Consignment Stores Offer Big Brands

"The major department stores and specialty retailers have really trained my customer base by telling women that the only time to shop is when they're running a sale," MacCallum said. "So there's this broad sales mentality out there, and we're basically perceived as being on sale all the time."

At the Just Kids consignment shop on Route 44 in Canton, owner Dyann McKinstry said she has more than 7,000 consigning customers. She advertises in the Farmington Valley's "Yankee Flyer," deliberately pitching ads to two groups: grandparents, who enjoy buying big ticket items like strollers and cribs; and teenagers, who know their parents will only allow them to buy the latest, hot brands at discounted prices.

"In the past, we had a lot of thrifty, careful people who would bring in clothes for us to resell for them and then just turn back and walk out the door, not returning until they came back to collect their consignment checks," McKinstry said. "But the change this year has been pretty dramatic. Now those same consigners are staying in the store to shop."

One of Just Kids' most loyal customers is Hilary Bernetich of Avon, a mother of four who carefully washes and stacks a load of clothes to consign almost every month. She then lets her consignment check at the store build up to more than $400, so she can spend down her credit with the store, buying clothes the children choose themselves each season.