About us

Overview

We are a family-owned children's resale marketplace. We sell both online (right here!) and in person, with a brick-and-mortar consignment store in Easton, MA and occasional pop-up events in the greater Boston area. We offer a more circular, sustainable, and affordable way to buy high-quality, curated secondhand and new children's clothing, shoes, accessories, books, and toys.

We also sell brand-new gifts and toys. We carry beloved brands like Melissa & Doug, handcrafted pieces from independent makers, and high-quality puzzles and educational toys. And of course, we have your kids' favorites like slime and squishies. We also sell cards and offer free gift bags!

 

Our mission

At Merry Go Rounds, our mission is to make shopping for kids more sustainable, affordable, and fun. We want to change people’s perception of resale and bring joy and a personal touch to the shopping experience. Through our business, we hope to reduce waste, promote conscious consumption, and keep resources within our local community.

Our goal is a world where everyone shops secondhand first and where resale is seen as the best possible option. That’s why we are obsessed with quality and excellence. Every item we sell has been inspected multiple times to ensure it’s in perfect condition. 

We strive to make the earth a better place for current and future generations. Shopping resale is one of the smartest and easiest ways to live more sustainably and intentionally. We believe in curiosity, kindness, and joy, and we are constantly learning and improving ourselves. Thank you for being a part of our movement!

 

Our impact

Through our business, we hope to reduce textile waste, challenge the consumerist culture, catalyze conversations around the circular economy, and ultimately minimize the resources used to produce new clothing.

By extending the life of existing items and offering a convenient, enjoyable way for people to shop resale, rather than buying new, our business model is fundamentally sustainable. By buying secondhand, you divert high-quality products from going to landfills prematurely, and you also reduce the demand for new items to be produced. We estimate that in 2019 alone, we kept 6.24 tons of high-quality items in circulation, reducing demand for the resource-intensive production of new items.

 

Our original store in South Easton, MA.

Our history

We have been extending the life of children's goods since our doors opened in 1989. In 2008, we expanded into the unit next door, doubling our size. Since then, we have undertaken a minor expansion every couple of years. In 2010, we opened an additional room for our large selection of books. In 2012, we built two new dressing rooms. And in 2019, we opened our second brick-and-mortar location in North Easton, MA, while also launching our online store. In 2020, we consolidated the two locations into the new, larger North Easton store. We also launched a personal shopping service and a subscription box so customers could shop while our doors were temporarily closed due to the pandemic. As we evolve, we are able to provide our customers with an increasingly organized and extensive selection of merchandise and a more streamlined shopping experience.

Our community

We are a proud member of the local Easton community. We are lucky to play a role as not just a store, but a meeting place for parents, kids, and friends. Virtually all of our consignors come from the local community (Easton and the surrounding towns), and most of our sales are made to local customers as well. We are committed to creating value for our local community first and foremost, both by offering a great way to shop for affordable, high quality kids' goods, and by giving parents a sustainable way to re-home their outgrown kids' items, while also earning some extra cash.

We are a women-owned, family-owned business and are in the process of becoming a certified B Corporation. This network of sustainable, mission-driven businesses is another community that we're proud to join. Learn more about our B Corp certification process on our blog: 

• Introduction: Becoming a B Corp
• The B Impact Assessment: The first pass
• B Corp certification: Why are we doing this?
• B Corp certification: The data we need and how we're using it

In addition to having a sustainability-driven business model, we strive to make a positive impact on our communities by engaging in strategic philanthropy. We give financial and in-kind support to local nonprofits that strengthen our communities, as well as those that create positive environmental impact.

We are also proud to be a member of NARTS, the National Association of Resale Professionals; a member of the Easton Chamber of Commerce; and a founding brand signatory of the 2020 Circular Fashion Pledge.

 

Nicole, Beth, and Melissa Mazzeo at the opening day of our North Easton location.

Our team

We are proud to be a women-owned, multigenerational family business. Beth and Melissa Mazzeo are the mother-daughter team behind Merry Go Rounds. Beth has owned the business for over twenty years, and Melissa has recently stepped in as co-owner and CEO. We're also lucky to have wonderful staff, who in many ways feel like family. It is important to us to provide good jobs for members of our community, and many of our employees stay with us for years.

 

Frequently asked questions

For questions specifically about consigning, visit our How to Consign page.

What items do you sell online vs. in-store?

We're listing new items online daily and plan to continually grow what's available for sale online. However, the items listed online are just a small taste of what we have! We choose a special selection of our most unique pieces to list online. To be listed online, an item must be a higher-end brand and/or unique in other ways (i.e., vintage, handmade, or with a specific message or image). 

Are the photos on your website real?

Yes! We personally take all of the product photos on our website and do not use stock photos (the exception is toys for which we have multiples, like our Melissa & Doug collection of brand-new toys). The photos are only edited to add a white background and to make the photo color match the actual item color as closely as possible. We do not edit the photos to make them look any different than how they look in person.

Can I pick up an item I bought online in-store?

Yes! Just select free local pickup when checking out, and you'll be able to pick up your item(s) in the store at your convenience. 

Where do you ship?

We will ship anywhere in the world if it's at all possible! We love our international customers and are proud that our products are being worn by kids in Sweden, Uganda, Brazil, Sierra Leone, and beyond.

What is your reopening plan?

We've reopened our North Easton store as of July 1, 2020! We have limited hours for the month of July (Tuesday - Saturday 11-3). Safety is our #1 priority and we are following all precautions: we've installed a (custom made) plexiglass register shield, we disinfect surfaces regularly, and we require masks at all times. Our dressing rooms remain closed for now, and we've temporarily removed our kitchen play area. We are also waiting 48 hours before looking through any items dropped off for consignment.

During the lockdown, we focused our efforts on growing our online presence, which will continue! Visit our online store, try a subscription box, or sign up for our virtual personal shopping service.

What happened to the store on Belmont Street?

We made the difficult decision to permanently close this location while we were closed during the COVID-19 lockdown. We've reorganized our North Easton store to fit much more inventory, and we think it'll be more convenient for our Easton customers to have everything in one place. More details are available on our Our Store page.

 

Why shop resale?

Save money!

You can buy the same item you see new in stores for less than half the original price. Many items in our store are barely used or completely new, with original tags, for a fraction of the original price.

Help save the environment.

The materials and energy that go into producing clothing pollute the environment. Giving clothes a second chance for use reduces the need for production of new clothing.

Reduce waste in landfills.

Landfills worldwide are loaded with millions of tons of unnecessary trash, including clothing.

Buy local!

Instead of shopping at a big corporation where you don't know what business practices your money is supporting, buying from local, independently owned shops supports your community. (According to the American Independent Business Alliance, independent retailers return more than 3x as much money per dollar of sales to the local community than chain competitors).

What’s more: half of the money you spend at our store goes directly to other parents in the area—the consignors who bring us the products you buy.

It’s fun.

You never know what you’ll find when shopping resale. From classic must-have brands like Janie and Jack, Vineyard Vines, and Under Armour, to cult favorites like Lilly Pulitzer, tea, and Matilda Jane, to designer finds like Burberry, Versace, and Chloé, to the occasional handmade and vintage treasures, our stores are full of truly special pieces.