Closed bridal boutique leaves women dressless
A bridal boutique owner is learning an important lesson: Don’t mess with a gaggle of future Mrs.
When Luba Anastasia Cawley, owner of Anastasia’s Bridal in north Wilmington, abruptly closed shop within the last month and left more than a dozen brides without their special dresses, the wifeys-to-be got even.
They contacted the media, the Better Business Bureau and Attorney General Matt Denn’s office. After receiving a dozen complaints as of Tuesday, the attorney general is investigating, according to Denn’s spokesman.
The brides also took to Facebook for a cathartic gripe-fest called “Anastasia’s Burned Brides” with 101 likes. Comment after comment ranted about Cawley.
Some called out Cawley for her delay tactics, such as blaming customs snafus, lost shipments and family emergencies for not delivering dresses in the weeks and months leading up to the Concord Pike store closing.
Cawley, who lives in Wilmington, could not be reached for comment and has similarly gone MIA with her customers. Both her Anastasia's Bridal email addresses have been shut down.
Court records show that Cawley filed for a personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2008 and the case was discharged. In 2009, she and her former husband were sued by Chase Home Finance for defaulting on a nearly $417,000 mortgage plus interest on their property at 29 Baynard Blvd. The property was later sold at auction.
On June 14, Cawley’s parents, Basil and Vera Gregorovich, filed for Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy. Under their Bee Vee Corp., Vera Gregorovich is listed as Anastasia Bridal’s president, while her husband is listed as the secretary and treasurer, according to the Better Business Bureau’s website. Vera Gregorovich is listed as the agent for Anastasia's Bridal in Delaware Secretary of State records. The Gregorovichs did not return a phone call and email Thursday.
The Better Business Bureau's website on Thursday had an alert on Anastasia's Bridal, saying: "On 06/14/2016, the business filed for reorganization under Chapter 13 of the federal Bankruptcy Act, case# 16-11481-BLS. This permits the business to continue to operate with court supervision while developing a plan of reorganization."
A meeting for the Gregorovichs’ creditors is scheduled for Aug. 1 in room 2112 of the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington. Court records list the couple's debt and administrative expenses totaling more than $53,000, including $4,000 in property taxes owed to New Castle County and $3,500 in unpaid attorneys’ fees.
The blindsided brides aren't completely out of luck, according to Penn State University Law Professor Marie Reilly.
"The purpose of a chapter 13 case is to stay in business, use the income you expect to generate from continued operations to pay back your creditors to the extent you are able and obtain forgiveness of the debts you can't pay," she said.
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Reilly advised the brides to file claims online at www.deb.uscourts.gov or by mail. The bankruptcy code provides for a priority payment of up to $2,775 per person for customers who paid in advance and didn't get the dresses they were promised, she said. How much money the brides will ultimately recoup depends on other creditors already in line.
Brides like Ashley Mashington aren't holding their breath.
“I now have to pay for my dress all over again,” said a flustered Mashington of Pike Creek, who founded the burned brides Facebook page.
The 33-year-old first-time bride’s story is what would happen if “Say Yes to the Dress” became “Say Yes to the Wedding Mega Stress.”
With her mom and maid-of-honor in tow, Mashington purchased her dream Maggie Sottero lace gown on Black Friday of last year. She took advantage of Cawley’s special sale, she said, which was a 15 percent discount if Mashington paid cash in full.
Mashington’s parents forked over $1,500 for the dress and a belt and were told to expect everything to arrive within seven months.
Cawley, who also goes by Luba Campbell, emailed Mashington on April 14 to inform her that her dress was scheduled to arrive the second week in June, according to correspondence that Mashington provided to The News Journal.
On June 7, after seeing a television news report about Anastasia’s Bridal boondoggle, Mashington’s colleague at Wilmington University nudged her: “Where did you get your dress?”
Fifteen seconds into watching the news video, Mashington was too disheartened to continue. She pulled up Anastasia’s website, which was disabled.
Still, the eternal optimist assumed this was one giant misunderstanding. She sent a courteous email inquiry to Cawley. Nothing.
Then she enlisted her mother to drop by the store. There was a sign out front: “Closed for Inventory and Repairs,” with only a general email address listed.
