Clothes Mentor: Celebrating 10 Years of Leading the Charge in Women’s Resale

NTY Franchise Company’s flagship brand, Clothes Mentor, was recently featured in Franchising USA in honor of its 10th anniversary. Check out some amazing figures coming out of Clothes Mentor’s success in the brand’s brief history:

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NTY—Clothes Mentor 10th Anniversary

Thousands of franchise brands use their 10th anniversary to brag about the millions of dollars they’ve made selling goods and services in their communities. Women’s upscale resale clothing franchise Clothes Mentor can look back at their first decade and celebrate the millions of dollars they’ve paid to the people in their communities.

$180 million, to be exact.

This February, Clothes Mentor and their parent company, NTY Franchise Company, celebrate 10 years of not only offering gently-used name-brand and designer clothing, shoes and accessories for up to 70 percent off of original retail prices, but paying cash on the spot to the women who bring in their gently-used clothing, shoes and accessories. From their first franchise in Canton, Ohio, launched in 2007 to more than 150 stores nationwide today, Clothes Mentor locations can be found in 29 states and 132 cities throughout the United States.

“This has been an amazing 10 years. I am thrilled to be where we are after 10 years of growth. We would not have been able to accomplish what we have without the hard work and dedication from our franchisees and Clothes Mentor corporate staff in Minneapolis,” said Chad Olson, COO of NTY Franchise Company.

Resale pioneer abandons retirement to launch resale revolution

As a child, Ron Olson worked in the theatre his parents owned and watched the many movies that showed how the rich and famous lived. He thought maybe some day he could be rich like that. In 2000, at the age of 58, he reached that goal when he retired a multimillionaire after building GrowBiz, his empire of resale stores that included Play It Again Sports and Plato’s Closet. In retirement, Ron golfed. He dabbled in real estate. He travelled. He went crazy. He decided that retirement wasn’t for him.

“I was bored. I love work and it drives me,” he said. “I had to get back in the game.”

By 2006, The Godfather of Resale was at it again. On a visit to Columbus, Ohio, Ron’s friends Lynn and Dennis Blum, the founders of Plato’s Closet and Once Upon a Child, introduced him to their new women’s upscale resale store, Clothes Mentor. Olson saw potential. He jumped out of retirement and started NTY Franchise Company, purchasing the three Clothes Mentor locations and hiring his son, Chad, who helped him grow the brand.

“There are still plenty of open markets for Clothes Mentor across America. More and more Americans today want an alternative to thrift in their market, and Clothes Mentor provides them that with its brightly lit, clean and organized shopping environment,” Chad Olson said.

By March of 2014, Clothes Mentor had grown to more than 100 stores. The concept was a hit with franchise owners who loved being their own boss as well as cash-strapped consumers still suffering financially from the great recession of 2008 but wanting to enjoy the designer retail brands at Clothes Mentor’s resale prices.

Today, resale is a $12 billion industry with Clothes Mentor leading the charge in upscale women’s clothing. Over the last decade, they’ve sold more than 28 million units of clothing, recycled 42 million units, and created almost 6,000 local employment opportunities.

Making dreams come true

For Clothes Mentor franchisees, the business has provided more than just an income. It’s been a life-changing event. Franchisees like Mike and Melanie Harris of Edmond, Oklahoma, were able to return to their home and be with their families thanks to the opportunity provided by Clothes Mentor.

“We are thankful to have found the opportunity to own a Clothes Mentor franchise. Because of this, we moved back to our home state of Oklahoma to be near family, which encouraged more family to move here as well. We doubt this would have happened in the three years we’ve been here, without this major life change,” they said.

For others, purchasing Clothes Mentor franchises wasn’t just about being close to family, it meant working in the family business. Sisters Sadie Cherney and Alyssa Cox each own multiple Clothes Mentor locations in North and South Carolina. Their parents had owned resale stores since Sadie and Alyssa were teenagers, giving them a firsthand experience into the wonderful world of resale.

“Having the Clothes Mentor franchises has been a wonderful experience for our family to grow together in the resale industry. Opening a business is always a risk, but we felt strongly from the beginning with our parent’s past experience in resale franchises that it was a profitable opportunity. We look forward to opening more in the near future,” Alyssa said.

Sadie agrees.

“Growing up with family resale franchises provided a framework for my sister and I to appreciate recycling and value-driven shopping,” she said. “We’ve been able to build a work culture that takes great pride in our small businesses, as well as a mission to be involved in and supportive of the communities where we are located.”

