Children’s Orchard(R) Launches Online Store for 21st Century Mom
Posted Under: Childrens Franchises
Childrens Orchard Franchise
America’s favorite upscale-resale children’s clothing boutique is now online.
While Children’s Orchard® has become well known across the country for selling gently used, brand-name clothing and accessories for children, the company’s new Online Store will feature a variety of brand-new products and services to meet the unique needs of today’s mom.
“The busy mom of today has much different needs than when we opened our first resale store in 1980. The Internet as we know it didn’t even exist,” said Taylor Bond, President and CEO of Children’s Orchard®. “As our society has changed over the past 30 years, Children’s Orchard® has evolved into a community hub where moms can find solutions to many of their everyday problems. Our Online Store provides easy access to a variety of products that help families live easier, safer, and more environmentally conscious lives.”
The new Children’s Orchard® Online Store will feature a wide assortment of items, ranging from eco-friendly handbags to kids toys and software. For example, Children’s Orchard® just inked a national partnership with market leader Content Watch, makers of Net Nanny® a powerful, parental control and Internet safety solution that helps parents protect their children and monitor their online activity. Children’s Orchard® will sell Net Nanny® Basic for PC and Mac at their Online Store for $39.99, plus with the purchase buyers will receive a $5.00 Cache Card Certificate good at any Children’s Orchard® store. Other available items include safety items such as baby gates and medicine safes, as well as toys by Melissa & Doug.
To celebrate the grand opening of its new Online Store, Children’s Orchard will give away one of its featured handbags to a mom who joins their M.O.M.S Club before April 1, 2010. The Hybrid purse by English Retreads, valued at more than $150, features vibrant recycled PET fabric with accents of reclaimed rubber.
In conjunction with the launch of the Online Store, Children’s Orchard is also rolling out “Just In! Listings” which will be featured on the local websites of all its franchise locations. A rarity in the resale industry, with Just In! Listings moms will be able to preview items that have just arrived at their nearest Children’s Orchard store.
“We launched our first Just In! Listings on the local page of our store in Ann Arbor, MI and received a tremendous response from our customers,” said Bond. “Now, all over the country our stores regularly receive calls from moms inquiring about items they saw listed online. Since our inventory changes so quickly each day, moms love the idea of seeing we have at our stores from the comfort of their home or at work.”
About Children’s Orchard
Founded in 1980, Children’s Orchard is the nation’s first franchise of gently used and new name-brand children’s items. With nearly 60 franchise locations, each Children’s Orchard location buys and sells quality used and new children’s brand name clothing, toys and accessories in an upscale retail environment. Children’s Orchard stores are designed to emphasize quality, value, comfort and commitment to the local community.
To receive more information about a Children’s Orchard franchise, please visit their page here and fill out an Infromation Request Form
Reader Comments
Dear Readers,
I am a former Children’s Orchard franchisee. President Taylor Bond bought the franchise (corporate) in late 2004 and has proceeded to run the company in the ground, and to demoralize his franchisees. From the outset the message has been clear; local store owners do not work with Mr. Bond; instead, they work for him.
Children’s Orchard, once a proud and growing business with lots of willing and enthusiastic people, has gone from 100+ stores to fifty-one, not the sixty as reported. The shrinkage has come about as a result of Mr. Bond’s greed. Stores have quit or gone out of business because this man has found more and more ways to take money out of franchisees’ pockets and to put the same into his own.
The above explained online presence is just the latest example. In this venture, corporate will be selling the same merchandise, nation-wide, as its franchisees. Mr. Bond has put himself into direct competition with his stores. To add insult to injury, the internet customers will receive a $5 coupon which can be redeemed at any local franchise store. So, in addition to the arbitrary and unfair competition, franchisees will be expected to give away free merchandise, and they will be paying royalty fees on the $5. This is because Mr. Bond insists that franchisees count these coupons as money, thus falsely inflating the local stores’ top lines. We’ve watched him institute such one-sided business practices over and again.
More than once, this “fine franchisor” has used his positional power to stop enterprising franchisees from using the internet to market their stores and merchandise.
As one whose heart bleeds for the growing list of franchisees that Mr. Bond has used and abused to grow his own revenues, I say, don’t buy from the online store, and never ever think about buying one of these franchises. The first of these cheats franchisees, and the second of these is a stupid way to squander a lot of time, money, and energy.
Oh boy, am I glad I read this!
Childrens Orchard was a franchise I was actually interested in.
I didn’t know it had gone from 100+ stores down to 51.
I could have been out of the frying pan, (my present job/boss) and into the fire (working for Bond)