Check out photos from a fun and exciting grand opening day for Clothes Mentor Arrowhead in Peoria, Arizona.
Big Day for Clothes Mentor Arrowhead—Grand Opening!
NTY Opens 200th Store: Device Pitstop Newport News
Check out this exciting article from Franchising USA about NTY Franchise Company’s 200th store opening this month!
National upscale resale franchise NTY (New to You) Franchise Company, headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, will open their 200th store on Thursday, November 10. Device Pitstop, NTY Franchise Company’s mobile and electronic device resale franchise, will have the honor of achieving the company milestone when they open the doors of their new franchise unit in Newport News, Virginia.
“We’re very excited to open our 200th store in Newport News, Virginia this November,” NTY Franchise Company COO Chad Olson (pictured above) said. “The opening signifies our continued growth and commitment to meeting the modern consumer’s need for high-quality clothing, devices and other items at an affordable price.”
Founded in 2006 by Ron Olson, NTY Franchise Company features five resale brands, all with a different focus: Clothes Mentor, Children’s Orchard, Device Pitstop, New Uses, and NTY Clothing Exchange. Their brands cover everything from women’s designer fashions, children’s apparel and accessories, furniture and household goods, electronic sales and repair, and clothing for teens and young adults. All brands feature cutting-edge technology, support, and lucrative franchising opportunities to help candidates establish resale stores throughout the United States.
Top 10 Furniture Trends
What are the latest furniture trends for the home? Find out in this article from furniture.about.com.
Top 10 Furniture Trends
New Directions for Furniture in the 21st Century
By Abe Abbas
Furniture trends are dictated by who is buying what and why they’re doing it. Trends should not be confused with fads, which are fickle. Trends are the undercurrents that drive the results.
Some of the forces working behind furniture trends of the 21st century include younger buyers and technology. Women have more buying power than ever and are more involved in choosing and buying furniture. The globe seems to be shrinking, and there’s a rising concern for the environment. All this has resulted in some furniture riding a wave of popularity in the millennium.
1. Furniture Going Green
Furniture trends are dictated by who is buying what and why they’re doing it. Trends should not be confused with fads, which are fickle. Trends are the undercurrents that drive the results.
Some of the forces working behind furniture trends of the 21st century include younger buyers and technology. Women have more buying power than ever and are more involved in choosing and buying furniture. The globe seems to be shrinking, and there’s a rising concern for the environment. All this has resulted in some furniture riding a wave of popularity in the millennium.
2. Furniture With a Smaller Profile
Our living spaces are shrinking, and large and ponderous furniture pieces seem out of place in many of today’s smaller homes. The shift toward smaller pieces goes hand-in-hand with a preference for furniture that’s less ornate and more contemporary.
More streamlined furniture seems to be the logical choice for consumers trying to make efficient use of their available space. Recliners and chairs with smaller profiles are increasingly available as women tend to want to buy furniture that’s more suited to their preferences.
3. Multifunctional Furniture
Multifunctional furniture is not a new concept, but it has come into its own — perhaps as a result of those smaller living spaces. You need furniture that can perform multiple tasks when space is at a premium.
A lot of buyers look for extra storage to reduce clutter. You can find storage in tables, under beds and in entertainment consoles. Multifunctional furniture can serve any number of additional uses other than its main function. It can be used for sleeping guests — or even pets.
4. Technology-Driven Furniture Design
Modern technology has an effect on furniture design as well. This is most apparent in the design of entertainment centers.
Entertainment centers are obviously made to accommodate our entertainment paraphernalia, but bedroom sets, accent tables and other furniture pieces are also being made to accommodate gadgetry. Even a traditional piece such as a roll top desk can be updated to accommodate laptops and peripherals. The nightstands in the Hooker bedroom collection pictured here have pull-out shelves, outlets and USB ports for charging laptops, iPods and phones.
5. Popularity of Vintage Furniture
Vintage furniture is enjoying a surge in popularity. Yes, nostalgia is involved, but the search for green furniture also contributes.
Vintage furniture is green on many counts. Although the finishes weren’t originally non-toxic, they’ve finished off-gassing so they’re safe for indoor air. When you buy vintage furniture or use furniture you’ve inherited, you’re rescuing it from going to landfills. It’s already survived a lot of years so it’s probably well-made and durable. Hard economic times also make buying vintage furniture a feasible choice — it’s often less expensive.
