August 31, 2017

Alfred Angelo Bridal Chain closed more than 60 wedding dress stores  before filing bankruptcy in July 2017. They claimed only $50,000 in assets contrasted with more than $50 million in liabilities in their filing, showing them completely upside down in debt.

The bridal chain sold dresses at 1,400 retailers while operating its own stores as well. They unfortunately failed to compete against bridal fashion start-ups and traditional retailers that featured lower prices, which led to the outstanding debt and resulted in  closure and bankruptcy.

The store closings added panic to a stressful wedding process for many harried brides, and social media served as the storyboard for bridezillas and bridesmaids alike. Brides hurried to resolve the status of their orders while store employees were left unprepared with no way to adequately explain the difficult situation.

The stores closed without warning, and the bridal chain formally apologized. They encouraged bankruptcy trustees to finish and fulfill as many orders as possible in an official letter to customers. However, this situation has justifiably panicked brides to be because of the ultimate fear of losing their dresses, some just weeks before their weddings. An apology and promise of effort did little to solve the angst.

Company employees worked tirelessly to retrieve customer’s ordered items and offered to simply give them any sample items they had on hand in a last ditch effort to take care of customers. However, these efforts did not work for all customers as some were left without their dresses. Brides and bridesmaids flocked to former competitors, such as David’s Bridal, to look for other dresses before it was too late.

Unemployed workers feared not receiving pay for the last week of work. Despite their certainty that they wouldn’t be paid, some still volunteered to work 12-hour days to selflessly take care of customers. Many suffered abuse as customers lost their cool, using profanity, yelling and displaying the expected behavior of a stressed and disgruntled bride-to-be.

While making the decision to file  corporate bankruptcy  is not easy, companies sometimes must face the inevitable, especially when debt overwhelms them. Larry Bellomo is an experienced Orange County bankruptcy attorney that is here to serve.