How to 'make and save money' at Naperville seasonal consignment shop
Kids' stuff is expensive and much of it is useful only for a few months - if that.
Moms and dads learn that the hard way, say the co-owners of a seasonal consignment shop open through Saturday in Naperville.
Take baby shoes, for example.
Heidi DeGraf, co-owner of Rhea Lana's of West Chicagoland, said parents buy shoes for their babies before the little ones learn to walk. By the time baby turns to toddler, those first shoes are still spotless.
The short shelf-life of children's goods creates a market for both buyers and sellers at Rhea Lana's inside the former Kmart at 1199 E. Ogden Ave. just east of Naper Boulevard. Shoppers can find goods at roughly 25 percent of typical retail prices, owners say.
"When the items are outgrown by their children, as long as they're in great shape and still current, they can bring them in to us for the next season or the next year and consign them back," DeGraf said. "That way it's one big recycling and saving opportunity for families."
Parents looking to shop on the cheap for strollers, furniture, books, toys, clothing and shoes for girls and boys from birth to tween can find a broad selection at the twice-yearly sale. Set up in 70,000 square feet of empty Kmart space, the selection is vast, but dwindling, co-owners say.
"Every sale is larger than the one before," DeGraf said.
DeGraf and her daughter-in-law, Christine DeGraf of Glen Ellyn, have been hosting weeklong West suburban consignment sales since 2010, when they started a franchise of northwest Arkansas-based Rhea Lana's consignment company. Consignors keep 70 percent of the proceeds if their items sell, while the owners keep 30 percent.
"It's basically moms helping moms make and save money," Christine DeGraf said about the business.
The setup has occupied vacant grocers and other big boxes in Villa Park, Addison and Lombard before finding the old Naperville Kmart.
"We have to go where we can find an empty space large enough that we can rent for two weeks," Christine DeGraf said.
Operated by the DeGraf family and roughly 100 parent volunteers, the sale runs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday; and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.