6. Globally-Inspired Furniture
The globe seems to be shrinking and other cultures no longer seem quite so distant and foreign. The idea of bringing the world to our homes is catching on.
This isn’t just confined to bringing in furniture from other parts of the world but from their bygone eras as well. In the case of Asian-inspired furniture, it could be a search for a more Zen-like interior space or drama. Whatever the reason, the lure of travel has made globally-inspired furniture very popular.
7. The Growing Importance of Outdoor Furniture
Sales of casual and outdoor furniture have grown leaps and bounds. Consumers are discovering that they can significantly add to their existing spaces by utilizing outdoor areas as well. Outdoor rooms have become very desirable, and the quality and design of outdoor furniture has developed tremendously. Many furniture pieces can be used either indoors or outdoors.
Outdoor fabric has improved, too. The colors, textures and patterns can just as easily be used indoors, and they’re typically easier to maintain and keep clean.
8. Custom-Made Furniture
Customization of furniture seems to be a trend that continues to develop and evolve. While some manufacturers, such as Norwalk, have been offering it for years, the growing demand has made more manufacturers take notice. Smaller studios have offered customization for years, but more mainstream manufacturers such as Ethan Allen and Thomasville are offering an increasing amount of customization as well.
It can vary from fabric color or pattern to changing the style of an arm or leg on a sofa. Many manufacturers let the customer provide his own fabric. There are choices in finishes, colors, veneers and hardware options in casegoods. It depends on the manufacturer, but customization seems to be a trend that’s catching on.
9. Specialty Sleep Surfaces
The interest in specialty sleep surfaces began with waterbeds and it’s grown and developed over the years. Specialty sleep products now make up a sizable share of the sleep market.
With our hectic lifestyles, a night of perfect and comfortable sleep seems like the ultimate reward. Although it’s possible to find your perfect sleep surface, it’s not the easiest of tasks and it might require a great deal of research before you settle on the product you want to buy. There are a lot of options out there as this trend takes hold.
10. Leather Furniture
Leather furniture has discovered a newfound popularity because it now comes in so many different shapes and colors. Leather is an old favorite, but now it has a new face.
American Leather is one of the leaders in leather furniture, but other manufacturers offer plenty of choices as well. Leather is easy to maintain and to clean. It retains its appeal much longer than fabric. One downside is that some stores offer bi-cast leather, also known as by-cast leather. This is not leather. This wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t classify it as such, but it can be misleading for consumers.
The Perfect Leather Jacket—Found at Clothes Mentor Springfield
Check out this blog post excerpt from Shades of Sarah to see the perfect leather jacket that she found at Clothes Mentor Springfield:
True story: I’ve wanted a leather jacket for years. Leather jackets were made for fall, but so many of the leather jackets out there were too “moto” for my style. Who knew that I would find “the one” at Clothes Mentor? And let me tell you, leather jackets are worth the hype. Dresses, jeans and a tee — this jacket adds a cool vibe to everything.
One of my favorite ways to wear it? This LOFT tank works great with patterned dress pants, but it’s way more fun with jeans, a leather jacket and tough ankle boots. A cool boho pendant necklace and wine-colored lipstick, and this outfit totally feels like a cooler version of me. (Those buckled boots by the way? Yet another awesome Clothes Mentor find.)
Click here to read the full blog post on shadesofsarah.com and to see more photos.
Halloween Outfits You Can Wear to Work
Check out some amazing work-appropriate Halloween outfits from Clothes Mentor created by The Cheerful Closet blog. Such perfect ideas! Click here to see even more photos and tips on The Cheerful Closet.
CM Remix: Work-Appropriate Halloween
As a kid, Halloween was often a compromise. Every once in a while we would get a store-bought costume, but more often, we got creative and assembled our own looks. Additionally, living in Kansas, it was usually pretty cold by October 31, so even if we had a great costume planned out, sometimes we had to make last-minute changes based on the weather. I remember one particularly cold year where our we had to discard our best-laid plans and go as Eskimos instead so we could layer up.
Grown-ups have to compromise on Halloween, too. Sure, you might have fun party plans with your friends for Halloween, and you can obviously wear whatever you want to that! But if your office lets you dress up for Halloween, there are usually some unsaid restrictions on what is or is not appropriate. Let’s just say my Lego costume from freshman year (where I literally wore a cardboard box that I painted to look like a Lego) would probably not fly in a professional setting.
