Dec. 22—ROCHESTER — The holidays can be a tricky time for those on a budget, especially for families.

Not everyone can afford new toys and clothing to give to loved ones, which is where stores like The Children’s Exchange come in. The Children’s Exchange started in 1986 and has been a consignment shop for children’s items for nearly 40 years.

The store sells both new and used items for expecting mothers and children from infancy into their teens.

“My big sister, who is 18 years my senior, started it because she was going to have her last child at 40 years old,” said Jolene Anderson, owner of The Children’s Exchange. “She had two previous children, so she kind of knew how fast kids grow and didn’t want to go rebuy all that stuff at retail price again, knowing that you use a bassinet for a few months and that type of thing. So she kind of came upon this idea of she started going to garage sales, trying to find the stuff she needed and it was just too frustrating and hard to find nice things and the right sizes and all that stuff. So she decided to start a store like this.”

Anderson and her husband bought the business from her sister, Janice Williams, in 1996. Not much has changed over the years, but the Andersons did purchase the house next door to move the buying process into. It gave them a place to price and process all of the items while allowing for more space for retail in their main building.

Members of the community can sell their items in three different ways. If sellers are coming in with 20 items or fewer, they can walk into the store and sell them without dropping them off or needing an appointment. If there are more than 20 items, they can drop them off and fill out a form or schedule an appointment with the store to go through the items.

“We’re usually really slow in my office in taking items,” said Anderson. “This year, we have never slowed down. So that kind of tells me people are looking for any way they can to get a little extra money to buy the things that they do need for the holidays.”

Anderson said many of their customers who come in with items to sell opt to get their money in the form of store credit. Customers get 10% more if they receive store credit compared to if they receive cash or a check.

Anderson is in charge of the buying process. She has always loved the hunt for finding good items for a good price and has used this passion to help with the store.

“I’ve always been a bargain hunter,” said Anderson. “I love to get the best price and any certain items just kind of gives me an adrenaline rush. So when my sister kind of started, she asked ‘do you like to do this?’ And I found that I was really good at it. You need to know and be really mindful of all your buying items.”

The Children’s Exchange’s peak season is during back-to-school time or when the weather gets cold. Winter clothing like coats, boats and other outerwear tend to fly off the shelf, but this year everything has been in higher demand, and not just clothing.

“Typically, our store is really slow in December, most people used to think it had to be new in a box to give as a gift,” said Anderson. “I see that changing this year more so than any other and I think it just has to do with the economy and people are struggling and our inflation is so huge.”

Paw Patrol, Fisher Price toys and dolls are always flying off the shelves as soon as it is in stock. The Children’s Exchange is always putting new items out though and customers never know what they will find.

“Even if you’re not financially struggling, it’s such a good way to save thousands of dollars every year,” said Anderson. “Our stuff is still in style. We strive to buy really lightly used, not faded items, and you can dress your kids for so much less. You might not find that one pair of jeans, one time you stopped, but two days later, there they are.”

The Children’s Exchange also sells new items for a very discounted price.

“We just drive around and shop like clearances at the end of the season,” said Anderson. “We go all over the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota and try to buy all that stuff up when nobody else wants it and then we can offer it back to people. A lot of times our boots are 50% off when they’re still new, so those sell really, really good.”

Anderson takes a lot of pride in the items sold at The Children’s Exchange. One of her favorite parts is going through and deciding which items to buy, because she knows these items are for children and the items need to be clean and in good condition. Everything is washed before it’s placed in the store, which might take away from the profit but it is important to them.

“We try to be very particular about what we buy our things,” said Anderson. “All of our items get freshly washed, which is something our competitors do not do. We feel better knowing a baby’s going to be in there and it’s going to be a clean place for the baby to be and it just is more attractive in our store as well.”