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Anna Chamorro is the
mother of 2 boys, Alex & Max, and lives in Collegeville with her husband,
Carlos.
Beth Zawodniak is
married to Anna's brother Henry. She, Henry, and
their three boys, Andrew, Patrick, and Evan live in Holland, Bucks County.
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Thank you for your interest in the
Smart Moms Sale! We started Smart Moms in January of 2004 for several
reasons. We are mothers of small children and, like you, we have been
frustrated by how quickly our kids are outgrowing their clothing, toys and
equipment. In some cases, items still have their tags on them when they
are too small! We were feeling pinched by the increasing costs of clothing
and outfitting our kids and were looking for a place to buy low-cost, quality
items. We had been to other consignment sales and were slightly
disappointed by the disorganization and low-quality of the merchandise.
Digging through mounds of clothes felt like a treasure hunt rather than a
shopping trip! We thought
other parents probably felt the same way as us so we took a chance and started
organizing the Smart Moms Sale! Our goal was to offer a highly-organized,
efficient sale of ONLY high-quality children's clothing and equipment. All
of our clothing is hung on racks and sorted by size and gender. Other
items are sorted and arranged with similar items. It is easy and
gratifying to shop at our sale!
The response has been
tremendous! Our first sale in the Spring of 2004 involved 40 "smart moms"
in Bucks County. The community was extremely responsive buying about 75%
of the merchandise. In the Fall or 2004, we added a sale in Montgomery
County (Anna's neck of the woods). There were 60 families there and we,
again, sold over 75% of the merchandise. Our fall Bucks County Sale, with
60 families, was also successful despite a last minute emergency relocation due
to a flood at the sale site.
In the Spring 2005, we accepted
over 80 consignors in both Montgomery and Bucks Counties. The sales were,
again, a huge success with hundreds of community members shopping! During
2006, we grew to over 140 consignors in Montgomery County and 100 in Bucks
County!
Organizing the sales is a LOT of
work; however, we wouldn't give it up! Not only do we enjoy selling our own
merchandise, and shopping for our kids, and learning many new business skills,
but we also enjoy getting to know so many other local moms! It has truly
been a pleasure meeting all of our "smart moms" (and smart dads, too)!
We are very grateful to all of
our friends and family who have generously volunteered their time to help us run
the sales, care for our kids, and spread the word about Smart Moms. We
especially want to thank our husbands, Carlos and Henry, for their support and
hard labor before, during, and after the sales!
--Anna Chamorro & Beth Zawodniak |