Wedding Dresses Trashed as Boutique Closes
Crews reportedly coated designer dresses with red paint and threw them in a dumpster.
A 50th & France bridal boutique reportedly destroyed thousands of dollars of designer merchandise this past weekend, according to FOX 9.
The Edina Priscilla of Boston store recently shuttered its doors, which included a crew of workers destroying designer wedding dresses and other assorted merchandise. Witnesses reported seeing dresses covered in red paint and tossed into a dumpster near the store.
FOX 9 spoke with witnesses, who were disgusted by the company's actions:
”When I inquired at the store I was told that 'corporate' ordered that all the remaining inventory be destroyed,” (Sheila) Roth said. “When I asked why the dresses hadn't been donated, I was told that it had something to do with the contracts with the labels. I found this surprising since I have shopped discount retailers where labels are always cut out of garments.”
President Patrick Walsh said in a statement the company has donated gowns in the past, but not damaged goods.
The company announced plans to close its 19 U.S. locations last fall, citing the business climate as the main reason.
"After nearly 65 years of serving some of America's most beautiful brides, we have made the difficult decision to bring our business to a close," reads a statement on the company's website.
Brides or wedding party members who might have purchased custom-ordered merchandise and not picked it up in time are instructed to email customerservice@priscillaofboston.com or call 800-970-9205.
Sandy Radeke
9:23 am on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
What a waste! They could have cut the labels out of the dresses and donated them to a charity. I hope there were plenty of dumpster divers (do Edina people do that?) pulling the destroyed dresses out to see if there was anything that could be salvaged and re-made into something useful. If only the fronts were painted, maybe the fabric from the rest of the dresses could have been made into flower girl dresses or something else.
Don Waalen
10:37 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
While I agree that it was their merchandise and they could do anything they wanted with it, it's still such a waste. Apparently, they are a lazy, uncharitable company. It would have taken them such a short amount of time to remove the labels and donate the dresses. I will discourage everyone I know to not shop at David's Bridals.