Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Thorn.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We wanted to start a business that would allow us to not depend on the stability of the corporate world but also allow it to be generational. We actually learned about Clothes Mentor through my father in law who owns a location in Naples, Fla. After spending a few weeks in his store we loved the concept.
Clothes Mentor is a franchise business so we had to go through the Franchisor’s evaluation and training process. We were approved in June 2013 and opened our doors in January 2014.
The thing you need to know is that we buy our inventory from individuals who want to earn cash from their closets. So when we opened it was only to buy inventory but not sell yet. We had 100’s of peoples items to go through over 8 weeks to stock the store for opening. Our buy process is the key to our success. We are not a consignment shop to where the customer does not get paid until the item sells. We pay cash up front and take on the financial risk of the items selling.
We officially opened to the public on March 10, 2014 with over 27,000 items in stock and approximately 175-200 customers in line. We opened at 10am with the first customer in line at 5:30am! What a fantastic opening weekend we had which at the time set the record for best opening weekend for all CM stores in the network.
The initial response and continued support of the business model lies solely with our customers.. one of the biggest realizations is that our business is environmentally helpful. Every item we buy/sell is helping the environment by recycling these items.
We have been here for over 11 yrs, my wife and daughter(s) have built a great employee team to assist all of our customers . We have a great customer base that we enjoy tremendously.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The buy process is always tough because we do have to pass on people’s items. 95% of the time people receive and accept the offers we make but there are times customers get upset that we did not take any of their items or the offer was not enough in their eyes.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My professional background is Supply Chain and plant operations for a major contract manufacturing company. I am an engineering/management executive that has managed thousands of employees in plants globally. NEVER EVER could I have foreseen building a business or selling women’s clothing and accessories.
It has been a great experience for me in this type of industry
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
This is a tough one because I had a great family, played multiple sports and enjoyed the old lifestyles. This will sound corny but my wife and I met in 7th grade, started dating when we were 15 and 49 yrs later still puts up with me
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Cordovatn.clothesmentor.com
- Facebook: Clothesmentorcordova
