Retail
Once Upon A Child Franchise
A resale retail franchise buying and selling gently used children's clothing, toys, equipment, and gear through standalone stores. Owned by publicly traded Winmark Corporation (NASDAQ: WINA), the same parent as Play It Again Sports and Plato's Closet (both also in this dataset); Winmark's own 2025 disclosures describe it as carrying the highest gross profit margin of the company's resale concepts, and franchised unit count grew every year of its FDD's three-year window.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Once Upon A Child's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$25,000
Total to open
$355,700–$485,900
Ongoing royalty
5% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough retail industry average, not a figure from Once Upon A Child's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$480,700 – $610,900
Startup investment
$355,700–$485,900
Royalty per year (5%)
$25,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$125,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Once Upon A Child's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical retail profit margin (~6%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general retail industry benchmark, not a figure from Once Upon A Child's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
11.9–16.2 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Once Upon A Child is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Once Upon A Child actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of Once Upon A Child's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 406 | 416 | +10 |
| 2024 | 416 | 430 | +14 |
| 2025 | 430 | 441 | +11 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 11 franchised units, ending the year at 441 total.
How Once Upon A Child compares to other Retail franchises
Across the 11 retail franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $293,525–$655,615, with royalties averaging around 5% of gross sales (based on the 9 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$364,015–$682,215 · 5% royalty
Play It Again Sports$346,300–$459,700 · 5% royalty
Wild Birds Unlimited$231,635–$376,392 · 4% royalty
The UPS Store$222,368–$606,081 · 5% royalty
Signarama$245,432–$344,768 · 6% royalty
PostNet$240,200–$306,800 · 5% royalty
7-Eleven$162,900–$1,656,800 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Batteries Plus$262,646–$496,996 · 5% royalty
Wireless Zone$441,875–$1,328,210 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Plato's Closet$355,700–$467,900 · 5% royalty
Once Upon A Child Franchise FAQ
How much does it cost to franchise a Once Upon A Child?
Based on Once Upon A Child's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $355,700–$485,900, including the $25,000 franchise fee. A direct DFPI or state-registry filing PDF for this entity wasn't located via search, so this entry is drawn from Winmark Corporation's FDD as reproduced in Franchise Chatter's "Once Upon A Child Franchise Review 2026" (published 6/26/2026). Item 5: $25,000 initial franchise fee, matching the fee this dataset's existing Play It Again Sports entry (same franchisor, DFPI-verified) discloses. Item 6: 5% royalty on gross sales, also matching Play It Again Sports. Item 7: $355,700-$485,900. Item 20 franchised-unit counts for 2023-2025 (406 to 441) are reproduced from the same review, with company-owned units at zero throughout; 2025 average gross sales were reported at $1,268,984 across 408 operating stores. Founded year above reflects Winmark's 1992 acquisition of the concept (matching this dataset's convention, used on the Play It Again Sports entry, of dating Winmark brands to Winmark's involvement rather than the original founder's start date); exact FDD issuance date wasn't independently confirmed -- verify directly against the DFPI's public franchise search before relying on this entry.
What is the Once Upon A Child franchise fee and royalty rate?
The initial franchise fee is $25,000, and the ongoing royalty is 5% of gross sales, per the filing on record.
Is the Once Upon A Child franchise growing or shrinking?
Growing. Across 2023–2025, Once Upon A Child added a net 35 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.
Keep going
- Once Upon A Child and Plato's Closet are both retail franchises with the same starting investment, $355,700. Plato's Closet Franchise
- Once Upon A Child and Uptown Cheapskate are both retail franchises; Once Upon A Child's total investment starts about $8,315 lower than Uptown Cheapskate's. Uptown Cheapskate Franchise
Where this came from: A direct DFPI or state-registry filing PDF for this entity wasn't located via search, so this entry is drawn from Winmark Corporation's FDD as reproduced in Franchise Chatter's "Once Upon A Child Franchise Review 2026" (published 6/26/2026). Item 5: $25,000 initial franchise fee, matching the fee this dataset's existing Play It Again Sports entry (same franchisor, DFPI-verified) discloses. Item 6: 5% royalty on gross sales, also matching Play It Again Sports. Item 7: $355,700-$485,900. Item 20 franchised-unit counts for 2023-2025 (406 to 441) are reproduced from the same review, with company-owned units at zero throughout; 2025 average gross sales were reported at $1,268,984 across 408 operating stores. Founded year above reflects Winmark's 1992 acquisition of the concept (matching this dataset's convention, used on the Play It Again Sports entry, of dating Winmark brands to Winmark's involvement rather than the original founder's start date); exact FDD issuance date wasn't independently confirmed -- verify directly against the DFPI's public franchise search before relying on this entry. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.