eBola Nurse Visited Bridal Shop Closes

The Akron Bridal Shop, after 30 years in business, is closing due to what happened after Amber Vinson visited it. The claim in the article, was people were scared to visit it. And the business lost of $100,000 in business and related clean up costs.

And then there was the faux pa, where Amber Vinson through a lawyer, demanded a refund for the dresses she has special ordered, and wanted to return that generated unfavorable press..

The stores webpage is so so:
http://www.cabridal.com/

Hint - Never have a ticker tape across the top.

And their reviews are not that great:

Google Reviews, so so.

Yelp - Only 2 reviews! And 2 stars.

Wow, 6065 Likes on Facebook

36 reviews on Wedding Wire, 5 stars.

My previous post on this:
Bride to be at center of Ebola Scare

Wedding Dance Classes

What a great idea! The studio is located in Orange County, California. Yes, I know, there is another Orange County in Florida :-)

I just saw this Groupon for:
One or Two Wedding-Dance Classes for a Couple at Your Perfect Wedding Dance (Up to 51% Off) - Groupon

And a link to their website:
https://www.yourperfectweddingdance.com/

And their Yelp reviews are very nice:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/your-perfect-wedding-dance-newport-beach

Vandalized Ferguson bakery receives nearly $100K in online donations

I am so glad for the bakery owner! I was very sad when I read about how hard she had worked to get enough money to open her bakery. Selling at flea markets. And then to have her dream burned down.

Vandalized Ferguson bakery receives nearly $100K in online donations - Washington Times

Ferguson looting: My bakery's window is busted - CNN

I just liked their FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cose-Dolci-Bakery/255581581133872


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Bride-to-be at center of Ebola scare wants refund for bridesmaids

I have very mixed feelings on this, especially being a a small business owner.

Bridal Store's Side:

• The small business had to stay closed for 21 days and had it cleaned using UV.
• Many customer canceled orders
• The store lost a lot of money (tens of thousands of dollars)
• No phone call from the nurse, just an attorney's letter!
• Looks like everything is custom ordered, limited stock
• Refund policy is none

Nurses Side:

• Wants to get back to a regular life
• Found another store to use
• Wants her $480 back

Reality:

The store owner should just refund the $480 and move on. The danger of a negative hit to the stores' reputation is not worth the $480. The store is already getting hit by a negative review. It seems the store owner does not understand online reviews, and how powerful they are. Her Yelp reviews are not good.

Google Reviews

Yelp

The Knot

Bride-to-be at center of Ebola scare wants refund for bridesmaids - Local Ohio

Silver and Red Dress Sale

I noticed a lot of recent purchases are Silver and Red. The silver sequin dress is a favorite.

Red Girls' Polysatin Party Dress Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $44.99 You Save: $40.00		Black Velvet Short Sleeve Top, Silver Taffeta Flocked Skirt Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $39.99 You Save: $45.00		Taffeta Red Bubble Dress with Interchangeable Sash Retail Price: $59.99 Our Price: $34.99 Sale Price: $29.99 You Save: $30.00   (2 reviews)
Red Girls' Party Dress with Lace Bodice Retail Price: $74.99 Our Price: $44.99 Sale Price: $39.99 You Save: $35.00   (1 review)		Beautiful Silver Shiny Chiffon Dress with Three Chiffon Flower trim Retail Price: $69.99 Our Price: $44.99 Sale Price: $39.99 You Save: $30.00		Girls Capped Sleeve Red Lace Dress Retail Price: $74.99 Our Price: $54.99 Sale Price: $49.99 You Save: $25.00
Girl's Sleeveless Silver Zebra Printed Party Dress Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $44.99 You Save: $40.00		Silver Sleeveless Bodice with Silver Double Satin Skirt Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $44.99 You Save: $40.00		Red Girl's Sequined Bodice Bubble Dress Retail Price: $74.99 Our Price: $44.99 Sale Price: $44.99 You Save: $30.00   (1 review)
Red Taffeta Bubble Girls Party Dress Retail Price: $91.99 Our Price: $54.99 Sale Price: $49.99 You Save: $42.00		Silver Sleeveless Bodice with Silver Satin Skirt Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 Sale Price: $44.99 You Save: $40.00		Silver Girls Sequined Bodice Bubble Dress Retail Price: $74.99 Our Price: $44.99 Sale Price: $39.99 You Save: $35.00   (5 reviews)

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Custom Dresses - Why We Don't Do It

I have gotten several requests for us doing a custom dress.

