 at New Uses,
depending on its condition.
"You can furnish an entire apartment for $900," Ms. Krieger says.
Like
resale clothing outlet Plato's Closet, New Uses gives sellers cash
upfront—usually about 40 percent of the price it will garner at the
store.
Ms. Krieger says her typical customer is a
middle-class consumer who can afford to buy new, but prefers to find
deals. She expects her businesses to keep growing, even as the economy
continues its slow rebound.
"The world's headed toward
value-driven businesses," she says. "And as long as people accumulate
too much stuff, they're going to need a place to unload it."
Follow Brigid on Twitter at @Brigid_Sweeney.
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