FranchiseVerdict
Once Upon A Child logo
FV-01827·STRONGExcellent91

Once Upon A Child

RetailFranchising since 1993Website
Investment
$356K – $486K
82nd pct Retail
Avg revenue
$1.3M
40th pct Retail
Royalty
5.0%
15th pct Retail
Units
441
90th pct Retail
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $356K – $486K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.2M).
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 330 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Winmark Corporation
Incorporated in
Minnesota
HQ
605 Highway 169 N, Suite 400, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55441
Auditor
Grant Thornton LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$81.3M
vs $86.1M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Once Upon A Child unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $1,268,984
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: retail
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $356K–$486K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $40K–$50K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

19%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$89K
EBITDA margin
7.0%
Total invested
$466K
Payback
63 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Once Upon A Child franchisees operate consignment and retail stores selling gently used children's clothing, toys, furniture, and gear. Day-to-day operations include inventory acquisition (consignment negotiations with parents), merchandise pricing and display, point-of-sale transactions, consignor payment processing, and store staffing. Success depends on foot traffic, local market density of families with young children, and effective inventory turnover.

CEO
Brett D. Heffes
Founded
1988
FDD year
2026
States available
46

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$356K – $486K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$40K – $50K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
5.0%
Percentage of Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
3.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$1.3M
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$1.2M
Item 19 type
Average Annual Sales and Gross Profit
Sample size
408 units
vs category median 52 · large
Range (low → high)
$269K$3.7M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
6 / 5
vs category median 3 / 5 · above
Revenue rank40th
vs Retail peers
Investment cost rank82th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank15th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank90th
vs Retail peers
Risk score rank5th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
441
Opened
17
Last reporting year
Closed
6
Turnover rate
1.4%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+2.6%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+6.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
441+11
Franchised units
2025
430
Franchised units
2026
416
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 11 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 11 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
330
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

41
Risk · 0-100
STRONG41 / 100

Moderate-to-caution risk profile: respectable revenue scale but anemic growth, missing profitability disclosure, and high capital requirement demand thorough franchisee reference validation before commitment.

Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — unable to verify profitability claims against $1.27M average revenue
  2. 02MINORSlow unit growth of 2.6% YoY suggests market saturation or franchisee underperformance in used children's goods retail
  3. 03MINORHigh initial investment ($355K-$486K) combined with no Item 19 financials creates visibility gap on ROI timeline
  4. 04MINORUsed goods retail model is margin-sensitive and vulnerable to economic downturns and consumer spending shifts
  5. 05HIGHNo 'going concern' flag is positive, but lack of net income data prevents assessment of unit-level sustainability

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
State where store is located

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
41 hrs
On-the-job training
19 hrs
POS system
Winmark Proprietary Software
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

99 numbers

Locked
(860) 571-••••
CT
(407) 960-••••
FL
(480) 497-••••
AZ

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Once Upon A Child · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above