Shalom Baer Gee/MDN Daneille McNail stands behind the counter at Once Upon A Child. The store’s grand opening is today. They offer gently used children’s clothes and accessories.

Once Upon A Child, a national franchise with 400 stores in the U.S. and Canada that buys and sells gently used children’s clothing and accessories, announced the grand opening of a location in Minot today at 1015 Broadway, Suite 12 in the Town & Country Shopping Center.

Local businesswoman and owner, Daneille McNail, signed the franchise agreement a year ago and signed a lease on the store itself in September 2021. She took over that location on Jan. 1, 2022. The store opened for buying items on Jan. 12.

Since then, the store has accumulated an inventory of 56,613 items. Aside from social media and radio marketing campaigns, McNail said she didn’t directly seek out items, but people brought items to the store from across North Dakota as well as Montana.

Items must be gently used and free of stains, holes, and excessive wear for the store to purchase them for resale. A computerized system determines the buying price and sale price of the items, which McNail said is based on the brand, condition, and demand.

“It has to be something re-sellable, and we just want to uphold the whole Winmark standard when we’re buying because you should be able to go to a store in Minot and the store in Fargo, and they should be very similar. Everything should be streamlined,” McNail said.

Winmark – The Resale Company owns the Once Upon A Child franchise, Plato’s Closet, Play It Again Sports, Style Encore, and Music Go Round. 1,271 franchise locations fall under their umbrella.

McNail also owns Preferred Cleaning in Minot, which offers commercial janitorial services, floor care, carpet and upholstery cleaning, and construction cleanup. She said that she’s still running Preferred Cleaning, but is getting help from someone else temporarily. “I kind of held off for a while because of the pandemic,” she said. “I’m still gonna be inspecting stuff.”

About two years ago, McNail said she became more serious about the idea of opening the store, but she had thought about it for years. A mother of two children, now ages 12 and 16, McNail frequently shopped at the Once Upon A Child in Bismarck.

“My daughter and I used to take girl day trips to Bismarck, and we’d go shopping before my son was born, and we’d always go to Once Upon A Child. We’ve shopped them all over the country. They’re great,” she said.

McNail said in a press release that she wants to provide affordable options to families.

“I understand how expensive it is to raise children today and want to offer an affordable option for local families. By purchasing merchandise directly from consumers, we’re able to offer them lower prices and a great opportunity to receive cash on the spot for items they may have otherwise simply given away,” she said.

To celebrate its grand opening, Once Upon A Child is offering give-away bags to the first 25 people at the door today and a drawing to win a Ford Mustang Powered Ride-On tonight at 6 p.m..

On Friday, there will be face painting from 2 to 4 p.m.; on Saturday, from 4 to 6 p.m., a Snow Queen & Snow Princess meet & greet; and on Sunday, double reward points for all items sold to Once Upon A Child and purchased in store.

There will be a drawing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening for $50 shopping sprees. Throughout the weekend, if customers spend $50, they’ll receive a $5-off coupon for a future purchase.

For more information, call the store at 837-7910 or visit www.onceuponachild.com/locations/minot-nd