Business

Bon Worth marketing to younger audience

Donte Bradshaw and other Bon Worth executives and business leaders celebrate the women's clothing retailer's grand reopening. [PHOTO BY MELISSA MOSS]

By Melissa Moss, Published: May 23, 2016

While many shoppers were under the impression that the Bon Worth Factory Outlet had closed, the retailer's chief financial officer assured business leaders and the press that such talk was greatly exaggerated.

“We’re here in North Carolina, we intend to stay in North Carolina,” Nick Dmytryszyn said Monday during a ribbon cutting to underscore the fact that ithe women's wear chain is very much alive. In fact, the business never closed. It just changed hands.

Founded in the 1960s by Loren Wells, a Hendersonville native and University of North Carolina graduate, Bon Worth   expanded across 31 states. At its peak, it operated some 300 stores across the United States. Now there are 132.
In 2014, Wells sold the company to suppliers in Korea and Singapore. The clothing is manufactured in the U.S., China, the Eastern Caribbean and other countries around the world.

The company has about 600 employees — 40-50 of them in Hendersonville. The executive offices are in the factory outlet store building on Frances Drive off Four Seasons Boulevard.

With the trouble the company has faced in recent years, the retailer is aiming to reach a wider age range of women now. It has a loyal customer base of female customers around age 65 and older and is working to reach women in their 50s as well.
“Oldsmobile had this same problem,” Dmytryszyn said. Just as the legacy carmakers rebranded with its “Not your father’s Oldsmobile” tagline, Bon Worth is telling women that the clothes aren’t just for their mothers.
“What we have put in place is now taking traction,” Dmytryszyn said.

As part of its grand reopening, Bon Worth is holding a tent sale Saturday and Sunday.