Award-Winning Resale Franchise Brands Rev Up Development for 2022, North America Growth and Milestones Ahead

Winmark Corporation, North America's leading franchisor of sustainable resale brands Once Upon A Child®, Plato's Closet®, Play It Again Sports®, Music Go Round® and Style Encore®, continues to lead the resale industry. In 2021, its franchise locations extended the life of 158 million items, and Winmark expanded its available territories to over 2,800 across all five of its brands throughout the United States and Canada. Winmark – the Resale Company® closes out the year with 46 awarded franchises and has its eyes set on aggressive franchise development leading into 2022 as it focuses on its mission of providing Resale for Everyone™.

While the past two years have been challenging for many retail brands, Winmark's resale brands defied the odds and grew to meet the increasing demand for quality used, secondhand products. In fact, since 2010, Winmark brands have recycled over 1.3 billion items.

The success achieved by Winmark has been honored by the franchise industry, as Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child and Play It Again Sports made an appearance on Franchise Times' 2021 Top 500. Amid these prestigious rankings, Once Upon A Child hit a major brand milestone, opening its 400th location in September in Douglasville, GA. Winmark also announced several partnerships, including Blake Bolden's emBolden her mentorship program; USA Hockey, becoming the Official Resale Partner of USA Hockey and an official partner of the organization; and the LA Kings and Kings Care Foundation as the Official Resale Partner of the LA Kings.

"The future of the resale industry remains strong and promising," said Renae Gaudette, President of Franchising at Winmark Corporation. "As we continue to grow, our impact will only strengthen as we aim to further our position as the industry leader in resale and sustainability. We are on a simple mission to provide Resale for Everyone™. Our brands are the leaders in the resale space, and our franchisee partners are executing at a high level. Our goal is to find more franchise partners to fill those 2,800+ territories so that every community has the opportunity to benefit from our brands, and similarly those franchisees are awarded the opportunity to be part of a successful network of sustainable resale brands."

By prioritizing innovation, Winmark has continued enhancing its multichannel offerings and roll-out of its e-commerce system and social selling programs to assist franchisees. This was created in an effort to provide franchisees additional resources for online selling options that has provided tremendous value to their businesses as well as to their customers.

Winmark has solidified its strong position by delivering consumers an experience that is unparalleled in the resale space. The company's commitment to sustainability and providing quality used merchandise in a clean, welcoming environment sets it apart from other resale concepts and has proven to be a key driver in both consumer and franchise growth, as many of its franchisees were customers prior to opening their own stores.

To learn more about Winmark – the Resale Company® and its franchise opportunities, visit winmarkfranchises.com.

 
Winmark – the Resale Company® is a nationally recognized franchising business focused on sustainability and small business formation. We champion and guide entrepreneurs interested in operating one of our award-winning resale franchises: Plato's Closet®, Once Upon A Child®, Play It Again Sports®, Style Encore® and Music Go Round®. At December 25, 2021, there were 1,271 franchises in operation and over 2,800 available territories. An additional 46 franchises have been awarded but are not open.