FranchiseVerdict
The Closet Trading Co. logo
FV-02613·MODERATEExcellent95

The Closet Trading Co.

Business Services - Printing & SignsFranchising since 2019Website
Investment
$157K – $370K
40th pct Printing & Si…
Avg revenue
$592K
17th pct Printing & Si…
Royalty
5.0%
3rd pct Printing & Si…
Units
8
13th pct Printing & Si…
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $157K – $370K including a $60K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $592K/year (median $645K). Estimated payback in 3.8 years.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 63/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 1 loans (below the industry average).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
THE CLOSET TRADING COMPANY FRANCHISING, LLC
Parent company
Luca B. Styles
Incorporated in
Wyoming
HQ
714 State Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101
Auditor
Larson & Company P.C.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$229K
vs $107K 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 The Closet Trading Co. unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $591,531
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: $157K–$370K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $25K–$90K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

17%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$53K
EBITDA margin
9.0%
Total invested
$321K
Payback
72 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.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 The Closet Trading Co. units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$237K

on $1.2M purchase

Total debt

$946K

SBA $0.6M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

The Closet Trading Co. operates secondhand/consignment retail locations where franchisees curate and resell clothing, accessories, and home goods. Day-to-day operations include inventory procurement from consignors, visual merchandising, customer sales transactions, and vendor relationship management. Franchisees manage both retail floor operations and back-office consignor payment processing and tracking.

CEO
Johanna Zlenko
Founded
2019
FDD year
2025
States available
2

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$157K – $370K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$25K – $90K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$60K
Royalty
5.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
1.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
3.8 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$592K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
$645K
Item 19 type
Historic
Sample size
7 units
vs category median 42 · small
Range (low → high)
$249K$837K
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
7 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · above
Revenue rank17th
vs Business Services - Printing & Signs peers
Investment cost rank40th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank3th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank13th
vs Business Services - Printing & Signs peers
Risk score rank70th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
8
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
5
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
38%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
1.0%
Net growth (yr3)
-25.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+0.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
3-1
Franchised units
2024
4
Franchised units
2025
3
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 9 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 · 9 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
1
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

63
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE63 / 100

A contracting franchise system with undisclosed financials, going concern uncertainty, and an unsustainably high cost structure relative to unit viability.

Score breakdown · what drove the 63 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDUnit count declined 25% year-over-year (8 units total) — indicates system contraction and potential franchisee dissatisfaction
  2. 02HIGHGoing Concern status is False — suggests financial instability or operational uncertainty at corporate level
  3. 03MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosures — inability to validate claimed $591,531 average revenue across only 8 locations
  4. 04MINORHigh initial investment ($157,400–$370,300) relative to small unit count and declining trajectory raises ROI sustainability questions
  5. 05MED5% royalty on gross sales with no disclosed marketing fund — franchisees bear full profit erosion without documented co-op support
  6. 06MINORExtremely small franchise system (8 units) limits peer support network and increases risk of system failure

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
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
34 hrs
On-the-job training
40 hrs

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

13 numbers

Locked
(844) 793-••••
The franchisor is The Closet Trading Company Franchising, LLC located at
(317) 232-••••
IN
(808) 586-••••
HI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

The Closet Trading Co. · FDD (2025) PDF

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