NTY Franchise

What NTY Franchise does

NTY Franchise Company is a privately held, multi-brand resale franchisor headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. Founded in 2006 by the father-son team of Ron and Chad Olson, the company operates a portfolio of five complementary resale franchise concepts that buy gently used items from local sellers for cash and resell them to value-conscious consumers: Clothes Mentor (women's designer apparel, footwear, handbags, and accessories), Children's Orchard (children's clothing, toys, and accessories), NTY Clothing Exchange (teen and young-adult apparel), New Uses (household furniture, décor, and appliances), and Device Pitstop (electronics repair and resale). Across the five brands the company reports roughly 204 stores sold and 133 stores opened across 42+ US states, with Clothes Mentor as the dominant revenue contributor (system-wide sales of $84M+ from 145 stores as of the 2018 Franchise Times Top 200+ listing).

The company's competitive infrastructure centers on a proprietary, cloud-based point-of-sale and inventory-management system augmented by an integrated recommerce platform that combines local-sourcing retail with national ecommerce fulfillment. The Clothes Mentor ecommerce site, launched in 2020, exposes inventory from 82 stores to a national buyer pool and routes proceeds back to the originating franchisee. The company is using this technology stack to pursue share in a resale apparel market that outside sources characterize as growing materially faster than overall retail.

NTY earns revenue via the standard franchise mechanics: initial franchise fees and ongoing royalties on franchisee unit-level retail sales across all five brands. Franchisees are SMB owner-operators supplied with end-to-end support covering site selection, financing assistance, design and build-out, POS and inventory systems, training, field operations coaching, and corporate marketing. The company remains founder-led under the Olson family with no disclosed institutional or private-equity backing, and the eight-person executive team — drawn heavily from prior roles across Winmark/Grow Biz, Plato's Closet, Once Upon a Child, Target, Macy's, and Burlington — anchors ongoing expansion of both the store footprint and the digital platform.

Name

NTY Franchise

Legal name

NTY Franchise Company

Website

https://ntyfranchise.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NTY Franchise is a Plymouth, Minnesota-based, privately held multi-brand resale franchisor operating five concepts — Clothes Mentor, Children's Orchard, NTY Clothing Exchange, New Uses, and Device Pitstop — that buy gently used items locally and resell them through franchisee-operated stores and a national ecommerce platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Plymouth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Franchise Fees: Revenue generated from selling franchise rights to entrepreneurs who open resale retail stores under NTY brand concepts including Clothes Mentor, Children's Orchard, NTY Clothing Exchange, New Uses, and Device Pitstop
2. Retail Sales (Franchisee-operated Stores): Franchisees purchase gently used inventory from local sellers and resell to consumers. The parent company earns ongoing royalties from franchisee sales performance
3. E-commerce Sales: Online sales through Clothes Mentor's ecommerce platform launched in 2020, allowing national access to inventory from local stores

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NTY Franchise Company sells franchise rights, training, tools, and ongoing operational support for five resale retail brand concepts — Clothes Mentor, Children's Orchard, NTY Clothing Exchange, New Uses, and Device Pitstop — that allow franchisees to purchase gently used inventory locally and resell to consumers via physical stores and a shared national ecommerce platform. The company provides end-to-end franchisee support covering research and discovery, business planning, store location and leasing, financing, design and build-out, proprietary point-of-sale and inventory software, coaching, and marketing.

Product overview

NTY Franchise Company operates as a franchise holding company that owns and franchises five distinct resale-based brands across different market segments. The portfolio includes Clothes Mentor (women's designer fashion resale), Children's Orchard (children's apparel and accessories resale), NTY Clothing Exchange (teens and young adults clothing resale), New Uses (household furniture and décor resale), and Device Pitstop (electronics repair and resale). All five brands share a common resale business model where franchise stores purchase gently used items from local sellers and resell them to consumers. The company provides franchisees with proprietary technology including cloud-based point-of-sale systems and an integrated recommerce platform that enables both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce sales channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Clothes Mentor: Women's resale fashion franchise specializing in designer clothing, handbags, shoes, and accessories
• Children's Orchard
• Device Pitstop
• New Uses
• NTY Clothing Exchange

