Saco resident Allison Casuy had a hard time keeping up with clothing purchases for her constantly growing 5-year-old daughter, Sarah, until Casuy’s twin sister, Amy, who has triplets, pointed her in the right direction: Scarborough’s new children’s clothing, toy and equipment store, Lots for Tots.

“She said, ‘You have to get in there,'” Casuy said.

Lots for Tots is a high-quality resale shop begun by Scott Freedman, who opened his first store in Topsham in 1989, when his daughter, Cassie, was 2. He and his wife, Linda, realized how hard it was to get reasonably priced clothes for children, who were in need of new wardrobes every few months. At Lots for Tots, people come in with used clothes and toys to sell to the store, and the store turns around at sells it to customers.

But don’t mistake it for a consignment shop, Freedman said. He won’t take just anything. Freedman explained that the store has a set of criteria for considering items to buy: They have to be a good brand, like Gap, Old Navy or Gymboree, in good condition and not outdated in terms of style.

The result? “You’ll get really nice stuff at a really good price,” he said.

Freedman opened upon another branch in Manchester, N.H., in 1990 and moved his Topsham store to Falmouth in 1993. The Scarborough location on Route 1, just behind Lois’ Natural Foods, celebrated its grand opening Feb. 10. As of Dec. 28, the store was completely empty, but Freedman, with the help of Cassie, now a college student, successfully filled the space with cribs, strollers, shoes, stuffed animals and dozens of racks of clothing.

Freedman said he was attracted to Scarborough for a number of reasons. He had been thinking of having a location south of Portland for a while. Scarborough was particularly attractive because of the increasing number of families with young children. “Now’s a good time because it’s growing so fast,” Freedman said of the town.

Also, he looks to open stores in communities of a certain socio-economic class, in order to ensure that the clothes that come in are quality, brand-name labels.

And there’s certainly a market in Scarborough. Resident Michelle Lowell is happy to have the location come to her home town – she used to travel to Falmouth.

“It’s great,” she said, “You can bring stuff here, you can buy stuff here.”

Scott Freedman, owner of Lots for Tots in Scarborough, shows off shelves of books and videos for children.Allison Casuy, of Saco, searches through racks upon racks of clothing for her daughter at Lots for Tots in Scarborough.