The idea became a multi-million dollar franchise.
Wilburn and her business partner, Daven Tackett, own Just Between Friends, a consignment shop specializing in the sale of maternity and children’s items.
“We thought it was something we could do twice a year and we’d get to shop for our kids first,” she said. “It was also for a supplemental income, to recoup our money for whatever we needed to buy our kids.”
Unlike a garage sale where items are sold for mere pocket change, Just Between Friends allows families to clean out their closets while being able to shop for new items.
Wilburn said many families need to replace children’s clothes every six months, which can get fairly expensive.
“This hits a spot that everyone has needs to get rid of children’s and maternity clothes,” she said.
“It’s a dignified way to clothe your children and recycle the old items.”
In 1997 Wilburn and Tackett held their first consignment sale in Wilburn’s living room, which is about 400 square feet. Seventeen of their friends came to the event and Wilburn said $2,000 worth of items were sold.
The semiannual event start gaining positive word of mouth and Just Between Friends moved to the 30,000 square feet building Trade Center at Expo Square in 2001.
People from out of town expressed interest in opening their own stores, but Wilburn and Tackett did not consider themselves a franchise business.
“We helped a bunch of people get started in different cities in 2003,” she said.
“People were telling us we needed to franchise. Daven and I had no idea what that meant.”
After doing a little research and listening to advice from friends, Just Between Friends started franchising in 2004. Now they have 61 franchises in 16 states.
The franchise start-up costs are $10,500 to $12,500, according to the International Franchise Association. The total investment is $18,500 to $24,600.
In 2007 the company grossed $4.5 million
Just Between Friends depends on consigners to sign up and sell personal items. The consigners make 65 percent of the profit and if they volunteer at the event they make about 70 percent.
Wilburn and Tackett saw nationwide exposure Tuesday when they were featured on the CNBC show The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.
Wilburn said the exposure would allow them to show the public they have options for unwanted clothes.
“We want them to know about this, we don’t want this to be the secret in Tulsa,” she said.
“We also want moms out there who are looking for a business opportunity to know this franchise opportunity is available.”
Their plan is rather simple; Wilburn said they want to remain in control of where the business goes without it consuming every aspect of their life.
“We’ve been getting about 10 to 15 franchises a year, we’ve been able to keep that up,” she said.
“We look for people who are living in territories that don’t already have Just Between Friends.”
by Heather Caliendo
The Journal Record