iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Brides-to-be across the U.S. are feeling jilted after a nationwide bridal dress chain suddenly closed its stores after nearly 80 years in business.
On some of its shuttered storefronts, Alfred Angelo Bridal advised brides-to-be and their wedding parties to contact its lawyer via email.
According to ABC affiliate WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Patricia Redmond, a lawyer for Alfred Angelo Bridal, said the company was planning to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate its assets.
On its website, the chain says it has more than 60 stores and sells gown collections at nearly 1,400 retailers in the U.S. and worldwide. It was not clear just how many stores were abruptly closed Thursday. Employees were reportedly informed Thursday during a call.
Some customers raced to stores Thursday and Friday after receiving last-minute advance warnings from some stores that had called to say that they were closing and that customers had to pick up dresses.
At one of the chain’s locations in Washington state, Victoria Vaugh was just one of several brides-to-be trying to get a dress they said they’d ordered and paid for.
“I’m just really frustrated,” she told ABC affiliate KOMO-TV in Tukwila, Washington.
Similar scenes played out at many of the company’s locations across the U.S., from Massachusetts to California. Some women even called the police for help, when they arrived at stores and found doors locked shut with dresses still inside.
According to WZZM-TV, Redmond, the lawyer for the chain, said there would be more information in the next week.
“It typically always gets better after the bankruptcy filing for customers who have goods that have already been purchased,” Redmond said, according to WZZM-TV. “I will have a list of dresses that have been sold and are on hand and we will go through them to get them delivered as soon as possible. We want to do as much damage control as possible.”
Neither Redmond nor the company, with headquarters in Delray Beach, Florida, responded to requests for comment from ABC News.
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