Kathy and Lane Bosley own Clothes Mentor in Tyler, Texas, and are hoping their daughters can learn similar lessons by seeing their mom and dad win with their franchise store.

“We are thankful to show our children (ages 9–16) how to own a business. We’re thankful they’ll see how much hard work is required, how important good character is and what a blessing it is to work together as a family!” she said.

More to come over the next 10 years

Clothes Mentor recently launched a free personal shopper program where customers submit their sizes, style preferences and budget either by phone or online, then one of the store’s fashion experts selects outfits for the customer to try on upon arrival. The personal shopper program is currently active in 105 stores and will continue to expand in 2017.

NTY Franchise Company plans to launch 25 Clothes Mentor stores in 2017 and hopes to open around 25–30 per year over the next decade, making Olson and his team very optimistic for the future.

“The next 10 years are going to be awesome. We will be approaching 500 stores, and our franchise base and the customers we serve will have grown dramatically. The jobs our franchisees have created will have helped thousands and thousands of Americans. Only in franchising can you get this kind of trifecta.”

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Clothes Mentor is Attracting New Customers—Find Out How

Check out this article from franchisingusamagazine.com to find out how Clothes Mentor is attracting two new customer groups:

Upscale Resale Franchise Clothes Mentor Attracts New Customers

NTY Franchise Company’s flagship resale brand Clothes Mentor is expanding its fashion focus, attracting two new customer groups: plus-size and millennial women. Launching the push to better serve these demographics at this year’s conference in Minneapolis, the company produced two exciting fashion shows hosted by Mall of America trend expert Sara Rogers and featuring fashion bloggers Amanda Williams (mybellamoxie.com) and Davee Ek (daveesecrets.com), both nationally recognized in the plus-size and millennial spaces.

The lively shows were both entertaining and educational, as models showcased the hottest fashion trends for plus-size and millennial women while the experts elaborated on the tastes, lifestyle, shopping preferences and more for these customers.

Building off of the runway excitement, franchisees continued to learn more about Clothes Mentor’s new plus-size and millennial customers during in-depth training sessions. Topics included digital and data-driven marketing, the personal shopper program, maximizing social media and more—all of which have helped Clothes Mentor stores speak to new and existing customers on a more personal level than any other women’s fashion resale franchise in the country.

Franchisees left this year’s Clothes Mentor conference energized and inspired to make 2016 a big year by welcoming new plus-size and millennial customers into their stores.

Click here to find out more about franchising with Clothes Mentor.

NTY’s Online Resale Plans and More Featured in Franchising USA

Online sales, loyalty programs and other high-tech offerings from NTY Franchise Company’s resale brands were recently featured in the July issue of Franchising USA. Read about it now:

July 2016 cover of Franchising USA featuring Chad Olson
July 2016 cover of Franchising USA.

Resale Retail Company Wants to Use Technology to Rule Industry

Although it’s in the business of selling gently used products, one Minneapolis based franchise is hoping to bring something new to the resale retail industry in the form of technology.

NTY, which stands for ‘New To You’, is a company that owns the franchising rights to five brands in the resale retail industry:

  • Clothes Mentor, which buys and sells used women’s fashion;
  • Children’s Orchard, which buys and sells children’s items;
  • Device Pit Stop, for purchasing and reselling electronics;
  • New Uses, which specializes in buying and reselling items for the home; and
  • NTY Clothing Exchange, the company’s teen and young adult resale retail brand.

With its largest brand, Clothes Mentor, the company wants to introduce an online store so people can shop for used items online the same way they would shop for new items on the internet, NTY’s chief operating officer Chad Olson said during a recent interview from the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis.

A lot of new websites have popped up online over the last several years that offer the service of reselling used items to customers, Olson noted, which has changed the online resale retail landscape. With this change in the landscape comes opportunity for Clothes Mentor, which will start rolling out its online store in baby steps.

First off, customers will have the ability to ‘click and pick,’ meaning they can make a purchase at their local Clothes Mentor store and then pick it up at the physical store. From there, the online store will expand until it is an integral part of the business.

Clothes Mentor also has an app that will allow the brand to push messages out to customers, allow customers to check their loyalty program points and give them electronic receipts so they don’t have to hang onto the paper ones in case they want to return something. Eventually, Clothes Mentor’s online store will also be available through the app, but that is a ways off as the brand is just getting started with its online store.