Fortunately, there are lots of ways that you can spin some classic Halloween looks to be office-ready! In this post, you’ll see how I styled four fun costumes using professional pieces from Clothes Mentor. They consist of regular office looks with simple props available at any Halloween/party store (I got mine from Savers!)
NTY Franchise Makes the 2016 Fast 50 List
What makes NTY one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in the Twin Cities area? Find out in this excerpt from an article by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal:
We Asked Chief Operating Officer Chad Olson:
What’s one business decision you made in the past three years that’s been critical to your firm’s growth?
Putting as much information onto our franchise development website as possible. In the past this was taboo, it was normal to hold your cards close. In today’s world information is king. If you want to sell franchises you need to have your information front and center.
Click here to see the impressive growth numbers for NTY Franchise Company.
Click here to see the full Fast 50 2016 list on bizjournals.com.
Learn more about the Fast 50 list in this excerpt from a note about the project by editor Kim Johnson:
Fast 50 2016 Editor’s Note
It isn’t the easiest task to get revenue figures from private companies. Our reporters are frequently told, “We’re a private company. We do not share revenue information.”
It’s even more of a stretch to ask them for actual financial statements.
However, each summer the Business Journal doggedly searches the Twin Cities 24-county metro area to find the region’s fastest-growing private companies. We look for independently owned, privately held, for-profit businesses that are headquartered here. We look for year-over-year revenue growth from the three most recent fiscal years. We look for companies with at least $1 million in revenue from the first of those three years.
And then we require them to send in three years of financial statements that have been audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
And those documents go to our own accounting partner for further verification and number crunching.
It’s a lot to ask of private companies used to keeping their revenue numbers close to the vest. But it’s imperative we ask this of each company submitting a nomination for our annual Fast 50 awards. Everyone is held to the same standards to ensure the integrity of this list, which showcases some of the state’s best-in-class enterprises.
These companies aren’t just growing their bottom lines. They are creating jobs at extraordinary rates. They are providing growth opportunities for the businesses that serve them. They are boosting Minnesota’s economy.
So thank you to all the companies that submit nominations for this project — not just for the above, but for being willing to jump through the hoops we ask you to in order to produce this awards publication.
Blogger Finds Amazing Fall Pieces at Clothes Mentor Springfield
Check out the recent blog post on shadesofsarah.com, which features some great fall fashions from Clothes Mentor Springfield:
September Budget: Clothes Mentor Haul
Text and photo by Sarah from shadesofsarah.com
When it came to update my fall wardrobe this year, I tried something different: shopping at Clothes Mentor. My closet has its fair share thrifted pieces, but I hadn’t found a thrift or consignment store in the Philly area that I truly liked shopping at. Before I get into why Clothes Mentor is awesome, let me breakdown what I picked up courtesy of Clothes Mentor Springfield:
Dana Buchman faux leather jacket, $16 (not pictured)
LOFT lace dress, $14
- Crew pants, $20
Kohl’s chunky cardigan, $10
LOFT sleeveless tank, $8
Macy’s Style & Co. dress (with tags), $14
Black top, $14
Chico’s bolero (with tags), $18
Nine West heeled boots, $24
Delia’s ankle boots, $18
Not bad right? That’s 10 quality pieces for less than $160. My mom and I were honestly carried away — I used every penny of the gift card they generously provided (and more out of pocket!), and my mom picked up a bunch of stuff too. If you haven’t visited your local Clothes Mentor (there’s three in the Philly area!), here’s why it’s worth the trip:
♥ Quality pieces at discounted prices. I love bargain hunting, but sometimes you get what you pay for. At Clothes Mentor, it just happens that what I’m paying for is a new-with-tags Macy’s dress well over 50% off.
♥ Everything is vetted and on-trend. Clothes Mentor is a consignment store, not an average thrift store. Instead of being donations-based, the team at CM inspects items and only accepts clothing and accessories they know will sell. You can learn more about consignment stores here, but basically CM does the hard work for you. Speaking of consignment stores…
♥ You can make some shopping money. Cleaning out your closet? If you’re more the instant gratification type, you can try your hand at selling at CM. I haven’t tried this yet, but they do give you cash on the spot for what they’re happy to buy from you.
