JWC Media
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By Ann Marie Scheidler
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATRINA WITTKAMP
STYLING BY THERESA DEMARIA
Jenny Welsh, founder of Growing Cents of Style, standing in front of gently used items ready to be cataloged and sold online.
When Jenny Welsh launched Growing Cents of Style in 2006, she was a stay-at-home mom with four daughters, a traveling husband, and a desire to contribute financially to her family. What began with six clothing racks and a few folding tables in a small storefront on Cook Street in Barrington has grown into one of the region’s most beloved consignment events, now entirely online and reaching shoppers across the country.
“I started Growing Cents of Style as a way to help other families earn a little extra money and find great clothes for less,” Welsh says. “I never imagined it would become what it is today.”
Welsh’s entrepreneurial journey started with a wish to help. In 2005, as she watched coverage of Hurricane Katrina, she felt compelled to do something. Drawing on her background in event planning and fundraising, she organized a massive neighborhood garage sale in Barrington. Neighbors divided up responsibilities—one handled toys, another home goods, Welsh took children’s clothing—and they filled garages and driveways with donations. “People showed up with bins and bins of things,” she recalls. “We raised $20,000 for families affected by the storm.”
That moment sparked something. “I realized how much high-quality stuff people had in their homes that they just didn’t know what to do with,” she recalls. Having sold on eBay before, Welsh began exploring new ways to connect sellers and buyers locally. After a friend told her about consignment events popular in the South, an idea clicked.
By fall 2006, the first Growing Cents of Style sale was ready. Welsh and a friend-turned-business-partner collected items in her garage and rented space through the park district. Word spread quickly through their preschool network, and the response was overwhelming. “The hardest part of any consignment sale is finding the space to host it,” Welsh says with a laugh. “Thankfully, our Barrington connections helped us find places as we grew.”
Over the years, Growing Cents of Style expanded from a small local event to filling the massive 12,000-square-foot Canlan Sportsplex, with shoppers traveling long distances to browse the 32,000 items on the sales floor. “It would take 250 three-hour shifts to run one of our six-day events,” Welsh recalls. “It was massive—but it worked.”
Then came 2020. With their biggest event ready to launch and thousands of items already set up, the pandemic shut everything down overnight. “It was such a traumatic experience,” Welsh says. “It forced us to rethink our entire model.”
Working with a marketing team, Welsh (now the sole owner of Growing Cents of Style) transitioned the entire sale online—an experiment that became the future of her business. The first virtual sale, held in fall 2020, was a runaway success. “We realized we could solve so many of the challenges that came with in-person events—rising costs, staffing shortages, limited space,” she says. “The online model just made sense.”
Today, Growing Cents of Style hosts two online sales each year, with hundreds of sellers uploading photos, setting prices, and selling items to shoppers across the country. Sellers drop off only what’s sold, and Welsh and her team organize the items for pickup or shipping.
“I love that this business has evolved alongside my life,” Welsh says. “When I started, my twins were in preschool. Now, they have graduated from college. It’s allowed me to be present as a mom while still building something meaningful.”
For Welsh, Growing Cents of Style has always been about more than resale. “A lot of the families I work with, this truly makes a difference for them,” she explains. “And for shoppers, it’s a way to find the brands they love at prices they adore.”
As Growing Cents of Style approaches its 20th anniversary next fall, Welsh’s favorite part of the business hasn’t changed. “It’s the people,” she says. “The sellers, the shoppers, the families who’ve been with me all these years—they’re why I do it. Watching my daughters grow up helping with the sales, seeing them understand what it means to build something from the ground up—that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Registration for the next Growing Cents of Style online event opens in January, with the sale running March 3–7. To learn more, visit growingcentsofstyle.com.