What I have seen is custom dresses are very expensive, do to all the labor required. When a dress is made by a manufacturer, it goes through several steps. The usual steps in making a dress in the US.

1. Design the dress
2. Buy the fabric, it's often imported to get the right fabric, which hopefully has not changed since last bought.
3. Cut the fabric for several different sizes, in a large enough quantity. Usually a couple of hundred pieces per size. Cutting is done to minimize wasted fabric.
4. Have the pieces sewn together
5. Reseller buys from manufacturer
6. Customer buys!

With the example above, getting one dress made for us, just does not make sense economically.

My customers request:

Hi,

I looked at your website, and was impressed with the dresses and your philosophy.

I am hoping that you will be able to help me.

We have an event in 2 months.

WE ordered a dress for my 12 year old daughter on line, and now the manufacturer can't supply the dress we want.

I am enclosing a photo of the dress below, which is similar to something you have on your webpage.

I was wondering if you might be able to make something like this for us.

Please let me know.

Thanks so much.

My Response:

I actually forwarded this to somebody on my staff, and we made a suggestion on a dress that was similar.

A response to another similar request:

I am just a reseller, I don't actually have a factory make the clothes.  And the manufacturers I buy from, they do big lots when they manufacturer.

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COD - Why We Don't Do It

I just got a request for doing COD. The problem with doing COD is the cost. UPS COD costs $12. Plus UPS is usually more expensive than USPS for shipping.

Is there cash on delivery option in ur website..???

And my answer:

I believe you can do e-check using PayPal.

There is a COD charge, I believe it's $10 by a customer, so it has not been requested before. Plus the shipping would be more expensive.

Since the dresses don't cost that much, I am not sure it makes sense.

Apologies,

Ray
www.elitedresses.com
Girls Dress Boutique


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English Question - Girl's Dress Boutique

What is the correct punctuation for my tagline at www.elitedresses?

Is it:

Girl's Dress Boutique

or

Girls' Dress Boutique

or

Girls Dress Boutique

It seems the right answer per a Language Arts Teacher a friend asked, to my surprise, was Girls Dress Boutique since Girls Dress is an adjective phrase, and since no possession means apostrophe. I have not changed the current logo yet on the grammar issue. It's amazing how crazy English grammar can get! Or does this just show how I did in English? What I remember in my schooling, grammar was not a big focus. And when I got to college, it was all about write about your feelings. I am very happy that at my daughter's school, they did an excellent job at grammar.

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Party Girl Dresses - What are they?

Redoing the Party Girl Dresses Page. 

What is a Party Girl Dress?

Party dresses have bright colors, fashionable, and a bit glitzy and have a wow factor to them. They are not a formal or long dress, but usually tea length or just above the knee. Popular colors are black, Fuchsia, Red, and Black. We sell a lot of sequin dresses that shine, with the most popular color being blue.


Some Examples:

Girl's Navy Blue Sequined Bodice with Layered Mesh Skirt Retail Price: $84.99 Our Price: $49.99 You Save: $35.00   (3 reviews)

This is the Fuschia Dress Customers Love:

Taffeta Fuchsia Bubble Dress with Interchangeable Sash Retail Price: $59.99 Our Price: $34.99 Sale Price: $29.99 You Save: $30.00   (8 reviews)

Who are our customers?

We sell girls dresses from baby sizes to size 16 girls, with the major of our sales being around sizes 6-14. This translates as most of our dresses are for around 6-12 years old. The headache with the term party girl, is it can also refer to an adult lady, since girl is slang term for women.

So what types of parties will a 6-12 year old attend?

Birthday Parties
Christmas Dinners
Family reunions
Father Daughter Dances
Graduation
School Dances
Thanksgiving



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