Inside, two dozen racks of breathtaking gowns beckoned under lock and key. Mashington sent increasingly frantic emails titled “Urgent. My Wedding Gown. Please Reply ASAP” to Cawley.
Not a peep.
The next night, Cawley sent a three-sentence email to Mashington, according to a copy provided to The News Journal:
“I have worked with all my vendors for my brides. Maggie Sottero has all of your info. and will contact you to get your gown. I am doing my very best to protect my brides during this transition.”
A quick call to Maggie Sottero revealed that Cawley never paid the designer for her gown, which is why it didn’t ship, said Mashington.
“It just seemed like they locked up and threw away the key and didn’t care about the customers they left behind,” she said.
Missing an essential item for her October wedding, Mashington asked her parents to pay again for the same dress and have it shipped to another bridal shop, Irini’s Originals on Philadelphia Pike.
Feeling buoyant, she tried on her dress last week and focused on her storybook ending.
Another Anastasia’s Black Friday bride, Lakesha Costello, had to borrow money from one of her bridesmaids to purchase a duplicate Pronovias ruffly gown.
Unlike Mashington, Costello only gave Cawley a 60 percent deposit for her gown, a rhinestone belt and a veil totaling $1,600. Cawley pressed her to pay cash, dangling the 15 percent discount, but Costello paid with her debit card, she said.
When the estimated early May arrival date came and went, Costello blew up Anastasia’s phone lines. Finally, she said, the store gave her a June 10 appointment to try on the dress.
Costello, who lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, arrived nearly two hours early with her two young children to find the doors locked. At 5 p.m., an official with the Better Business Bureau stopped by, hunting for Cawley. That’s when Costello burst into tears, as did her children.
Like Mashington, Costello learned that Cawley ordered the dress from Pronovias but never paid the bill.
In the process of buying a home in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, Costello didn’t have enough money to purchase a new dress. So, one of her bridesmaids, a dear friend, charged it on her credit card. Costello agreed to repay her in installments.
Because of that, she nixed her planned Bahamas honeymoon so she could earn extra money tutoring this summer. Costello is only taking three days off for her July wedding.
“Initially, I was upset. Then I was in shock,” the 33-year-old reading teacher recalled. “Right now, I do feel sorry for (Cawley) as a business owner. She ruined her reputation.”
Costello purchased her replacement gown at Jennifer’s Bridal in Hockessin, which gave her a 20 percent discount.
Store owner Jennifer Kienzle said she’s dealt with more than a dozen distraught Anastasia’s brides over the last month. Some are paying twice for the same dress, while others are starting from scratch.
In business for 20 years, Kienzle said it’s a “red flag” when a bridal boutique asks for cash up front.
“We don’t even have change here,” she said. “People don’t deal in cash in this business.”
“The way this was handled I have never seen locally,” she added.
Starting late last year, Kienzle said, she began hearing from brides who were having difficulty getting Anastasia’s to deliver their dresses. Soon after, Kienzle started receiving calls from bridal designers who used to work with Anastasia’s but stopped because of missed payments.
Kienzle knew Cawley — before Cawley opened her bridal shop she bought her wedding dress at Jennifer’s — but lost contact after Anastasia’s began undercutting Jennifer’s prices, first in Greenville, then on Concord Pike.
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“You can only discount for so long before you run out of cash flow,” Kienzle said.
A visit to Anastasia’s spacious showroom last week turned up no leads. The same “closed for inventory” sign was hanging on the front door. Jose Cuevas, manager of Delaware Title Loans next door, said he hadn’t seen Cawley for three weeks.
If there’s any puffy heart ending to all of this it’s that two current Mrs. have come forward offering their wedding gowns for free to Anastasia’s burned brides.
“It served its course. It’s time to pass it on to someone else who needs it,” explained Dawn Sheiker, also 33, who volunteered her Oleg Cassini two-piece halter gown with chapel train.
The north Wilmington bride, who got married in 2013, said she knew Cawley through a mutual friend.
“I empathize with everyone involved,” Sheiker said.
News Journal reporter Scott Goss contributed to this report. Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.
Editor's note: Some material from an earlier version of this story has been removed.