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July 22,
2008 Grapevine
Coming to the Grapevine Convention Center August 31 thru September 1, 2006;
the "divine" location for the largest consignment sale in DFW.
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Click on photo
to enlarge
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From
August 31st thru September 1st, Tina Teutsch of Flower Mound and
Stephanie Scott of Farmers Branch will have 350 to 400 of
their closest friends over to the Grapevine Convention Center.
These friends will be bringing with them kids clothing, toys,
books, games, strollers, maternity items, junior clothes
and virtually thousands of items for a whirlwind get together over
two days of furious activity.
The two entrepreneurial moms have made the saying "necessity
is the mother of invention" into a business
science. In other words, it is a necessity to clothe your
children, but it is tough to justify paying high brand name prices
when the kids are likely to grow out of the item before wearing it
out. So why not develop a scientific process to
provide a central location for the ability to "clean out and
cash in" on all those clothes the kids can no longer wear?
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Tina
Teutsch first began working with a friend who had experience at
large consignment sales from Florida. In 2001 she started
her business and on her first try attracted 60 consignors in a
local church.
One of the first customers to take advantage of the concept was
Stephanie Scott, now co-owner with Tina in Divine Consign.
Since that first effort in 2001, the business has grown in numbers
and sophistication.
All consignors are required to register on their website. A
number is assigned and online barcodes can be printed from the
site that identifies the consignor. This program will allow all
items to be tracked that are sold at the event and, according to
Tina, will help them expedite the checks to the consignors.
The pair charge only a $7.50 fee to use the system and they keep
30% and return 70% to the consignor. The consignor
determines the price in advance on every item.
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Tina Teutsch, started
the company in 2001.
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Stephanie Scott, was
one of the first customers, now a business partner. |
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Click on photo to
enlarge
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To
give readers a feel for the size of the two annual sales conducted
(one is in Plano each year), there are 8 cash registers manned
full time during the sale. Even then, there are times when a
line of folks are waiting to pay for their special bargain. The
new bar coding system is designed to help the women pay their
consignors in about a week, versus the two weeks that was
previously required to do a manual hand tracking on every item sold.
The massive undertaking includes allowing items, from registered
consignors only, to be dropped off twice, the first evening of set
up and the next morning. It takes about four hours to set up
the convention center with the necessary racks and tables to
efficiently display all the thousands of items. Even more
clever, is how the pair helps organize the massive effort.
The event has become a regular activity for volunteers, some who
return every year to help out. |
Website
visitors can request to be a volunteer and will be contacted by
one of the owners. Those selected will work to help set up
the facility and, in turn, they get first preference at a
"pre-sale" before the public is allowed to
shop.
The two day public sale will kick off in Grapevine at the
Convention Center, 1209 South Main Street, from 9 am until 8 pm on
Thursday, August 31st. The second day, on September 1st,
from 8 am until 2 pm, is a 50% off the bargain prices on items not
purchased the first day!
In addition to the business venture, Divine Consign donates 10% of
all its profit to the
Denton
County Friends of the Family. In addition, all items that do
not sell, and are not picked up by the consignor, are donated to
the charity. A giant "ONE DOLLAR for any item
sale" is then held at a later date by the Denton County
group.
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Click on photo to
enlarge
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Stephanie Scott on
left and Tina Teutsch in their consignment vans. |
Tina described
their business as, "... a benefit to the seller, to the volunteer, to
the buyer and to the charity, and then as a business."
She also said being in the business has allowed them to do things not
otherwise possible ... "we learned of an individual that had lost
everything in a fire, we allowed the victim to come early to our presale
and gave her a gift certificate to shop for her children." Part
of their success is the organizational structure of the event that places
similar items in the same area to help shoppers find what they are looking
for.
It is important to note that all items are screened, by trained
volunteers, prior to being allowed on the sales floor. Any item that
is considered below their quality acceptance, for example clothes that have
stains or items that are not of good quality, are not accepted for display.
"Our merchandise is of such high quality, it is not unusual to have owners
of consignment shops come in and buy enough to stock their entire
store," explained Stephanie.
While the effort may be considered "part-time" the two
entrepreneurs say that the activity is fierce the weeks leading up and
through the sales. However, it is a great business because it allows the
moms to be in business and still keep up with their mom demands.
They currently have two sales, one in Plano and the forthcoming Grapevine
event, however, there are plans to have another beginning in March 2007 at
the Arlington Convention Center.
Asked what they wanted readers to take from this article, the two agreed
that the message is "clean out and cash in" for moms who have
kids that have outgrown their clothes. As importantly, for those
looking for bargains on quality clothes, toys, and even furniture, the
experience with Divine Consign will be great. You can
contact the pair by email at
divineconsign@hotmail.com.
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