Bridal Boutique on the Brink of Closure: What Would You Do?
How is your business doing in the new year? Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel or are you struggling to stay afloat?
If you’re in the special event and wedding industry, you might be hurting. Many of you have told us that COVID has taken a huge toll on your businesses and sales. This week, June of J’s Tux and Bridal Boutique in Owosso, Michigan shares her story with us.
June is no stranger to adapting to challenges, and she’s looking to the Alignable community to help her get creative to get her business back on track.
Now, let’s put our minds together and get started!
Business Challenge of the Week: Bridal Boutique Faces Wedding Drought
Keep reading to get filled in on June’s business and the challenges she’s facing. Then, share your expertise and problem solving skills by leaving some fresh ideas for her in the comments.
Is your business facing a challenge right now, too? Let us know your story for a chance to be featured in your own article!
The Business: J’s Tux and Bridal Boutique
J’s Tux and Bridal Boutique started in 1998, when June purchased a local boutique, saving it from closure. The boutique has been providing the people of Owosso with clothing and accessories for weddings and special occasions ever since, including tux rentals, alterations, and discounts for veterans.
In short, June’s been making her customers look spectacular for their special days for the past 23 years.
June’s business was off to a great start, but as all small business owners know, that can change in an instant. Another business in June’s building was set on fire, causing her bridal boutique to go up in flames.
However, June’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive got her back on her feet after this tragedy, and she was able to regrow her thriving business. At its peak, J’s Tux and Bridal Boutique serviced an average of 10 weddings per week! However, in March of 2020, that all changed.
The Problem: Large Celebrations and Special Events Came to a Standstill
With the start of the pandemic, June’s sales plummeted. All of the events that she sold clothing and accessories for were suddenly canceled.
As March turned to May, and she watched prom season pass by, J’s Boutique was faced with a real dilemma. It didn’t look like large gatherings would be up and running in full force for the foreseeable future.
Now eight months later, some wedding celebrations are occurring again, but brides and grooms are opting for more intimate and casual celebrations, leaving June out of the loop.
June has already gotten creative, offering one-on-one appointments to potential customers, as well as stepping up her sanitation protocol to ensure that patrons feel safe in her store. However, the demand for her products just isn’t there right now.
While June sees the opportunity in having a website now that brides and grooms are turning to online retail, she doesn’t have the budget or tech experience to make it happen.
Now, after 23 years of doing business, June is turning to the small business community for help rethinking her strategy to adapt with the changing times.
We lost all prom season due to schools being closed and weddings being canceled. We had to refund all merchandise ordered, which put us in a very bad place. We haven't had much help.
What Would You Do?
Now, it’s your turn. Let’s put our minds together as small business owners to come up with some creative ideas to help June turn this quarter around.
If you were June, how would you adapt to this situation? What advice can you offer her based on your experience in business?
Be sure to check out June’s Alignable profile to read more about what she’s all about.
Check out other business challenges in the series to see if the solutions can work for your business, too.
Comments (1-10)
I would suggest she put her head together with a budding young (and inexpensive) social media student to promote some unique sales opportunities. Market to the couples that if they aren’t going “big” with their numbers they can still go Big with small details, special headpieces or jewelry pieces, things they will remember in their photos forever.
Definitely must have an online presence. Make package suggestions with themes. Almost every young person can help get you there today!
Partner with the winery industry, setting up display or sales at their events. Shift to some high end smaller products such as jewelry and shoes that are smaller in inventory but provide more revenue.
Diversify- it’s how the business computer and bicycle industry survived the 80s. Even how medicine survived this year. Offer your services but in a varied platform.
We all seem to be dealing with the impact of 2020 and it feels like years of hard work may be going out the window including our dreams. This is an Eviction Company and our business and profitability has not only slowed down from a revenue perspective AND based on Federal and States new mandates, can't even do our job (and they made us even at the same time for representing owners of properties that are hurting financially as well.
First request - GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING. When we started our businesses, we had a dream, a few $'s and a future that we were creating. That Person is what made you successful. That person is still inside you. That person is what sees an opportunity and went full speed ahead. Be that Person Again. Is not about what we lose, it's about what we can create.
Second - Trust your Team (even if you have a team of 1). The people we surround ourselves with are great people and that bring talent, love and commitment which can be implemented anywhere.
Third: Courage is not the opposite of Fear. Courage is what we have in the face of Fear. You did it once, do it again. We are not victims, we are creators and all they can do is slow us down. They can't stop us. Leave the Past where it belongs (in the past) and create a future again that is so bright we have to wear shades indoors.
Create a powerful future.
June,
I am so sorry to hear about your business being so adversely affected. You've probably heard the saying, "Once a Marine, always a Marine." I happen to think the same thing can be said about entrepreneurs. You had a dream and saw it come true. You woke up one day and the dream ended. Dream another dream!
Hi there,
I am a wedding planner in California where they close us down with no guidelines and we still do not see light at the end of the tunnel so....I feel your pain. Here some suggestions:
-will it be possible to move your store online? Couples are still getting married even if big weddings are not possible. If you go online you will be able to market to a bigger crowd.
