CHICAGO — The abrupt closure of 61 Alfred Angelo Bridal stores last week triggered a crisis for thousands of brides-to-be all over the country, vanishing their carefully chosen wedding gowns just days or weeks before their big days.
But Kasia's Bridal and Special Occasions at 6039 W. Irving Park Road is ready to come to the rescue, its owners announced.
Anyone who saw their Alfred Angelo dress order canceled is invited to choose from among the 4,800 gowns stocked at the independently run store at discounts of 50 percent to 90 percent off, co-owner Kathy Labedzki said Tuesday.
"We've had girls coming in frantic, saying their wedding is two weeks away, and they don't know what to do," Labedzki said. "So we opened up our inventory. The fact that they got screwed over isn't their fault, and we want to help them."
The shop won't extend the discount to custom orders, but brides can pick off the rack from thousands of gowns of "any size, cut and style" with designer names including Casablanca, Pronovias, David Tutera and Azura.
Kasia's even has some gowns it snagged from Alfred Angelo before the chain filed for bankruptcy, Labedzki said.
Many brides who lost their dresses are turning to online retailers and bix box stores as their backups — but Labedzki and her mother, who together founded Kasia's in 2001, "want people to rest assured that small businesses are still here to help them," she said.
"We're talking about something that happens once in your lifetime, if you're lucky," Labedzki said. "This is not the way we want you to remember your wedding."
