Winmark

Music Go Round purchases, sells, and exchanges used musical instruments and paraphernalia.[25] Founded as Hi-Tech Consignments in Minneapolis by Bill Shell in 1986, Winmark purchased it in 1993 and renamed it to Music Go Round.[5][26] In 2009, roughly 30% of Music Go Round's musical instruments purchased were new.[4] In 2011, it had 35 locations in the United States.[25] In 2010, the complete cost to start a Music Go Round was $300,000 and the average yearly sales were between $650,000 and $725,000.[24]

Once Upon a Child purchases and sells used children's attire and toys.[25] The first Once Upon a Child store was opened in 1985 in Perrysburg, Ohio, by Dennis and Lynn Blum in 1985 after they observed Goodwill Industries accepting and selling used baby attire.[27] Prior to opening a store, Lynn Blum had been selling her three sons' and friends' and neighbors' clothing in a garage sale from her house every week. Her husband resigned from his employment in 1989 to work with Lynn .[28] Winmark purchased the company in 1992. In 2009, roughly 10% of Once Upon a Child's children's attire and playthings purchased were new.[4] In 2011, it had 240 locations in the United States and 24 in Canada.[25] In 2010, the complete cost to start a Once Upon a Child was between $200,000 and $250,000 and the average yearly sales were between $650,000 and $725,000.[24]

Plato's Closet purchases and sells used brand name teenager and young adult clothing, shoes, and paraphernalia.[25] It focuses on clothes for people ages 12 to 24.[29][30] Winmark purchased Plato's Closet from Dennis and Lynn Blum, the founders of Once Upon a Child, in 1998.[27][31] The store's name was inspired by a Blum son's schoolwork about Plato who had been an early advocate of recycling, which paralleled the aim to recycle used clothes.[27][31] In 2011, there were over 280 franchisees in the United States and Canada.[25] In 2010, the complete cost to start a Plato's Closet was between $200,000 and $250,000 and the average yearly sales were $825,000.[24]

A 2001 article in the Star Tribune noted that Plato's Closet in 2001 stocked up on brand names such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc., Silver Jeans Co., Sean John, Express, Inc., and Dr. Martens that they sold at a markdown of between 50% and 75%.[14] Unlike consignment shops, Plato's Closet pays sellers on the spot.[14] Used clothes are purchased at between 30% and 40% of what Plato's Closet intends to sell them at.[29] In a 2009 interview with Star Tribune, CEO John Morgan said Plato's Closet did the best during the Great Recession among Winmark's franchises because people were more likely to sell used clothing to make money and to buy used clothing to save money.[4]

Play It Again Sports purchases and sells used sports goods and is Winmark's largest chain.[4][25] Roughly 70% of Play It Again Sports' sports equipment is new.[4] In 2011, it had over 330 locations in the United States and Canada.[25] In 2010, the complete cost to start a Play It Again Sports was $300,000 and the average yearly sales were between $650,000 and $725,000.[24]

Style Encore buys and sells used women's clothing. In January 2013, Winmark announced that it would start a new franchise, Style Encore, that would focus on used women's clothing. The first store opened in Texas in August 2013.[21] Style Encore immediately pays cash to people looking to sell used women's attire, footwear, handbags, and jewelry.[32]

Computer Renaissance bought and sold new and used computer supplies such as computers, computer memory, computer monitors, and printers.[33] The store also sold computer games and books and helped customers build custom computers.[34] Computer Renaissance was started in 1993.[35] On July 7, 2000, Winmark sold Computer Renaissance, which had 209 stores, to Jack Hollis' Hollis Technologies LLC in Lakeland, Florida, for $3 million. Hollis had been a Computer Renaissance franchisee.[12] CEO John Morgan said that whereas Music Go Round's used musical equipment did not depreciate, Computer Renaissance's aging computers did.[36]

Disc Go Round bought and sold new and used compact discs (CDs).[2] In July 1994, Winmark spent $2.3 million to purchase CDX Audio, which used the name CD Exchange in Green Bay, Wisconsin. When Winmark purchased the company, it had 42 stores.[2][37] Winmark renamed the used CD store to Disc Go Round because they could not nationally trademark the name "CD Exchange".[38] The outlet had an electronic system that recorded all the CDs a store had so customers did not have to browse the shelves trying to determine whether a particular CD was present.[38] Disc Go Around also had "listening stations" for customers to listen to CDs.[38] Winmark sold Disc Go Round, which had increased to 137 stores, to CD Warehouse on June 26, 1998, for $7.4 million.[37]

It's About Games bought and sold used PC games, video games, and board games.[5] It was founded in Cleveland as Video Game Exchange in 1990 and grew to 83 stores by the end of 1994, but its excessive expansion resulted in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 1995 and the closure of half its stores.[39][40] Winmark spent roughly $6.8 million to acquire Video Game Exchange in 1997 and renamed it to It's About Games. It's About Games locations were largely in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Georgia and Maryland. It made money for Winmark until 1998. During its last year under Winmark management, It's About Games lost $3.4 million due to excessive inventory, a buggy computer system, poorly chosen products, and improperly trained employees. Winmark owned 60 of the 64 It's About Games stores in the franchise and would have been profitable without It's About Games. Winmark sold or closed all its It's About Games stores in 1999 to reduce losses. Winmark also aimed to cut down on the number of stores it owned because it wanted to focus on franchisee-owned stores.[41][42]

ReTool bought and sold used tools. Winmark opened the first ReTool on November 10, 1999, in Chicago.[43] Roughly 65% of ReTool's goods were purchased from people, while the remainder was purchased from factories that produced too many tools or from closing businesses.[44] CEO John Morgan said in an October 2000 interview that many people did not sell tools they did not use so it was hard to accumulate used tools at ReTool.[36] Winmark sold ReTool around 2002.[14]

Wirth Business Credit is a small-business supplies leasing company owned by Winmark.[6][9] In a 2008 interview with the Star Tribune, CEO John Morgan said Winmark plowed the $9 million to $10 million in profit from its franchisees into Wirth Business Credit because they believed leasing supplies will become a profitable business even though the current growth had been slow.[10] In 2008, there were 27 Wirth Business Credit franchises.[10]

In 2004, Winmark created Winmark Business Solutions, a website for small businesses owners.[9] Winmark Business Solutions was intended to help franchisees and clients of Wirth Business Credit. The website hosted 6,000 pages related to business such as how to found a company and how to sell a company. It had a forum for people to discuss small business issues and its articles also discussed finance, insurance, and technology topics with a focus on business.[9]