Friends, did you save your back to school shopping dollars for the fabulous Just Between Friends consignment sale that is coming to Mount Vernon this month??! I am a huge fan of these sales, I try to hit up each one of them during sale season because you just never know what great deals you can find. The most local one to me, JBF Marysville - Mount Vernon, is coming to the Skagit County Fairgrounds this month and I am pumped to shop and consign!
In the last year you may have noticed that a new face is heading up this consignment sale. Let me introduce to you the new owner of JBF Marysville - Mount Vernon: Courtney Evans! Read on for the Pierogie Mama exclusive interview to learn more about the mama behind the scenes.
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The Pierogie Mama: Courtney, this the second sale you are hosting for Mount Vernon, but this is your second JBF business! Tell me why you love JBF and what made you want to add Marysville - Mount Vernon to your territory?
Courtney Evans: I started with JBF as a consignor. I was drawn to JBF because of the convenience and values each sale holds. I participated in a consignment event where we had to hand write all of our tags, and then for the register they took the tags and hand added it with a calculator. First it was the longest 2 weeks of my life having to write all those tags! Second, once I picked up my unsold items, I had no idea what sold and how much to expect in my check. When I found JBF I was amazed at how it was all online, easy to use, and I could track what was selling. Then one day I was playing around on the computer and read that JBF is a franchise business. I was talking to my husband about it and he was SO encouraging! He just kept saying, "You'd be great at that! You should do it! What are they going to say? No? Then you'll just keep consigning and doing what you're doing." So I took the plunge and pulled up the JBF application process, and you wouldn't believe who filled out most of my application... MY HUSBAND! I had originally applied to start the Marysville Mount Vernon territory, life had other plans for me and I ended up taking over the Issaquah territory in 2016. When I caught wind that Marysville Mount Vernon was up for grabs in the Spring, we jumped on it. I grew up in Marysville and worked in Mount Vernon for years, my husband grew up in Arlington and currently works in Mount Vernon. So we have a deep connection and ties into the area. Anyone up here can attest that the small town feeling you get when walking around town and chatting with members of the community, and that feeling is honestly the reason why I wanted to add the Marysville Mount Vernon sale.
TPM: That is awesome, Courtney! It's great to not only have your hubby behind your dreams but for it to work out so well for your family and timing as well. Since you already have ties to the area, give us some Skagit love - where is your favorite place to eat and park to visit? Is there somewhere you want to visit but haven't gotten a chance to yet?
CE: I absolutely love to take my kids to Jungle Playland, especially when they have the spray park going! As far as parks, I haven't explored many yet.. If anyone has recommendations, I'll definitely take them! As far as places to eat.. there are too many to limit! I'm such a foodie, and a sucker for good sushi, Mexican, or pizza!
TPM: I have yet to visit Jungle Playland but I know it's a ton of fun. One of my favorite local parks has been Donovan Park off Old Highway 99 - it's just down the road from me and the perfect summer oasis for the wide shallow creek. But now that summer is at a close and colder weather is upon us - you'll find me and my brood at the Childrens Museum at the Cascade Mall more often! My favorite pizza place is (whispers) Costco. My middle child, Ruby, loves her some Costco lunch! ;) But if you were to ask me where I would want to go for lunch it would either be Calico Cupboard or BowEdison for a date night with the hubs.
TPM: Ok so back to the sale - the JBF consignment sales are awesome because they are a franchise system so the formula is very similar across all of the sales. As you mentioned before, the biggest difference you'll find with JBF from other consignment events is that when you consign your tagged items are able to be sold at any JBF event whether you're in Washington or Florida. Your sales are uploaded online and everything is super easy to track and that's what gave me the comfort of knowing my hard work and childrens items are going to be valued and taken care of by the sale I take them to. The JBF owners work with their consignors to help price items fairly to get the shopper the best deal and the consignor a great payout for their items. What have you seen as far as how much shoppers are saving and how much a consignor can expect to make?
TPM: Ok so back to the sale - the JBF consignment sales are awesome because they are a franchise system so the formula is very similar across all of the sales. As you mentioned before, the biggest difference you'll find with JBF from other consignment events is that when you consign your tagged items are able to be sold at any JBF event whether you're in Washington or Florida. Your sales are uploaded online and everything is super easy to track and that's what gave me the comfort of knowing my hard work and childrens items are going to be valued and taken care of by the sale I take them to. The JBF owners work with their consignors to help price items fairly to get the shopper the best deal and the consignor a great payout for their items. What have you seen as far as how much shoppers are saving and how much a consignor can expect to make?
CE: My favorite part is checking out the receipt once the shoppers check out. At the bottom of our receipts there is a line that says, 'You paid x amount of dollars per item'. This is so fun to me, it's a visual way for shoppers to SEE the savings! As for the consignors, our average consignor check is over $250! I don't know about you, but there is A LOT I can do with $250..
TPM: I am pretty sure that all of my consignment check gets recycled into buying clothes and other items for my kids at the next JBF sale, which I absolutely love. I know that by closing that loop I'm saving myself money on what I buy but I'm also keeping those funds local by purchasing another family's consigned items. That makes a tangible differences versus taking our dollars to a large corporate store.
TPM: What are some of the items that shoppers can find at JBF sales? For those families who are going to consign, what are items that shoppers always look for? CE: Shoppers can expect to find EVERYTHING they need to raise a kid under one roof. From maternity and baby equipment to Juniors and prom dresses. If there is something you are looking for, it'd be silly to pay retail, when the odds of finding it at our sale is HUGE! For the families that are tossing around the idea of consigning, if it's time to purge your house, do it! Make some money on those items your kids don't use anymore! We make it so easy to participate. We offer multiple consignor 101 parties on Facebook, that you can watch live or come back when it is convenient. These parties will take you step by step of the tagging process. If you find that you are stretched for time and just don't have a way to tag, we offer personal tagging. We have taggers that will do the hard work for you, and you STILL cash in! There is some cost involved with having a personal tagger, but in the end you will end up making money for less effort than trying to do a garage sale.
You can find us on Facebook @ JBFMarysvilleMountVernon,
and we are newly on Instagram @JBFMarysvilleMountVernon
Stay tuned for a follow up blog post showing you what I found at the presale and what you can expect that weekend!
Just Between Friends of Marysville - Mount Vernon
Fall 2017 Sale
September 28 - October 1
Skagit County Fairgrounds
