Once Upon a Child is a popular re-sale store in Clive that is approximately ten years old. It’s a very popular store for infant and children’s clothing, gear, costumes, and toys. This particular location has a large inventory of dancewear and cleats, and is unique in the area in that it offers to buy your belongings, rather than enter into a consignment contract.
As a shopper. The store is in a strip mall, and has a play area for very young children to use while parents shop or wait for their buys. Inventory is extremely diverse and mostly sorted by size and gender and stuffed on the racks, which makes shopping difficult. Some price tags have mark-downs taken, and these items are mixed in with full-price items. That is, there is no clearance rack. Full price goods like hair accessories are also available. Prices are similar to Barbara's for clothing, and somewhat higher than expected for hard goods like toys and baby monitors.
As a seller. Buys are taken on a walk-in basis and can require a long or short waiting period. The store definitely pays the seller less than half of what it tags its merchandise at – the trade- off is not waiting for a consignment contract to end before you are paid. This also relieves the seller of checking in at the end of a contract period to retrieve leftover clothing and payment. Sellers can ask for an itemized 'buy list' -- and I suggest looking at it before accepting the buy -- as a way to see what type of merchandise the store likes. This list also gives direction when a seller feels like having Once Upon a Child buy only some of the items presented. Sellers receive "baby bucks" for buys, which are $1 credits to use in the store.
Conclusion. Once Upon a Child is a unique concept that would be useful when you want money immediately. To use a coupon term, "your mileage may vary" when shopping for goods.
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