Here is a company that owns almost no stores, holds almost no inventory, and employs almost nobody compared to its footprint.
It has over a thousand locations across North America.
Plato's Closet. Once Upon a Child. Play It Again Sports. Music Go Round. Style Encore.
Every one of those stores is owned by somebody else. Somebody else signed the lease, bought the fixtures, hired the staff and took the risk.
The company in Minneapolis collects a percentage of the sales.
That is one of the cleanest business models in American retail, and it is built on top of something even more interesting, which is that the inventory arrives for free.
Or rather, the inventory arrives from customers, who are paid a fraction of what it resells for.
Two unusual ideas stacked on each other. Let me take them apart, because both are worth understanding and one of them can save you real money.