“This is a pretty big shift in our business model, so we’re going to make sure we do it right,” Olson explained.

Clothes Mentor isn’t just using technology to give customers a better experience, though. It’s also using technology to give its franchisees a boost, too. Specifically, it’s collecting more data on customers so franchisees can give them more personalized marketing. Recent generations like Millennials appreciate this more personalized marketing, Olson observed.

Across all five of the company’s brands, it has 193 stores open with another 56 in development. Clothes Mentor, NTY’s flagship franchise, claims the majority of those locations.

“Our number one goal is to offer the customer what we refer to as ‘Ultra high value retail’,” Olson said. “The stuff that we’re selling at the store level is at a much deeper discount than anywhere else they can find it because it is gently used.”

Aside from giving people the opportunity to save money, NYT also offers people the chance to recycle their items and receive cash in return, Olson mentioned.

In the Beginning

Clothes Mentor was founded in Columbus, OH by a local couple in 2001. Aside from the Columbus store, Clothes Mentor had a licensed store in Canton, OH. Olson and his father, Ron Olson, decided to go into business together, both having retail franchising experience with another company.

When they began looking at what opportunities were out there for their own business, they found out about Clothes Mentor and noted the two stores were doing quite well. From there, the father and son negotiated the franchising rights to that brand in 2007 and have been adding to the NTY family ever since.

Energy

NTY’s franchisees come from all walks of life, from kindergarten teachers to former professional bull riders. Regardless of their background, though, NTY wants franchisees to have a strong work ethic and enthusiasm.

“We would like them to have general business acumen, but more importantly, is that they have the energy, the drive, the motivation to be entrepreneurial,” Olson said. “We’re looking for people that want to be their own boss, but who have experience in one facet or another. We want them to bring their own skill set to the company.”

Training and Support

Training involves flying new franchisees out to Minneapolis for the company’s comprehensive three week business training program. NTY trains them in finding and leasing a location, plus business plan training.

“We basically prepare them in that training to go to a bank to obtain financing,” Olson said. “So we create a three-year profit and loss and cash flow statement. So, they leave here after that first bit of training prepared to find and obtain a location and obtain financing for the business.”

Once they have a location and financing, franchisees come back to Minneapolis for two weeks of operations training, where they are taught all aspects of how to operate the business. At least one of those weeks is spent in a real store environment.

Once the new franchisee is set up, they can expect NTY to visit their location a minimum of three times throughout their first year. Once will be prior to their grand opening and will include additional training. Subsequent visits will be during the grand opening and then again 90 days after the grand opening. Each visit is to ensure new franchisees get off to the best start possible.

Franchisees will continue to get visits from the company at least once per year for business consultations, Olson added. In between visits, the company offers monthly support calls.

“The ongoing support is fairly extensive because obviously in the franchise business, if our franchisees aren’t successful, then us as a franchisor will not be successful making money,” the COO said.

Expansion

All of NTY’s brands are open to expanding anywhere in the United States. Currently, the company has a presence in 30 states and is relatively well spread out, although a tad thin on the west coast, Olson noted.

“There’s lots of franchising opportunity available, especially on the west coast,” he explained.

For entrepreneurs who embrace technology, NTY, and Clothes Mentor in particular, offer a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something new and exciting in the resale retail industry.

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NTY Franchise’s Veterans Opportunities Featured in April Issue of Franchising USA

NTY Franchise Company COO Chad Olson on cover of Franchising USA standing in Device Pitstop store

NTY Franchise supports veterans with several opportunities and incentives for franchising its resale stores. Read the Franchising USA article about this topic below, or click here to see the article on franchisingusamagazine.com.

NTY Promises New Challenges, Opportunities for Veterans

One franchise that is in the business of turning the old into the new again wants to help entrepreneurial veterans start a new chapter of their lives.

NTY, standing for ‘New To You’ is a company that owns the franchising rights to five brands in the resale retail industry: Clothes Mentor, Children’s Orchard, Device Pit Stop, New Uses and NTY Clothing Exchange.

“Our main goal is to sell franchises and then support the franchisees that we sell them to,” NTY’s chief operating officer Chad Olson said during a recent interview from the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis.

Clothes Mentor, which buys and sells used women’s fashion and accessories, started franchising in 2007. Currently, it has 140 stores open and 43 stores sold and awaiting opening.

