Halethorpe-based Discount Bridal Service Inc. plans to file Chapter

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jul 13, 2005 by Kathleen Johnston Jarboe

With thousands of brides nationwide panicked over the fate of their gowns, Discount Bridal Service Inc. in Halethorpe has said it'll liquidate in what could be the largest bridal bankruptcy ever.

An e-mail to dealers late Monday confirmed the company's plan to file for Chapter 7 and go out of business.

I believe this is one of the most difficult letters I've ever had to write. It is with great sadness I must tell you DBS will cease all operations as of July 2005, wrote owners Leonard and Sandra Leibowitz.

The announcement capped more than a week of anxious inquiries about dress and tuxedo orders after the Baltimore County store, known as Martin's Bridal, suddenly closed July 1 for a two-week holiday. It was the first such vacation in its more than 20-year history.

We are all in the dark. No one answers the phone. No one answers e-mail. It's like they all disappeared, said a Midwest dealer during an interview last week. She declined to be named due to worries that it could hurt her chances to get orders. She had $25,000 worth of lost orders, including two for July 30 weddings.

My business is done, she said.

Yesterday, state prosecutors said the company pledged to send comparable dresses to customers waiting on orders. The dresses were shipped last week, according to the Maryland attorney general's office.

If the consumers do not believe the dresses they receive are in fact comparable, they can file complaints with us. But they may ultimately have to file a claim in the bankruptcy action, said spokesman Kevin Enright.

The office has received four complaints so far. It is warning brides that the bankruptcy process is far from speedy.

We're doing what we can for these people, Enright said. If they are unhappy with the comparable dress they receive and their wedding is close at hand, they will have to make the decision whether to purchase another dress or make do with the dress they have and try to recoup through the bankruptcy process later.

Rumors, surprises

Before news about the bankruptcy became official this week, different theories had circulated through phone calls, e-mails, chat rooms and word of mouth about Discount Bridal Service's closure. Yesterday a sign on the door still said the Martin's Bridal store was closed until July 15 for renovations.

The plans to file bankruptcy surprised many. While new competitors had emerged, the Halethorpe-based company was still considered one of the oldest and largest discount bridal services. The store could pass discounts from 20 percent to 40 percent off retail prices to bridal parties due to low overhead costs.

Orders were largely placed through the mail. The company had just one official showroom in Maryland. Brides would frequently shop at regular dress shops or through catalogs and then find a Discount Bridal Service dealer in their state to send the order.

Close to 500 dealers used the service nationwide.

It's a mixture between panic and grief, anger. It's shock. - From not only the customers but also the dealers who did not see this happening, said Alan Fields, a consumer advocate for brides and author of Bridal Bargains & Bridal Passport.

He said he's received more than 200 phone calls and 300 e-mails about the problem. This is the largest bridal bankruptcy in modern memory.

Fields estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 orders were on hold, not counting ones placed through Martin's Bridal. The Maryland store associated with the service center could add a couple hundred more to the tally.

Consolidation

The bankruptcy is part of a growing trend in the consolidation of retail wedding stores. In 1990, about 8,000 bridal shops dotted the country. Now there are just 5,000, according to Fields. Close to 1,000 shops go out of business every year while only 500 to 700 new stores open, Fields said.

David's Bridal Inc. has hurt many boutiques with its 240 stores and off-the-rack shopping at discount prices. David's Bridal sells its own line of dresses. But Fields said Discount Bridal Service also suffered from newer, similar discounters who could take orders online for most dressmakers.

DBS never quite adjusted to the Internet age, Fields said.

In the e-mail to dealers, DBS said its slim profit margins had shrunk in recent years as it slowly lost dealers and volume. The owners could no longer cover the losses.

Your contract with DBS is now null and void and you are free to proceed in a business manner that is productive for you, the e-mail said.

Last Wednesday, employees at an affiliate store in Maryland that sold discontinued gowns and took orders for DBS were told not come back. Many workers suspected the business was in trouble after they stopped taking dress orders in mid-June and then began selling floor model gowns that were never for sale in the past.

Things always went smooth. Then all this fishy stuff started going around, said Jamie Edelen, a former sales associate at affiliate Perfect Fit Tuxedos/Wedding Day by Design in Glen Burnie.

Edelen said a manager's meeting on July 1 was supposed to determine whether DBS would resume taking orders. Instead, the message came back that it would close for two weeks for remodeling.