After more than four years practicing family law, Kimberly Kasin felt suffocated. Case after case of bitter divorce, domestic abuse and custody battles left her unable to leave the problems at the office.

“You never go into work saying ‘this is a good day’ because the whole day is centered around getting the best possible outcome for the client, and no one is happy,” she said. “You’re helping families split up.”

The opportunity for change came after she was laid off from her firm, two weeks into maternity leave.

Kasin had a basement full of baby clothes her children were beginning to outgrow. She went looking to consign them, only to find Bellevue had nowhere to do that. So, with her eye on a new venture, Kasin jumped into the retail business in February, opening Hopscotch Consignment, a store for children’s goods, just off Main Street in downtown Bellevue.

The store is different from other used-good stores in that sellers get a bigger cut of a sale – about 40 percent, Kasin said. However, they have to wait until the item is purchased.

Items that don’t sell, or are too beat up to take, are donated to agencies such as the YWCA and Eastside Baby Corner.

It’s only been a few months, but the place is already taking off. The shelves are full, and product moves in and out.

The word spread, starting with family, on to class friends, then to the parents of her children’s friends. The store even won a Golden Teddy award from local parenting site, www.parentmap.com

Kasin hasn’t forgotten about her original career. Degrees line a small office in the back of the store. Here she takes on family law cases one at a time, giving each far more attention than she could during her days working at a law firm where she often juggled as many as 30 cases at any given time.

Her husband, Phil, initially was a little bit skeptical of the plan, but came on board once he learned of the need in the market.

“The more we talked about it, the more I realized it was something she wanted to do, and it was a good idea for Bellevue,” said Phil, who grew up in Bellevue.

The success hasn’t come without effort. When the shop first opened, Kimberly worked seven days a week with Phil and his mother often coming to look after the store. Now, with some success, Kimberly has been able to hire someone to help out on weekends.

The long hours don’t bother Kimberly, and she is happy to bring something new to town.

“It’s like the polar opposite of my other world,” she said. “I am glad to be able to provide a service to Bellevue that wasn’t here before.”