Acquired by NTY in early 2014, Children’s Orchard buys and sells gently used kids items. It currently has 27 stores open with two sold and awaiting opening.

Device Pit Stop, meanwhile, has 11 stores open with another 10 sold and awaiting opening. NTY acquired the brand’s franchise rights in the fall of 2013. It buys and sells used electronics.

Buying and selling used home goods like furniture, artwork and small appliances is the business model for New Uses. The brand has 11 stores open with one sold and awaiting opening and it’s been around since 2011.

And with two stores open and four sold and awaiting opening, NTY Clothing Exchange, which buys and sells clothes in the teen and young adult market, started franchising in Mid-2014.

The Need for Used to New

In a world that is increasingly looking for environmentally friendly ways to deal with everything, all of NTY’s brands offer that coveted green alternative for people’s old clothing and other items, Olson said, giving people the option of getting cash for the stuff they’re no longer using rather than just throwing it away.

And with consumers often being highly cost conscious, NTY also gives them a way to save money, with products selling for, on average, 70 percent less than they would be sold as new.

All of the NTY brands make sure the items people bring them have resale value. It has to be in good condition and, in the case of apparel, it also has to be in style. Each brand will evaluate a product and they all have a pricing matrix they use to make sure they’re selling items at a price that gives value to the customer and also the business.

In the Beginning

Clothes Mentor was founded in Columbus, OH. with a store in that city and another one in Canton, OH. Olson and his father, Ron Olson, decided to go into business together, both having Resale/Retail franchising experience with another company.

When they began looking at what opportunities were out there for their own business, they found out about Clothes Mentor and noted the two stores were doing quite well. From there, the father and son negotiated the franchising rights to that brand and have been adding to the NTY family since.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

While their franchisees come from all walks of life — from teachers to former professional bull riders — they all have one thing in common and that’s the one thing NTY wants in a franchisee.

“We want people who have that entrepreneurial spirit,” Olson said.

They must have motivation and they must also have accumulated some wealth in the past that they’re able to invest.

While the company has just a handful of veteran franchisees at the moment, Olson is looking to change that, as he knows veterans have a stellar reputation as franchisees.

Veterans’ dedication and commitment to carrying out the processes they’ve been taught is what makes them good franchisees, he noted.

“That’s what franchising is all about, taking the business model and the processes that we have proven to be profitable and teaching it to others,” Olson said. “People who have had that military experience following processes fit really well into a franchise system because they will take those processes that we have developed to run and execute a successful business model and follow those processes to a tee.”

NTY has just submitted its application to join veteran franchising organization VetFran. Currently, veterans receive a $2,500 discount off any NTY franchising fee.

As an added incentive — and this goes for any franchisee — three of NTY’s brands also offer a $40,000 jump start program.

Any franchisee that opens an NTY Clothing Exchange, a Children’s Orchard or a New Uses will receive a $20,000 marketing contribution from NTY when their store opens. In addition to that, every six months after their grand opening, they will receive an additional $5,000 marketing contribution from the parent company over a two-year period, totaling a $40,000 contribution toward marketing from NTY.

Training and Support

NTY helps franchisees find the right real estate, helps them procure financing, and brings them to Minneapolis for three weeks of comprehensive training in every aspect of running their business.

The company also offers support on site when franchisees are building out their store and getting it ready to open to ensure it’s being built out properly, they’re acquiring inventory properly and their employees are being trained properly. Then they’ll let the franchisee start running their store and come back out to help franchisees with their grand opening. NTY representatives will visit again 90 days after grand opening, a minimum of three times in that first year to check on inventory, customer service and if franchisees need any additional training.

Each brand has its own regional operations managers, which are assigned to franchisees. Each regional manager has about 20 or 30 franchisees in their region and their main goal is to be a small business consultant. They have monthly consultation calls with franchisees and answer any questions they have and visit franchisees at least once per year.

Expansion and Experience

All of NTY’s brands are open to expanding anywhere in the United States. The collective experience of everyone who is involved with NTY is a huge incentive for any frachisee to choose one of the company’s brands for opening a business, Olson said. Each brand has a vice president in charge of it, he explained, and all of those vice presidents have over 20 years of experience in the retail resale sector. His father, who is president of the

company, has 30-plus years of experience in the sector and when you add in Olson’s 22 years of experience, that’s a lot of knowledge for new franchisees to draw from.

For veterans who are looking to make a new start in life, NTY gives them an opportunity to make that new start a success.

See more from Franchising USA.