NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A bride-to-be says she can’t get the dream dress she already paid for after the store closed without warning.
Meaghan Hughes said she bought her dress from Atlanta Bride Couture in Alpharetta in January.
She said employees told her she could pick the dress up over the summer.
“June came and I didn’t hear anything and July came and I didn’t hear anything,” Hughes said.
The bride-to-be said she was told to come back in October, and when she did, the store was closed.
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“We came and looked in the window and there was nothing there. Everything was completely gone,” Hughes said.
She said she paid for the dress in full, more than $2,000, in January.
“That’s a lot of money to lose out on and not have a dress to show for it,” she said.
Channel 2's Justin Wilfon tried to call the store owner, but her voicemail box was full. He went to her home and no one answered.
“Wedding planning is supposed to be a happy time and you shouldn’t have to deal with stuff like this,” Hughes said.
The wedding is not until April, so Hughes said she has time to find a new dress, but will have to find a way to pay for it.
On Wednesday, Channel 2's Wendy Corona spoke to a former employee who said she knew this day was coming.
"The money was being taken from the brides and the gowns were not being purchased," the employee, who did not want to be identified, said.
For 18 months, she told Corona, she worked at the boutique selling gowns until she just couldn’t do it anymore.
"I’d watch it happen so many times, these brides calling and crying and brides would come in and say I’m not leaving the store until you get the owner on the phone," she said.
Neighboring businesses told Channel 2 jilted customers come around daily asking where they went.
Hughes wasn't the only bride Corona heard from. A few women came forward saying they were victims too - each out more than $1,000 and scrambling with what to do next.
Months ago, Cate Callahan found her dress at Atlanta Bride couture for her March wedding.
"It was definitely that, 'Say Yes to the Dress' moment that you anticipate having," she said.
But it all turned when last week she drove by the store and saw something that bothered her.
"It was 11 o’clock on a Thursday and these men were just packing up the store, taking the last remaining dresses out of the store on a Thursday night," she said.
The sign still hangs on the side of the building, but it’s empty. UPS missed delivery notes are on the front door.
Alpharetta police shared an incident report from late May when a verbal dispute happened at the shop over someone having paid and not received their item.
Cox Media Group
