A Hewitt woman and her daughter-in-law are hoping to see big revenue gains in their next Just Between Friends children’s and maternity consignments sale that opens Friday.

Kathy Rogers and Shelly Rogers, her daughter-in-law, conduct the sales twice a year. They started in 2004 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Hewitt, making about $2,000.

Since then, the event has grown and moved to the Waco Convention Center, where last year they made $100,000 between both sales. This year they are aiming for $175,000.

Just Between Friends is a Tulsa, Okla.-based national franchise network of consignment sales in which people bring used items for sale and split the revenue between themselves and the operators of the sale. The Rogerses own the Waco franchise.

The next sale will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the convention center’s Brazos Room.

Franchisees such as the Rogerses are holding twice-a-year sales of used items in 102 cities across the country.

Only items in good shape are accepted, and everything is looked over before being admitted, Kathy Rogers said.

“We are brutal,” she said, noting that putting a premium on quality keeps people coming back.

“I’m going to that sale because I know it’s good stuff,” she said of how her shoppers think.

Kathy Rogers got the idea after Shelly Rogers began consigning and volunteering with Just Between Friends in Tulsa.

The events use volunteers to operate, and those volunteers are allowed a larger share of the take on items they bring to place on consignment, Kathy Rogers said. Consigners normally get 65 percent of their sales’ take, but consigners who help out as volunteers make 70 percent.

The first sale in Hewitt had about 13 consigners and about 300 shoppers, she said. At this week’s sale, Kathy Rogers is expecting 2,000 shoppers and about 230 consigners.

Humble beginning

The growth is in line with the rest of the company. Shannon Wilburn, president of Just Between Friends franchise systems, founded the sale with a friend, Daven Tackett, in Tulsa in 1997. The pair conducted a consignment sale in Wilburn’s living room for 19 families from their church and grossed about $2,000, Wilburn said.

Wilburn said she never expected to take it further, but things developed, and last year the company grossed $11 million from sales across the country.

“We had no aspirations other than making some money to do more things with our families,” Wilburn said of that first humble sale.

The sales have been in demand in tough economic times, Tackett said. Last year marked a 30 percent increase in sales, she said.

One advantage of selling small children’s clothing on consignment at the sale is that for those who also purchase, they may be able to break even by selling used goods, Tackett said.

Thursday will be a presale for volunteers, consigners, first-time mothers and teachers.

Items not sold can be picked up by the owners for a limited time, or they will be donated to Mission Waco and Compassion Ministries.

bteeter@wacotrib.com

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