Big retailers in trouble including David's Bridal.....

They should get all of AA angelos business.

A lot of these big chains are overpriced and underserviced. Not surprised. I always try and give my business to local privately owned shops. The local" Mom and Pop" stores are dying out.

Kinda a double edged sword. On one hand, no bride should have to go through what all the AA brides are going through. But if we prevent DBs from getting business, they probably will go bankrupt.

It seems that DB is already responding to the AA situation to try to pull business in. I saw a post by DB that they are offering a discount on bridal and bridesmaids dresses to anyone that shows a AA retail receipt. The way that AA handled the bankruptcy is ridiculous to me but I personally can't say that I am surprised. I know others have probably had great experiences with them but my experiences as a BM in other people's wedding has never been good, their customer service was never what I envisioned a bridal shop would provide.

The bankruptcy watch list is not 100%. In fact there are many companies who don't make it to that list (which is formulated by so called "financial experts"), but probably should be on it. David's Bridal has actually been on that list for quite sometime. I honestly dont feel like there should be a huge panic. Did you know I had never even heard of Alfred Angelo until I started reading on Wedding Wire? Maybe lack of marketing was part of their problem?

@Nancy - I agree with supporting local businesses whenever possible! I was so happy FH bought my ring from a local store rather than a major retailer.

This Alfred Angelo fiasco is a good reminder to do some research all of your vendors. There are so many horror stories about losing deposits and bookings because of companies going bankrupt.

Many retailers are in financial straits right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll all go completely under, especially in the way that AA did. Part of AA's problem seems to be that they didn't inform people at the store level until the last minute. That's why chaos has ensued. Had they handled things differently, there probably wouldn't be this much panic. Lots of major retailers including Macy's and Payless (among many others) have had to close tons of stores and/or resort to being bought out by larger companies. The kind of "crisis" that AA has caused isn't common. I wouldn't worry too much about DB.

If anyone is in the Phoenix area, I would highly recommend Luv Bridal. It's more of a local mom and pop store and their customer service runs circles around David's Bridal (and their dresses are beautiful). Ask for Brandi, she was amazing!!

@Spaghetti: Good for you!

I support local too. DD and AA dont care about their clients. You are literally one in a million.

Supply n demand. All bridal retailers need to be on their game to stay IN the game. I wouldn't suggest or diss any particular retailer. Like anything else, check out the reviews (not on their own site) & go with whomever you wish...

Thanks for the info!

@MsGem. That's not fair to say. I bought my dress at Davids Bridal and they went above and beyond for me. Bad service can happen everywhere including local stores. I have been in many local stores where their service was very lacking to the point of rudeness. Generalizing is not helpful. Everyone needs to judge for themselves.

ETA:spelling

While I love to support local shops over chains-there's a certain amount of markup I can't handle. If a chain store happens to be selling the same dress at a much cheaper price, I will be supporting the chain. My budget can only handle so much local support.

I don't like David bridal dresses or customer service

Wow I was originally going to purchase an Alfred Angelo dress. Good thing I didn't

I wonder how much of this problem is caused by the off-shore companies that rip off designs and make dresses inexpensively (and cheaply).

We had a really bad experience at our local DB for my sister's wedding (it didn't help that we were all available from college and work on Saturday so that's when our appointments were). The store was packed to the brim with people that we had to share changing rooms with complete strangers, and the store was pretty understaffed IMO. The seamstress said my sister had gotten fatter while she was at her fitting, and my younger sister's dress was about 2x too big when it was ordered (even with measurements taken).

I'm going to local boutiques by my home and there's a seamstress right down the road that does custom made dresses! Either I'm doing that or wearing a family wedding dress!

I wish you the best of luck! <3

The thing is, each DB is locally owned and operated. So your experience with DB in one location says absolutely nothing about the DB in the next town over.

I've been to 3 separate DB locations (in 2 different states), twice as a bridesmaid and once to help a friend find her dress. All three locations were awful. I'm not willing to invest any of my time or money as a bride stepping foot into another DB ever again.