Products and services

• Clothes Mentor Franchise A sustainable women's resale fashion franchise that buys and sells gently used, name-brand clothing, shoes, accessories, and handbags, catering to budget-conscious yet style-savvy shoppers seeking quality, trendy pieces without high price tags. Franchisees operate local stores under the Clothes Mentor brand with company-provided POS, inventory, and ecommerce technology.
• Children's Orchard Franchise A children's retail resale franchise that buys and sells gently used, name-brand clothing, toys, and accessories for kids, providing an affordable shopping experience for budget-conscious families seeking trendy yet inexpensive options for their children.
• NTY Clothing Exchange Franchise A clothing resale franchise targeting teenagers and young adults, specializing in current fashion trends at affordable resale prices for that demographic segment.
• New Uses Franchise A household furniture, décor, and appliances resale franchise concept where franchisees purchase and resell used household goods within their local market.
• Device Pitstop Franchise An electronics repair and resale franchise concept, offering device repair services and selling refurbished electronics through locally owned franchise stores.
• Clothes Mentor eCommerce Platform A national ecommerce storefront extending Clothes Mentor franchisee inventory beyond each local market, providing franchisees with an additional sales channel and customers with access to nationwide inventory.

Quantifiable outcome

• 65% gross margins for Clothes Mentor brand
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Exceptional Children's Foundation (ECF)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2018Children's Orchard of Manhattan Beach donates unsold items to the Exceptional Children's Foundation, which serves children with developmental, learning, and emotional disabilities. This partnership supports ECF's mission while providing an outlet for merchandise that cannot be sold.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Once Upon a Child: Once Upon a Child is a Winmark-owned franchise that buys and sells gently used children's clothing, toys, and baby gear. It is a direct competitor to NTY's Children's Orchard brand, serving the same parent customer segment with a similar buy-sell-resell model.
• Style Encore: Style Encore is a Winmark-owned franchise specializing in women's resale fashion. It directly competes with NTY's Clothes Mentor brand, targeting the same demographic of budget-conscious women seeking name-brand used clothing and accessories.
• Uptown Cheapskate: Uptown Cheapskate is a women's and men's resale clothing franchise that directly competes with Clothes Mentor. Both target style-conscious shoppers seeking name-brand used clothing at a discount, and both operate on a buy-sell-resell model through franchised stores.
• Kid to Kid: Kid to Kid is a children's resale franchise specializing in gently used clothing, toys, and equipment for kids. It is a direct competitor to NTY's Children's Orchard brand, serving budget-conscious families through franchised stores.
• Plato's Closet: Plato's Closet is a Winmark-owned franchise specializing in buying and selling gently used teen and young adult clothing. It directly competes with NTY's NTY Clothing Exchange and overlaps with Clothes Mentor's customer base. Both are franchised resale models targeting style-conscious budget shoppers.
• Winmark Corporation: Winmark is the largest franchisor of resale stores in the US, operating Plato's Closet, Once Upon a Child, Style Encore, Play It Again Sports, and Music Go Round. It is the most directly comparable company to NTY, as both build and franchise multi-brand resale concepts with similar unit economics and customer bases. NTY's founder Ron Olson co-founded Winmark's predecessor.

Broad incumbents

• Poshmark: Poshmark is a peer-to-peer marketplace for new and used fashion, now owned by Naver. While it operates a different model (P2P rather than franchise retail), it competes for the same consumer demand for affordable used clothing and accessories, particularly with NTY Clothing Exchange's teen/young adult demographic.
• thredUP: thredUP is the largest online resale platform for women's and children's clothing, operating as a public company. While it does not franchise physical stores, it competes with all of NTY's apparel brands for the same secondhand fashion consumer. thredUP's data and scale represent both a competitive threat and a validation of the resale market opportunity.

Emerging players

• Buffalo Exchange: Buffalo Exchange is a privately-held chain of buy-sell-trade resale clothing stores, primarily in the western US. While it is not a franchise and is smaller than NTY's network, it operates the same buy-sell-resell model targeting style-conscious shoppers and is a comparable resale retail operator.

Others

• The RealReal: The RealReal is an online marketplace for authenticated luxury consignment. While it operates in a higher price tier and is not a direct franchise competitor, it competes for the same designer-conscious resale consumer that Clothes Mentor targets, particularly in the women's designer fashion category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ntyfranchise
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nty-franchising-company
• Xx.com/ntyfranchise

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NTY Franchise