David's Bridal, the largest wedding apparel retailer in the United States, desperately needs a suitor.
The company filed for bankruptcy Monday — its second Chapter 11 filing in five years — saying it was in the market for a buyer in the hopes of keeping its stores open and avoiding liquidation. It will lay off most of its 10,000 staff, my colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn writes.
What happened?
Weddings are still a big business, and David's Bridal remains a go-to for brides around the United States — about 25% of brides in America wear a dress from David's, according to the company.
But the retailer has struggled to adapt to shifting customer tastes. Demand for traditional, bead-and-lace-embellished white gowns has waned. Brides increasingly want Big Day vibes that are a bit less off-the-rack. Their dresses are sometimes jumpsuits. Or knee-length. Or black. Or pink.
"An increasing number of brides are opting for less traditional wedding attire," David's Bridal said in a bankruptcy filing. "The demand for formal wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and related accessories has decreased substantially."
And even as weddings have bounced back with a vengeance since the lost year of 2020, it hasn't been enough to save David's. Weddings are still below pre-pandemic levels, according to CDC data. And fewer people have been getting married over the long run: Marriage rates in the United States have been declining since the early 1980s, per the agency.
The store said it will keep its nearly 300 stores and website operating as usual while it searches for a buyer.
A Bed Bath & Beyond problem?
Bankruptcies are piling up in retail thanks to rising interest rates and inflation eating into customers' discretionary spending. (See: Party City, Tuesday Morning, mattress manufacturer Serta and pet store retailer Independent Pet Partners — all of which have filed for bankruptcy in recent weeks.)
Bed Bath & Beyond is also on bankruptcy watch. And like David's Bridal, the home goods chain appears to be suffering under the weight of its everything-everywhere-all-at-once aesthetic. Part of the appeal of those stores, historically, was their seemingly bottomless inventory and mind-boggling variety. They had everything, so you could find anything.
But when you walk into a store like that now, you kind of just want to CTRL + F the space with your eyes. It's an 800-page document full of paragraphs you don't want to read, and one paragraph that you've been dreaming about reading since you were a child.
Of course, David's Bridal and Bed Bath & Beyond have had their own unique problems building up over the years. But in both cases, the pandemic appears to have sapped customers' patience with shopping as an in-person process, with an overwhelming variety of goods.
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