BonWorth America's Favorite Mother Daughter Store: How It All Began

BonWorth – America's Favorite Mother Daughter Store is an iconic brand that has been serving customers for more than half a century. Known for its quality women's fashion, accessories and jewelry, BonWorth has become a household name for American women, especially women who love Southern and Mid America fashion styles. Current CEO Gurumoorthy Gurusankar shares that not a lot of people know that BonWorth was close to "annihilation" several years back. Sales were poor, production was poor, and overall performance was simply—poor, for lack of a better word.

But thanks to the efforts of a well-assembled team, investors, and the founder himself, BonWorth bounced back, and now, it continues to serve the women who have grown to love the iconic brand for most of their lives.

How It All Began

Mr. Loren Wells is the man behind BonWorth. He is a true Southern American, a good ol' country boy from North Carolina who was into hunting and fishing—and apple pies, of course. He served the country in the Vietnam War after graduating from the University of North Carolina (on a football scholarship scholar). He was a Captain in the US Army.
When he retired from service, he got a job as a salesman at a popular textile company called Milliken. During a visit to his parents' home, he brought back fabric that he bought from Milliken. His mother brought the fabric to church, which proved to be serendipitous because it led to the founding of BonWorth.

CEO Gurumoorthy Gurusankar shares that Mr. Wells truly had the calling for entrepreneurship. Recognizing that he could make money selling fabric from Milliken, he gave $5 to five colleagues (at the time, employees were only allowed to purchase fabric at a maximum of $5), and brought back $25 worth of fabric. His mother sold the purchased fabric from the basement of their home.
From this very humble beginning, BonWorth was born. BonWorth, by the way, is an amalgamation of his parents' names: Bonnie and Worth.

Mr. Wells recognized that the women from the smaller towns of Southern and Mid America were terribly underserved, and so he decided that he would be the one to dress them. He established his store with a special focus on style and affordability, which is why his early products were largely three-piece ensembles that ladies can mix and match.

From buying wholesale clothes from various retailers and manufacturers, Mr. Wells soon began designing his collection of apparel. He also started opening manufacturing facilities across America. At one point, BonWorth had more than 300 stores across 31 states. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, BonWorth is still known for its exceptional customer service and value-for-money products; two factors that have always been the focus of Mr. Wells and BonWorth. For a lot of its customers, shopping at BonWorth has become a family tradition. No visit to any of their stores would be complete without this traditional mother-daughter shopping bonding.