Echo Lake’s consignment store, Pollywogs, is giving away their maternity clothes for free in an effort to downsize their inventory and to help expectant mothers in the community.

Pollywogs is a consignment store near Echo Lake Café that specializes in baby equipment, children’s clothes, and maternity clothes. But space is limited, so last Monday they started giving away their maternity clothes.

“We are taking a loss, but it is fine, we would rather help people than worry about the bank,” co-owner Stephanie Saari said. “We just wanted a way to give back to the community.”

Maternity clothes are only worn for a few months during pregnancy, yet every expecting mother needs them and they can get expensive. After baby supplies are bought, this often leaves maternity clothes at the bottom of the list of things to buy when expecting.

Part of the reason for this bold business move is because the store is planning on remodeling in the near future so that the shop will be located next-door in the old Buckaroo Bakery location and the store’s current location will be a daycare.

The new location is smaller than their current one that’s filled from wall to wall with baby clothes, toys, shoes, and supplies; and their maternity clothes rack was packed to capacity. The maternity rack had so much on it that shoppers couldn’t look through the inventory and there was another box in the backroom too. Saari estimated they are giving away $1,000 worth of maternity clothes.

The way Pollywogs functions is people bring in their unwanted items and the store sells them on their behalf for a 30 percent fee. But, last summer they started receiving more maternity clothes than they knew what to do with.

Saari said one of her customers said the free maternity clothes saved her about $300 for clothes she would wear during the final months of her pregnancy. And since these clothes are only worn for a few months, most mothers hold onto their maternity clothes until they are sure they are done having children.

At that point, it’s time to pass them on to another mother-to-be, whether it’s through a friend, a donation, or by selling them at a consignment store.

“Most of the time they just donate it rather than get rid of it themselves,” Saari said. “So, it isn’t affecting the customer that brought it in.”

As of Friday, their rack was still loaded and Saari anticipated having more left this week. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays.