Rags To Riches
Closet Cash
Loyce Jones, 48, opened her consignment clothing store, Bon Ton,
in Dallas in January 1994, with the help of her sister and
brother-in-law, Sharon and Edward Anderson. They had just $400 in
start-up funds and an inventory culled mainly from their own
closets. "My sister is a clotheshorse, and I'm one of
those people who shifts sizes," explains Jones. "Sharon
had hundreds of things she had never worn or barely worn because
she's been working in retail forever. For the kind of stores
she worked in, she had to [dress well]." Jones spent the $400 on paper, copier supplies, sales tickets
and a used cash register. Bon Ton was profitable immediately,
although the bottom line took a temporary hit in June 1996, when
the store moved from its original location in the basement of an
apartment building to its current location in a downtown corporate
plaza. The rent, which consumes about 20 percent of revenues,
didn't go up much, because the new landlords were eager to get
a retail shop into the building. Bon Ton's 1997 revenues were
about $50,000.
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