By Maria Panaritis
mpanaritis@phillynews.com

The economy is in rough shape. But don't tell that to former stay-at-home mom Jennifer Frisch, who has turned herself into a risk-taking small-business owner during the worst recession in modern memory.

On Thursday, Frisch opened her second used-clothing franchise: Once Upon a Child, across from the Moorestown Mall. It comes just two years after she opened her first store - a Plato's Closet franchise nearby - right before the stock market crashed.

Both stores required hefty cash outlays. Both were frightening steps. And both were embarked upon by a woman who had never run a business. Which raises the questions: How has she done it - and why?

"I really wanted to do something for myself," said Frisch, 37, of Mount Laurel, a former graphics designer who began looking for ways to reenter the workforce in 2007. "I believed in the concept. I knew it was a big risk, and no matter what, I wouldn't let it fail."

To understand the concept, consider the scene Thursday morning on Lenola Road in Maple Shade, at a modest shopping center where Frisch's stores are smack-dab across the street from a Macy's.

Mothers and grandmothers trucked huge boxes of unwanted baby clothes and gear into the still largely empty space. The store buys and then sells clothes that it deems gently worn. In return for their basement stashes, the sellers get bargain-basement cash on the spot.

No Craigslist, no eBay, no garage-sale hassle.

In six to eight weeks, the shelves should be full of merchandise, and Once Upon a Child will be a functioning outlet for nearly mint-condition goods.

"It's a great idea," said Lorraine Lane, 60, of Pemberton, who brought in clothes, a bouncy seat, and a booster chair with her daughter, Jennifer Stevenson, 35.

That is exactly what Frisch thought, too, in 2007, after she walked into a Plato's Closet in Deptford and saw designer clothes for girls and teenagers in good shape being sold at cut-rate prices.

In fact, Frisch, as the mother of two young girls, Cameron and Makenzie, now 10 and 8, thought it was brilliant. Her parents had really struggled when she and her sisters were growing up - even receiving food stamps once, when her father was laid off in the 1970s. She understood the need to be frugal.

So Frisch turned to her husband, Evan, about maybe starting a store of her own. (She has a degree from Rowan University in graphics design. Her husband has an M.B.A. and a degree in engineering.)

Evan Frisch, who turns 37 Friday, didn't know about retailing. But he works for a private-equity company and understands finance. He helped with pros, cons, and market strategy, and helped secure the cash by mortgaging their house.

Both saw the potential: Plato's Closet buys and resells clothes, shoes, and accessories for teens and young adults; Once Upon a Child targets infants and children through age 13.

"We are creating a market for people to very painlessly drop off stuff and pick up cash," Evan Frisch said.

The couple took out a home-equity line and opened their Plato's Closet franchise in August 2008 - just in time to rake in sales for the lucrative back-to-school shopping season. That timing, along with getting their first three months of rent deferred, was Evan Frisch's idea.

The rest, though, has been his wife's effort, putting in major hours and being stubborn enough to learn things every day. She monitors the stores through a laptop webcam when she finally manages a weekend off, and she remotely logs on to the store's inventory tracker to keep tabs on which new merchandise is flowing in.

"I really get sucked into it," Jennifer Frisch said, moments after shoving boxes of clothes across the store in sneakers, jeans, and a ponytail. Her newly hired manager and three clerks furiously sorted through the mounting piles, because the customers would be returning later in the day for their cash. (Usually, customers wait only 20 minutes for their cash, but there was just too much to do on Day One.)

When she first secured the franchise agreement for Plato's Closet from Winmark Corp., Frisch figured the hours would be decent. She was surprised by the reality - which requires baby-sitters and her husband's getting home from work at dinnertime, when possible, to watch the girls.

"My expectation was that I would be there from open to close every day, 10 to 8," she said. "There are times when I have shown up at 5 o'clock in the morning and left at one o'clock in the morning."

But she is proud and hopes the consumer appetite for recycled clothing and bargain shopping brings continued success to her risky but rewarding new worklife.

"I'm enjoying it," she said, about to dive into yet another pile in need of sorting. "I feel really good about myself."