Davids Bridal- at risk for bankruptcy

Most brick and mortar stores are at risk these days due to the online shopping capabilities.

Lmao! Good one, OP!

ETA: oh I'm sorry, I was thinking this was about Alfred Angelo. My apologies.

Lord that's alot of stores I shop at lol

*knack

Besides reading a bankruptcy watch lists, what informs this ability to anticipate store closures?

Edit : asking because I'd like to educate myself and also be able to understand the business climate and marketplace.

While online shopping is definitely contributing to the downfall of brick and mortar, I don't think that's 100% the reason for bridalwear. Wedding dresses are still something you need to try on in person. It's not like a pair of jeans that you buy in multiple sizes and try on at home. You can't just order it to your house and return it if you don't like it. It's a final sale, or at best store credit at the same store.

@CoffeeNColor I watch the markets, I've look at historical data and other industries. I am statistically trained, fisically minded. I guess that's why I call it a knack, finance isn't my industry. But neither is fashion . I'm absolutely not a fortune teller- but I would hate for more wedding to be affected.

@Christy Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom both pride themselves on quality customer service, so that's part of the reason for their return policies.

So corporate actions and reorganizations have been my IRL job for ten years. Brick and mortar companies are often on these lists, and lots of companies hang out on them for years. Some are acquired by other companies who handle the debt as part of the merger terms. Sometimes market climate changes, or a bad CEO steps down. Also, declaring bankruptcy does not necessarily mean immediately closing all the stores. It typically means the company can engage in loan modifications or other debt restructurings to keep their business afloat. Alfred Angelo simply chose the path of catastrophically closing brick and mortar stores, for better or for worse.

There is no need to post something like this and freak people out

THANK YOU SKI! I swear people need to do research to have a better understanding of retail before jumping to conclusions.

What Ski said - this isn't new and it's only going to get stressed brides even MORE stressed out without any actual backing or change in DB's standing.

The reality is they most likely are going out of business. Most in the industry agree that its past the 'if' stage and to the 'when' stage. Big businesses like this don't notify the employees or customers before they close down...that would cause even more losses. One day there are signs on the door and the business is done. And lots of people (employees and customers...not to mention the creditors that they owe millions to) get screwed immediately with little help to be found anywhere. Look at alfred angelo, although they had less retail stores than David's Bridal, they may have had more sales than them as a company. They were the largest manufacturer of dresses and were carried by thousands of independent stores across the world (not just the 60+ branded stores they had). If you google search Davids Bridal going bankrupt, they are listed on all the sites that post retail stores on life support. They have more debt than they will be able to service in 2019 and the only question right now is if they'll make it that far. Once the debt comes due, it's almost a 100% certainty that the company will be done. But it's also more probable than not that the bankruptcy will happen much sooner than that. The argument about them getting a new line or how big they are isn't a good argument if you look at the history of how these normally happen. Alfred Angelo had a brand new line of dresses that never even hit the stores but were made overseas already...those all made their first appearances at the liquidation auctions. I'm not trying to scare anyone here, but just trying to make sure that people understand that when a company gets to this point, it's definitely a roll of the dice if you are ordering something that you can't take home today. How much of a risk? That's hard to say, but I am extremely confident that the pain felt when alfred angelo closed 61 stores will be even greater when Davids Bridal closes 300+ stores…and when there are other great discount dress stores out there like Bridepower or Vows Bridal Outlet on the East Coast or Brilliant Bridal in the West (and plenty of others as well), I don’t think I would personally recommend any of my friends to take that risk! But that’s just me