Once my girls outgrew their baby shower clothes and the neighbors moved on taking all their lovely hand-me-downs with them, the financial reality of clothing two little girls hit me. Floating on the goodness of others, I had not needed to to do any serious clothes shopping until they turned 3 and 5. Now faced with one little girl who could no longer squeeze into her favorite red dress, and the other who was walking around in “capris” half the winter, I was thrilled to hear about the biannual Children’s Clothing Consignment Sale (CCC Sale), a chance to find great deals on gently used Tyler TX children’s clothing. I found name brands at a price I could afford. Forty dollars completely outfitted both my princesses in cute dresses, designer jeans, darling tops, and a favorite pair of red sparkly shoes, all in excellent condition.

By the time the next CCC sale rolled around in the city of Tyler, I was prepared to dip into the pot and have a ready clothing budget by selling my girls’ outgrown clothes. I was bitten by an entrepreneurial bug, and inspired by the 70% profit I would take home, 20% better than the consignment shop downtown and 100% better than what I would earn at a garage sale. Usually the $150 you make at a garage sale is spent on the donuts, Taco Bell, and Pizza you feed your family and volunteers because you don’t have time to cook! Goodbye garage sales!

I love that Laura and Tess, two stay at home moms, struck on such a great idea and have had such amazing success. In 8 years the CCC sale has grown to massive proportions with over 600 families participating to fill over 30,000 square feet of the Harvey Convention Center with clothing, cribs, strollers, toys, movies, books, bikes, furniture, even playground equipment, anything you could want or need for your growing family. [ad#large-blog-block]

Even though they’ve grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, The CCC Sale’s success is due to the fact that they’ve kept strict standards on the quality of clothing and equipment, and followed well-thought out organization. You will not have to pass by ten torn, stained items to find the one that is half way decent, those items never make it to the rack. They’ve streamlined the record-keeping and check-out process by updating their technology: scanners, computers, and well placed volunteers make checkout for the hundreds of shoppers much faster.

And the volunteers! What an ingenious balance between need and incentive! The sale works because of the almost 100 volunteers who take at least one four-hour shift. Why volunteer? You get first dibs on the best items at the best prices in a special Preview Sale! Well worth a few hours work while scoping out which jogging stroller suits you, or which set of bunk-beds would fit the kids’ room.

Laura and Tess, the founders of the Children’s Clothing Consignment Sale, continue to expand their base of shoppers and sellers through smart advertisement, word of mouth, and more recently, adding a “Hunter’s Paradise” Day to the sale…Hunting equipment, clothing, and accessories. Need I say more? Go check out the next sale. Better yet, empty out your closets, start the washer, and turn your finest dust bunnies into next year’s new duds.