529 Kids Consign Helps Save on Clothes, College

Megan Podolsky and Pouneh Barnes understand that children are expensive. That’s one of the reasons they founded 529 Kids Consign, a consignment shop with a unique business model.

Launched in May 2010, 529 Kids Consign lets parents recycle gently used children’s and maternity clothing and accessories. Podolsky and Barnes agree to sell consignors’ merchandise for 60 percent of the total sales. The consignor collects the other 40 percent.

The 529 Kids Consign website sums up their business philosophy: "We believe that there is no reason why anyone should pay full price for something that will be outgrown in just a few months."

529 partners with local, mom-friendly businesses such as near Rose Hill and Mystique Jewelers in Old Town, to host “pop-up shop” events. Podolsky and Barnes put their merchandise on display in a section of these businesses, allowing mothers to enjoy a cup of coffee and maybe get some quality clothing for their little ones.

The business's website has been live for about a year, but was recently relaunched. Podolsky and Barnes said they were waiting for it to take off. "We definitely want the online piece of it to really pick up. It works and we’ve gotten some really big orders, but we just need to get the word out there more."

Barnes said she hoped that customers would visit one of their pop-up events, see the fine quality of the goods available, and visit the website. "99.9 percent of our stuff is actually online," she said. They are also now accepting credit cards. 

Podolsky said 529 specializes in high-end, designer children’s clothing.

“We’ve established a report and a standard, that we accept designer,” she said. “It’s good quality and we go through and we feel terrible giving stuff back to our consigners but we have a standard.”

If Podolsky and Barnes don't select to certain items from a consignor, they give that person the option to take back those items or they give them to Alive!, a local charity that helps Alexandrians in need.

"We make weekly donations," Barnes said. 

Podolsky and Barnes said that when they came up with the idea for 529 Kids Consign, they wanted it to be completely online. “But people also want to touch and feel [the merchandise],” Podolsky said. “The first time we did a pop-up shop at Food Matters [in Cameron Station], the line was out the door. That was our very first real collaboration.

"Since then we’ve just been partnering with local businesses that want to attract moms.”

Being mothers themselves, Podolsky and Barnes said they devised the idea while watching their kids at a playground one day. “We said, ‘Okay, we need to do something a little more than hanging out at the playground every day,'” said Podolsky, who recently gave birth to her second child.

“529 plans are college saving plans,” Barnes said. “That’s where the name came from.”

Podolsky and Barnes’ backgrounds are both suited for the kind of business they’re in. Podolsky used to be a regional manager for Calvin Klein Jeans in its merchandising program. Barnes worked as a teacher in Northeast Washington, D.C., and McLean and also had a job as a healthcare administrator. 

529 Kids Consign is holding a pop-up event on Saturday, Oct. 1, at Reunions at 1709 Centre Plaza in Alexandria.