North Potomac Mom's Enterprise Helps Families in Challenging Economic Times

An entrepreneurial spirit comes naturally to North Potomac resident Robyn Rutland, who simply “loves starting up things.”  

Rutland is the founder of TotSwap, a consignment business for tots-to-teen items that runs large-scale sales, similar to a huge yard sale with higher quality merchandise, throughout Maryland. They use four locations in Maryland — Gaithersburg, Frederick, Timonium and Columbia — and hold a sale at each location three times a year.

“There was nothing like this in the area,” said Rutland, who began her career planning and setting up college fairs for Montgomery County.

She first saw large-scale consignment businesses in North Carolina and decided it was something to bring to Maryland. In fall of 2006, she began TotSwap.

TotSwap provides the means for anyone to sell new or gently used maternity and children’s items, including clothing, shoes, baby equipment, toys, indoor/outdoor play equipment, books, videos and sports equipment.

Consignors participate by registering online, tagging their own items and dropping them off at the sale. Each item is inspected, and only new or gently used items in good condition are accepted as inventory.

All advertising, venue logistics, displays and clean-up are handled by TotSwap. The sales run on weekends from Thursday through Sunday and take place seasonally (fall, winter and spring). Gaithersburg’s Fall 2011 sale is September 21 to 25 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.

“This is a win-win for families,” Rutland said. “Families can earn money by selling their used items, which keeps down the costs of growing up.”

There is no denying that TotSwap sales are big business. With more than 300 families participating in each sale, inventories include thousands of items.The biggest sale so far has had more than 70,000 items. 

Anyone can shop the sales and anyone can sign up as a consignor or a volunteer. Volunteers and consignors have the extra benefit of admission to the Thursday night pre-sale.

Balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood can be a challenge though, as Rutland can attest.

Rutland admitted that “life stops when there is a sale,” and she is thankful for the support from home when sale season begins.

Rutland is thankful, too, for technological developments that have helped her manage the large inventories efficiently and that make it possible for her to pay her TotSwap consignors within seven days of the sale.

“TotSwap has experienced steady growth over the past six years,” she said.

With the difficult economic environment, many families may turn to consigning to save money on purchases and make money on sales.

“The bottom line is it really does help families,” she said.

To learn more about TotSwap and see the schedule for the 2011/2012 sales, go to TotSwap.net for details.