♥ It’s eco-friendly. Admittedly, I don’t have the most planet-friendly shopping habits but buying secondhand and saving gently-worn items from landfills is a good start.
As for the Springfield, PA location in particular, I cannot say enough good things about the staff. They are so happy to assist you in any way, and they keep the store in tiptop shape. It’s bright, organized and they have something for everyone. The shop girls had no problem finding items in my sizes and to suit my tastes.
Need more convincing? Just wait until you see the outfits I’ve come up with.
~ Sarah
P.S. Thanks again to CM Springfield for the invite!
Click here to see this post with more photos on shadesofsarah.com.
Blogger Tries Personal Shopper at Clothes Mentor West Chester
What did blogger Ainslie Gordon think about her personal shopper experience at Clothes Mentor West Chester? Find out in this article featured on cincinnatiparent.com:
Mom Style Made Simple at Clothes Mentor
Personal shoppers aren’t just for celebrities!
By Ainslie Gordon
Do you think personal shoppers are just for celebrities? Are you trying to dress trendy and stay within a budget? Well, I have the store for you! Drop the kids at school, grab your girlfriends and head to Clothes Mentor to purchase all the latest styles for less. This is resale at its best — think 70% off retail on gently used designer pieces from trendy to classic. And to make your experience even more fun, register online for your free personal shopper who will make shopping simple and easy.
I have been a lover of clothes since before I could walk. I studied, created and wrote about fashion. My greatest lesson about dressing myself came from my mom: simple but elegant. I have carried this motto throughout my career as a fashion blogger and stylist. And as I begin to style the next generation, my piece of advice will be to leave a little to the imagination.
So, now it’s my turn to be styled by the free personal shopper at Clothes Mentor! First, I filled out the online form to let my stylist know my personal preferences such as size, height, current wardrobe needs, budget, likes, etc. Then my personal shopper, Ashley, called to set up an appointment date and confirmed my fashion needs. I couldn’t wait to see what was in “store” for me!
As I arrived to the West Chester location, I was awed by the friendly staff and the store’s meticulous organization by color, size, season, etc. They truly make finding your perfect outfit easy and affordable. I was introduced to Ashley; and she already had several complete outfits (dresses, pants, shirts, accessories and shoes) chosen from my preferences in my dressing room. Then I began trying on the outfits selected and creating new ones with Ashley’s wonderful eye.
The key to a great personal shopper/stylist is listening and collaborating with your client. Ashley and I got along beautifully. I would tell her about more looks I wanted; and she would find me those and bring back some that I did not even think of. Together, we created several on-trend and classic outfits that can take me from weekday casual/business to weekend trendy. The personal shopper experience was so much fun; I could have stayed there all day.
Plus, I had a $100 budget. With Ashley’s amazing help, I left with three dresses, two pairs of jeans, one sweater, one necklace and one scarf for under budget. And when I returned home, I made even more outfits by coordinating my new pieces with clothes already in my closet. Score!
Shopping for clothes should never be stressful or scary. (Plus, as busy moms, who has time to be at the mall all day?) Let the wonderful staff at Clothes Mentor find your perfect outfit(s) and accessories. Or book your appointment today and let the awesome (and free) personal shoppers do the work for you! After this experience, I will forever be a loyal shopper. To find your neighborhood store, or for fashion events, contact Clothes Mentor.
Click here to see the blog post with more outfit photos on cincinnatiparent.com.
Local Blogger Stocks Up at Clothes Mentor Springfield
Fashion of Philly blogger finds amazing outfits for a fraction of the original retail cost at upscale resale store Clothes Mentor Springfield. Check out one ensemble from her haul below, then read the full blog post at fashionofphilly.com to see more.
When it comes to Fall Fashion, what is your favorite item to stock up on? Are you obsessed with oversized sweaters, knee high boots and comfy leggings? Well I have good news, I found the cure for your fall shopping fever! Clothes Mentor is an amazing consignment shop featuring some of your favorite designers at price points you wouldn’t believe! The Clothes Mentor store in Springfield, PA invited me to come and check out their huge selection of clothing, jewelry, accessories, and shoes. The staff there was so nice and ready to help in any way, whether it be selling your “gently used” clothing or some styling advice…
Would Current Franchisees Recommend Clothes Mentor to Others?
Clothes Mentor franchisees from across the country answer the frequently asked question: Would you recommend the Clothes Mentor business to others? Find out what they say in this video:
