Little Roos starts with focus on affordable clothing
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Savana and Kevin Ackerman started Little Roos in Missouri Valley with $10, clothing from their five children and a plan to provide affordable clothing while helping families.
“My husband and I, we sold our personal property. And we started the business on a solid $10,” Savana said.
“I went down and we bought a bunch of clothing off of Facebook from a lady that had done a garage sale and couldn't sell everything and wanted to just get rid of what was left,” Kevin said.
“I gave her 10 bucks for a couple bags of clothes. And we had a bunch of stuff in the house 'cause we have 5 kids. We had a lot of extra stuff we couldn't hold onto.”
Friends and neighbors then brought donations and consignment items, helping build the primarily children's clothing store.
“We wanted it to be affordable for everyone,” Savana said. “I wanted to be able to have a place where people could come and get an outfit for under 20 bucks. That's shoes, shirt, pants. And this is the place to do it.”
The Ackermans also use the business to help families.
“Here, we're community service. Like, that's what I really wanna do,” Savana said. “I've been able to help people. In the last 2 weeks, my husband and I have helped 2 different families.”
One was a Missouri Valley family that had bought newborn and 0-to-3-month clothing before learning the baby would arrive about a month early at about 4 pounds.
Kevin offered to pick up donations or buy clothing through the store for the family. “And we had several families come forth with lots of stuff for them,” he said.
Savana said the family had already spent its baby budget. “The family was at a loss because no one else could help,” Savana said. “They work their day-to-day. They have their stuff. And so to find someone, and they come to us and say, ‘Hey, do you have this?’ Because I had multiple people tag me in this post of this girl needing things.”
“It hurt my soul to be able to say no,” Savana said. “Like, I couldn't help, and that started it. I was like, ‘Wait, I can help. I can.’ We reached out and did it that way.”
“We just want to, one, be able to take care of our family of 7, but we also wanna try and help the community as well by providing a service of recycled, reused, repurposed clothing at an affordable price,” Savana said.
“If they call us and say, ‘Hey, I'm in need of this for this. You know, can you help find it?’ Sure, absolutely,” Kevin said.
Donations give the Ackermans more flexibility to help.
“We've had quite a few,” Kevin said. “We give them the option. We've had a few people come in and say that they would like to donate, get it out of their house, you know. And of course we appreciate the donations 'cause it helps. It helps build our inventory and everything that, you know, if we don't have to pay for it, then it's easier to give stuff away to people.”
“You can donate to us, but we also have consignment,” Kevin said. “If it's a single mother and she can probably use the money as well, maybe — I don't know. Don't wanna pry, but, you know, there's always the option, ‘Hey, you can do this and make a little money back on it.’”
For August, first-time consignors who stay with the store receive 60% of sales, with 40% going to the store. That split remains fixed for them, while new consignors move to 50-50 Sept. 1.
“We wanna make sure that we have a roof over our head, but we also don't wanna be greedy,” Savana said. “That's the key part.”
Asked about their emphasis on helping others, Kevin said both had been single parents.
“I've struggled,” Kevin said. “My struggle was a single parent of the twins, and she was a single parent for a while. And the struggle is hard sometimes.”
Savana also served with Missouri Valley Fire for 6½ years before retiring the week the store opened. “The gift of service has always been a thing for me,” she said. “I have been on the fire department for 6 and a half years for Missouri Valley Fire. I just retired the week of opening my store.”
Her fire service also helped lead to the store's space. Landlord Chrissy Davis, a Red Cross representative, remembered Savana from a Missouri Valley fire about two years earlier. Kevin said Davis recalled multiple agencies responding and told him Savana stood out.
“She did everything she could to make sure he was safe, he had something to wear,” Kevin said Davis told him. “They got what he needed out of the house that was still saveable and he had somewhere to go for the night.”
“We didn't know that,” Kevin said.
The Ackermans have five children age 8 or younger: Kevin's twin 3-year-olds, Savana's 3-year-old daughter, who is 11 days older, and a 6- and 8-year-old. The children inspired the business's name. “It was mine,” Savana said. “We have 5 kids, and I think of them as jumping kangaroos because, well, they're all under the age of 8. And I came up with Little Roos.”
The store is expanding beyond children's clothing after requests from mothers and could eventually offer maternity clothing. “We are going to start taking women's clothing too,” Savana said.
The business could also expand into nearly 600 square feet of basement space offered by Davis. “Depending, in the next couple of months, we'll have the basement that we can open,” Savana said.
Little Roo's Thrift can be reached at 712-204-5767 or littleroosthrift@gmail.com
