WALLINGFORD — With proms being canceled and weddings postponed, area dress shops are finding new ways to stay in business during the pandemic.
Dynamite Designs in Wallingford is a popular store for prom, bridesmaids and mother of the bride dresses. The owners didn’t know what to expect when they closed their doors in March.
“I was basically in the peak of my season and closed because I wanted things to get better,” shop owner Kristen Gudaitis said. “I thought, like everyone else, it would only be two weeks.”
Many high schools canceled proms this year due to limitations on gatherings prompted by COVID-19. Many weddings were also postponed.
“I got into this business because it was my passion,” she said. “It was my dream job. Seeing all these experiences taken away from people, it took a piece out of me.”
Since reopening in May, Dynamite Designs still sells formal wear but shifted to also promoting casual merchandise and face masks.
“We have comfy, casual loungewear we brought into the boutique that girls have put to good use,” Gudaitis said. “Whether they are going to school from their couch, it’s something they definitely can transition into their closet when they do go back to campus.”
The store uses social media, largely TikTok, to showcase its inventory of dresses using trending TikTok dances to encourage customers to make appointments to shop in the store or online.
Dynamite Designs, located at 1157 N Colony Rd., will relocate to a new, smaller location less than a mile away in Wallingford by mid-January.
The Dressing Room usually sells prom dresses to students at over 50 area high schools as well as mother of the bride attire. Like Dynamite Designs, The Dressing Room has also switched focus to more casual clothes.
“We focus more on our sportswear business,” owner Christine Rinere said. “The comfy, cozy everyday work from home, type of clothes to accommodate the way people are living these days.”
The owner said unlike her Madison location, business at the Wallingford shop has not rebounded, adding there has been real drop in foot traffic.
“The shutdown was devastating,” she said.
The Dressing Room, located at 3 N. Main St., has also heavily invested in its online site.
Rinere will also continue to offer virtual and private shopping appointments to maintain safety and health.
“We’re willing to do what we need to because we want to still be standing when this is all over,” Rinere said.
fwilliams@record-journal.com203-317-2373Twitter: @faith_williams2
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December 28, 2020 at 04:32AM
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Area formal dress shops shift focus in response to pandemic declines - Meriden Record-Journal
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