By MARK ZALOUDEK
PORT CHARLOTTE — Betty Bacon and her husband turned a small mom-and-pop furniture store into a chain of stores with 14 locations throughout Southwest Florida.
Betty Bacon, who died Sept. 4 at age 85, and her husband, Robert, bought Palmer Furniture shortly after moving to Port Charlotte from Fort Myers in 1973.
The family-owned business, which featured moderately priced new and used furniture, expanded with the help of their four grown children.
Betty Bacon remained a fixture at the Port Charlotte store, renamed Bacon’s Furniture, after she and her husband sold the company to one of their sons in 1987 and retired.
For the next 15 years, Betty Bacon continued to regularly drop by on Saturday mornings to mingle with customers and co-workers over coffee and her fresh-baked cookies, said her son, Bill Bacon, of Port Charlotte.
“It was the highlight of her life. All the salespeople loved her, and many of our customers over the years remembered her,” he said.
One of the secrets of her success, he said, was that her customers became her friends.
Betty and Robert Bacon had no experience in furniture sales, or in any retail operation, before embarking on the business venture.
After years of working for a natural gas company in Miami and Fort Myers, Robert Bacon decided he wanted to run his own business, his son said.
The couple handled all aspects of the business in its early years.
After buying the business, Bill Bacon consolidated its operations, upgraded its product line and changed its name to Bacon’s Furniture. The company currently includes a Port Charlotte store that is one of the largest furniture stores on Florida’s west coast and three other furniture stores in Southwest Florida.
Robert and Betty Bacon also helped found the Sonshine Baptist Church in Port Charlotte in 1984.
Born Sarah Elizabeth “Betty” Whidby on Dec. 9, 1921, in Georgia, she moved to Miami with her husband in 1955. He died in 1993.
In addition to her son, she is survived by a daughter, Beverly Williams of Oviedo; two other sons, Bob III of Englewood and Brad of Clearwater; and 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held last week.
Memorial donations may be made to the Sonshine Baptist Church, 23105 Veterans Blvd., Port Charlotte, FL 33954, or TideWell Hospice and Palliative Care, 5955 Rand Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34238.
