AUSTIN, Texas — Like a lot of women, Sarah Hilsabeck has dreamed of her big day. She found "the one," her fiancé, and the one big, important dress.
"My fiancé and I, we've been friends for so many years. So it was just easy, you know?" Hilsabeck said. "[The dress] has this gorgeous long cathedral train, and I just felt so beautiful in it."
Hilsabeck bought the dress back in early March from Belle Saison Bridal on West Anderson Lane in North Austin. She was told it would arrive in November.
When November passed, Hilsabeck did not hear anything from the shop about the status of the dress.
"I had called the store a few times and it went straight to their voice message, which says to send them a text and they'll get back to you. I sent them a few text messages with no response, kept calling – nothing," Hilsabeck said.
Christina Young bought her wedding dress from the same shop in 2020. While she got to wear hers at her wedding, she sent her dress to be preserved back in August. The store said it would take 10 to 16 weeks, but she still has not heard any updates.
"It's kind of like the sacred thing that you want to hold onto and show it to the next generation. And just something that we took a lot of time to find and it was the one. And it's just really special. And so, I would really love to have it back," Young said.
KVUE visited the bridal shop and found a lockout notice taped to the front door saying the store owner is behind on rent, owing more than $75,000. The failure to pay rent resulted in a lockout.
KVUE made attempts to call, text, email and knock on the door of the bridal shop owner, but we received no comment.
On the Better Business Bureau's website, Belle Saison Bridal has a D+ rating. The ratings represent the BBB's opinion of how the business is likely to interact with its customers, and the ratings are influenced by complaints received from the public.
Craig Dunagan, the attorney who represents the owner and landlord of the North Star Center, where Belle Saison Bridal is located, sent KVUE this statement:
"Many retail tenants have struggled to stay the course beginning with the Covid lockdowns and continuing into the post lockdown recovery period. As is the case with many small business owners, the post Covid recovery period has been a difficult time and with the ongoing recession, many small business owners have fallen behind in rental payments. To trim overhead costs, our tenant appears to have been operating of late on an appointment only basis. Last October the tenant reported it was expecting a payment that would be applied to arrearage. That payment has not materialized and recently attempts to communicate with the tenant faltered. After a tenant goes silent as to communications, a customary procedure to address the problem of a tenant in arrears on rent is to use commercial lock out procedure, notifying the tenant as to how they may regain possession. Usually this causes the channel of communication to reopen and a turn-around may then result. We have no information at this point as to tenant’s intention to try to reopen or to work out its problems with the landlord. We remain hopeful.
"As you may appreciate, the loss of rent causes problems on the landlord side as to its on-going mortgage payments, taxes, insurance and other significant operating costs."
Hilsabeck is now reflecting on the dream of a dress she might not get to wear.
"I definitely feel really, you know, disappointed," Hilsabeck said. "The worst possible thing I think, other than the venue closing down, is suddenly being without a dress."
KVUE is in touch with the landlord of the building, who is working to get the brides reunited with their dresses. Hilsabeck also said she contacted a different bridal store that carries the designer who made her dress and said they have the dress ready to ship.
She said if any other brides are affected, they should Google other stores in the area that carry their designer and see if they can help you make contact with the designer.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, the Better Business Bureau advises that you make a formal complaint on its website.