- Market to destination brides. We see many couples frustrated with the idea to keep moving the date of their wedding and they are combining the wedding and honeymoon by doing weddings in big resorts abroad ( Mexico and Caribbean). Even with the new CDC rules that make a Negative test mandatory to enter the USA some resorts offer complimentary testing to the facility. ( I want to point up that these big brands come up with a solution in 24h while we are still waiting for guidelines to survive)
- Partner up with local officiants, planners, photographers,s and outdoor venues and market Sequel Weddings ( elope now and big party later on when it will be possible).
- advertise special attire for their engagement photo session. Love doesn't stop. People continue to get engaged and get married.
Basically, I know it is super hard and you might feel alone, but you are not. Keep trying to stay in front of your possible clients with information, uplifting news, and virtual events. Stay upfront so if anybody will need your services you will be the obvious choice.
Be careful tho: have a plan and use your energies in things that are bringing home results. To me doesn't make any sense to invest to have hundreds of followers on social media, or on a coaching online, if you do not have a plan on how to monetize your followers or if the coaching plan distract you from your purpose: Make money to pay your bills.
Good luck.
I am so very sorry this is happening to your businesses! 2020 was either feast or famine for businesses it seems! I worked back in bridal just when the web was coming on board. I had a co-owner who would not even consider making the paradigm shift over to the internet. If you haven't done this, or even if you have, you have to make a big splash in this area. Also, because your business will be for the "not as big, you will have to be willing to have some of the more casual styles and bridesmaid dresses that could be wedding gowns! If you don't have a "lay- away" plan for those that want this "very expensive dress" but aren't getting married until 2022. You may want to consider a program that it is an auto payment (just like our mortgage) that pays you every month! Look at the other bridal sites that seem to be doing well and learn from their example. Bridal is so specific and if you can hang on, it will come back bigger and better than it's been...people will want to party and have big weddings! I wish you luck and great success!
Have you considered a layered strategy to bringing your inventory to the web before going to a fully registered under your domain online retail site. This would allow you two distinct advantages and long term pivots to go beyond survival to growing your business. First advantage would be opening your boutique to the internet’s foot traffic of online shoppers. My wife has built up 80k followers and 5k+ listings and ships nation wide working it part time. The second advantage is zero cost to start up. Profits can fund website design, hosting, merchant account fees, etc. a trigger point after a pre-planned amount of sales and followers can direct launch of your online retail site.
We have begun a New Year. Don't let 2020 keep you in a place of confusion. Are you asking yourself these questions? What am I supposed to do, How am I suppose to do it, With everything that has happened how can I _____ or look at what's happening to everyone else?
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We are seeing the social media business become THE avenue to bring your services to the public in a safe, effective way. Doctors, therapists, teachers and so many others are providing services via the internet so why not yours? Set up a studio where the happy couple can dress up for their ceremony and stand in a separate room with wedding party in yet another. All rooms are set with video cams where they can see each other but, more importantly , where friends and relatives from ANYWHERE can see them as well! The video can be live and interactive with a side screen where visitors can type in messages that the couple can see. The first dance, daddy daughter dance can all take place in the studio with screens set up for interactive viewing of guests. Gifts could be made through gift accounts, either in cash or gift pick up or delivery. This seems like a win win for EVERYONE. Couples can invite as many people as they wish with much less expense. Guests from afar can attend without the expense and exposure of public transportation, hotels, etc., which means the homebound and elderly could "attend" as well. Clothing could be rented for the video. And last but not least. YOU are recording EVERYTHING that happens, including guests, which could be edited and presented to the couple and sold to guests. No need to close your doors, JUST OPEN YOUR WINDOWS.
You will get an abundance of creative ideas in this forum and others. Results change when we change our thinking and our activity. This input can be helpful in that regard. Changed thinking is the first step to changing a business strategic plan and of course action to follow through is essential. A trusted professional business advisor can help with that.
I would run an incentive-based marketing campaign. I would advertise via social media, etc. Your existing email list would be a great referral source where you could offer them a vacation if they send a friend, family member, coworker, etc to shop with you. You could say something catchy like get a honeymoon with your wedding gown, take your gown on a vacation or have a vacation with your gown. As a way to expand the promotion and the success of the campaign offer the vacation to people that buy a certain amount of in-store credit for future purchases. This will allow your business to capitalize on people’s future plans of weddings, proms, anniversaries, events, special date nights, etc.
On a larger scale, I would have a virtual fashion show. I would make it an event to draw attention to it like the designers have to design their own outfits to wear made out of nontraditional items. Being that you sell bridal gowns use that as inspiration for the theme – visions of my ideal bridal gown made from nontraditional items.
Prices: Have different prices for the different tiers of designers, you could have the grand prize a vacation based on which one gets the most votes, second place gets a hotel voucher and third place gets a restaurant voucher
Sell tickets at different levels:
- Sponsors – contact local businesses in your area to see if they want to sponsor the event and they could get advertising for their businesses before, during and after the event, look for businesses that could help with the stuff that you might need like services to conduct the event as well as businesses that are part of the bridal industry
- Attendees – want to attend the virtual event and get to vote on the winners, would buy a ticket for the event plus credit for a future purchase in your store
- Designers – would buy a ticket that would allow them to be one of the contestants in the fashion show plus credit for a future purchase in your store
Advertise – contact your local news stations and newspapers about the upcoming virtual fashion show, put out press releases, advertise with money raised from the sponsors.