Alfred Angelo tells customers orders will 'remain unfulfilled'
The bridal chain closed its doors in July.
— -- Alfred Angelo, the national bridal chain that abruptly closed its doors last month, will not return dresses and accessories to its customers, according to an announcement on the company’s website.
The retail chain, which had more than 60 stores, shut its doors and announced it had filed for bankruptcy on July 14. Many customers found out about the store closings via social media and messages left on closed storefronts.
Less than one month later, the trustee handling the company's bankruptcy dashed any customers' hopes that their wedding attire would be returned.
"While we have been successful in obtaining customer records and delivering many dresses and accessories for customers all over the country, even after the bankruptcy filing date, it has now become apparent that the logistical and financial strain of fulfilling each and every open order makes continuing that course of action no longer possible," reads the statement posted on Alfred Angelo’s website. "Thus, to the extent any order has not been fully delivered to a customer, it shall have to remain unfilled."
The statement directs customers who believe they are owed money to complete a proof of claim. Alfred Angelo had been in business for nearly 80 years prior to its closing.
Some brides-to-be left stranded by the chain’s abrupt closing have been buoyed in the weeks since by strangers who offered their help online.
The hashtags #AlfredAngelo and #dressmatchmaker began to trend after Alfred Angelo closed its doors as women offered their own wedding dresses for free.
One woman in Chicago, Aly Porter, who donates wedding gowns to members of the military, shipped a designer dress that she estimated would retail for over $7,500 to Amber McGraw, a stranger in Ohio who lost her nearly $1,000 gown when Alfred Angelo closed.
"I’ve got a Cinderella story. That’s for sure," McGraw, whose wedding is scheduled for September, told ABC News last month.
In Oklahoma, a seamstress who worked for Alfred Angelo became a wedding angel for dozens of brides.
Rose Ellis, who worked with the chain’s Tulsa and Oklahoma City stores for seven years, scooped up around 60 dresses on the day the stores closed and has since volunteered her time to finish the alterations and reunite the dresses with their owners.
"My agenda is to make sure that all my brides I have come in contact with have that fabulous wedding day that they were expecting to have from the beginning," Ellis told ABC News last week.
One of the brides-to-be helped by Ellis, Stephanie Huey, told ABC News today she is isn't surprised that Alfred Angelo will no longer fulfill customers’ orders.
"Their behavior has been unethical from the start, from their treatment of staff and contractors to the customer policies they put in place," said Huey, 33, who started a GoFundMe campaign to help compensate Ellis for her free alterations work. "My heart really goes out to the women who've now lost a great deal of money and won't have a dress to show for it. It's bad business to the core."