At least 45 brides are left without dresses. Photo / iStock
At least 45 brides are left without dresses. Photo / iStock
The number of brides left in the lurch by a bridal boutique going bust has risen rapidly today, with at least 45 Kiwi women affected.
Primrose & Finch, which operated stores in both Auckland and Melbourne, has gone into liquidation, as its owners left for Britain - seemingly without so much as a word of warning to its clientele.
Bryan Williams, of BWA Insolvency, who was appointed liquidator of the company late on Wednesday evening, said he'd been flooded with calls from brides-to-be this morning.
Yesterday evening he told the Herald he estimated five brides had paid a deposit and were without a dress - this afternoon the number has jumped to "at least 45".
Williams said across the Tasman there were also a number of brides affected by the boutique's closure - the exact figures of which he was yet uncertain.
"I am surprised," he said. "It's far more complex than the directors had led me to believe."
Bridal numbers
Dress designer Claire Pettibone said she was in contact with around 20 brides who'd ordered one of her dresses from either the Auckland or the Melbourne stores.
"We first heard from one bride, and then a second, when we realised we had to step in, not only to end our relationship with Primrose & Finch, but to assist these brides.
"Little did we know how many were affected, not only with our collection, but other designers as well."
She said while a few were lucky to obtain full refunds, or start over directly with them, some were unable to recover their money.
"In those cases we are offering a generous discount and are doing everything in our power to give them the care they deserve."
Pettibone was "deeply disturbed at the abrupt closing" of both stores in Auckland and Melbourne.
"From what we have learned in speaking with our brides and previous employees of the company, it appears that we were lied to repeatedly.
"Not only does Primrose & Finch have outstanding invoices that are owed for dresses they received from us months ago, but the way they have abandoned their clients is inexcusable."
Pettibone didn't want to disclose how much her company was owed, but said it had not received a cent from the deposits the brides had paid.
For one young couple due to get married in eight weeks, the loss of the bridal dress deposit means a few sacrifices are going to have to be made.
Ashley Moerman, 24, who is due to marry her fiancée on September 23 this year, was in a state of disbelief when she read the news this morning.
"I first was like: 'no, that can't be my store that I bought it from'," she said. "Why haven't they emailed us, why have I literally not heard anything?"
The secondary school teacher and her husband, who works in the airforce, had hoped to invite extra guests to the wedding - but said the loss of the $1200 deposit would blow their budget.
"We were trying to do our whole wedding on quite a tight budget.
"It also spoils the joy on the day, even if I do get the dress I ordered, in the back of my mind I'll be thinking, 'man it was such a disaster to get'."
She hoped her London-based dress designer, Katya Katya Shehurina would still have her dress.
Otherwise, Moerman said she'd be forced to go shopping in the morning.
"I've been calling all the stores I can think of around Auckland to get an off-the-rack dress; I'm not that happy about that, but what more can you do?"
The Dimitrov-designed dress that Amber Cameron is offering to any bride affected by the Primrose & Finch closure. Photo / Supplied
Troubled finances
Williams said the directors, Kerry and Matthew Smith, indicated the liquidation had come about as a result of the Melbourne business going wrong.
However, a former contractor who worked as a seamstress for the Australian store, Jayne Coney, told the Herald as far as she knew it business was going strong.
"He told me it hadn't been a good season, which is rubbish because we'd been selling dresses like crazy, making a lot of money," she said. "But apparently in New Zealand it had been a bad season."
Email correspondence given to the Herald showed Smith use his financial troubles as an excuse to staff for their unpaid wages.
"This has been the hardest wedding season by far, and we have learnt a lot of valuable lessons," he wrote. "I am trying to juggle cash at the moment."
Coney had stopped working for the company in Easter this year, after repeated attempts to get the directors to pay the $A1800 [$NZ1900] went unheeded.
According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission site Primrose & Finch Limited was registered in the country on June 11, 2015 and despite the store's closure, less than a year after it opened, the company remains on the register.
Williams initially thought the Melbourne store had closed earlier this year, in May, but has since heard another employee might have been hired to take on the store in June.
"It's concerning, if they knowingly took transactions and knew they weren't going to be able to deliver."
Williams said it was early days yet to speculate on whether this had indeed happened, but said serious penalties, including being banned from the companies register, could apply if this was proven.
