ARLINGTON, Texas—On a gray and rainy March afternoon, not many people walked around Downtown Arlington.
But Donna’s Gift Closet defied Mother Nature, as its door was wide open despite the weather. A pink wreath adorned the front door, which gave way into the vendor-curated women’s clothes on the inside.
JoAnna Workman, one of the owners, gave insight on the inspiration of naming the store Donna’s Gift Closet. Workman said Donna was the name of her mother, who died in 2022. Workman said she and her sister opened a store and named it after her.
“She had an antique store and she just—one thing about our mom is that she loved people and any person that came. It did not matter if they were a stranger,” Workman said. “She had what was called a gift closet, and the gift closet always had a gift. They never left empty-handed.”
Workman’s statement rang true on this dreary spring day. A girl, the daughter of a clothing store owner next door, received a toy horse during her visit to the store.
Workman said there is a need for a boutique experience for those on a budget or for those who need larger sizes. Workman said the boutique specializes in going through sizes 3X. She said that her favorite thing is seeing women find multiple things that they feel beautiful, confident, and worthy in.
“I will say that my favorite thing is, and we hear it all the time, thank you for having my size,” Workman said.
Nikki Swan, co-owner and Workman’s sister, gave her own personal experiences when it came to not finding the right clothing size. Swan said she remembers going on girls’ trips with her friends and going into the little boutiques in the downtown areas.
“And then so many times the, you know, that even like the extra-large, which would be kind of like their plus-size options, it did not even feel like a real extra-large,” Swan said. “I was like that is not even going to fit on my leg.”
Swan said, with her background in social work, when people enter the store, she feels genuine concern. Swan said she does not want to do something just to be like every other boutique. She said she wanted to see the need and meet the need.
“It’s not just about the interaction or the transaction of, um, oh look I sold a dress, you know,” Swan said. “It’s so much more to me than that, and my sister feels the same way.”
That’s partly why Donna’s Gift Closet started stocking toys and blind boxes for kids.
Workman said it was only natural to begin selling trinkets for children. Workman said she thinks, especially with women, that even when they’re on a girls’ trip they are always thinking about their kids even if they are not here. Workman said they have only had a kid section for a few days after somebody said something.
“That is just because, literally, we came home and someone said do you have anything for kids,” Workman recalled. “We’re like, yeah, but they’re in buckets, and they said you should put it out. And so today, of our multiple people that have come in, every single one has grabbed something from the kids’ area.”
