Every year, right before Memorial Day, I begin packing away my bulky winter sweaters and swapping them out for our summer clothes. The near record-level high temperatures lately have me falling for Mother Nature’s same trick again.

Over the weekend I weeded through my kids’ clothes and came up with four bins worth of too small ready-to-be-purged goods. Rather than taking them to one of the convenient mailbox-style drop boxes, I made a trip to the children’s resale boutique, Grow With Me.

Grow With Me is one of several children’s resale shops around Ann Arbor. They all work in a similar way. The staff at Grow With Me takes your donate-able items and sifts through to see what they would like to buy. You can shop around while they sort through your items, or take advantage of what they call a Drop & Run system, where you drop off your goods, and they call you when they are finished processing them. They will then make you an offer in cash, or a 30 percent higher offer in store credit. (There is also a consignment option that I have not tried yet.) 

What makes Grow With Me different is that the store also provides funding for programs and assistance for families of children with autism, according to the website. A portion of all sales is donated to the Ann Arbor Autism Foundation and the Autism Society of Washtenaw County.

The store is selective about what they buy. Grow With Me already has a reputation as carrying higher quality boutique worthy resale items, and for that reason, you may be surprised at some of the items they pass on. When I brought in my kids’ castoffs, I felt like I was leaving with just as much as I had taken in--but I did have an additional $46 in my pocket.

If you would rather not cart home the unwanted items, Grow With Me will accept them as donations. Some will be given away or recycled, but many will be placed in the Second Bloom Room, which features items that did not make the cut for resale purchase.

Since re-opening last Friday, Grow With Me has already had a steady stream of new and old customers at their newer more spacious location in Westgate Shopping Center at Jackson and Maple roads. The new shop is in a more central location where there are other stores where parents enjoy shopping, according to co-owner Marni Hochman. The old location was tucked back off of Jackson in a place that was not easy to find or convenient for me.

The new space makes me wonder if my three kids will ever need to shop retail again.

The store is very clean and well organized. There is plenty of new merchandise in the front of the store, mostly toys and goodies for creative and imaginative play. Beyond that, the toys are neatly shelved and the clothing is organized by size on racks.

I was surprised to see that some size racks had loads of new items with tags. I even found a selection of new girls’ windbreaker/rain jackets priced at $5.99 in a variety of colors and sizes; this was especially timely since a friend and I just lamented about not being able to find what we needed while shopping for fifth-grade camp. Co-owner Elyssa Mount says many boutique owners and online merchants sell off their merchandise here at deep discounts.

Friendliness is just as important as the merchandise at Grow With Me. Upon entering the store, customers will instantly notice the friendly atmosphere created by the staff. Children are welcomed in to the toy area, and parents are often greeted by name. Even though I was trying to juggle four totes and a toddler, the staff was able to help me manage without feeling the need to grow two additional arms.

Mount and Hochman also hope to host a community room on site where families can not only shop, but also chat and play. Both owners opened the store in order to fulfill personal and community goals.

An example of their commitment to the community is the aforementioned Second Bloom Room. All merchandise in that room can be categorized as play clothes. The Second Bloom Room is filled with great deals; all items are only $1 and proceeds will benefit local autism organizations. Mount and Hochman say, “It is our hope that the discount room will allow Grow With Me to raise even more money for the autism organizations we support.”

Mount combined her love of bargain shopping with her passion for helping families with children who have autism, according to the website. As a toddler, Mount’s son Gabe, now 6, was diagnosed with autism.

Hochman worked part-time at the Lamaze Family Center with both expecting families and those with children, according to the website. As her youngest of two children was preparing to enter kindergarten, she decided to seek a full-time job. But she still wanted to stay active in the community, working with parents and their children. She "wanted to create a service-oriented shop where parents feel comfortable asking questions and receiving helpful suggestions and to which both they and their children would enjoy coming," according to the website.

Grow With Me is at 2521 Jackson Ave., Ann Arbor. It is open 7 days a week. For more information call 734-622-0224 or go to their website.