Bridal Gown Shop Business Plan

Executive Summary

Recycled Dreams – a Bridal Repository is a Portland, OR based retail rental shop of bridal dresses and accessories. Founded and operated by Connie Jugal, Recycled Dreams will meet the unmet market demand of formal wedding wear that is rented as opposed to purchased. Traditionally, participants in the bride’s wedding party are required to buy their dresses for the wedding, yet they have no input as to what the dress looks like. They are told exactly what dress they need to purchase. More often than not the dresses are horrendous looking and after the occasion they remain in the closet collecting dust indefinitely. It is therefore very practical to provide people with the option of renting a dress in light of the fact that the dress will only be used once. This makes the event far more cost effective, yet just as fashionable. Men can rent tuxedos, now women can rent bridal dresses.

The Services

Recycled Dreams rents dresses, shoes, head pieces and veils. For the bride and others if they so choose, the dresses can be purchased. However most customers will be overjoyed with the option of renting these one time pieces of clothing. In addition to providing the wedding party will the ability to rent all the necessary clothing pieces and accessories, Recycled Dreams has established strategic partnerships with top-flight local wedding related service providers such as invitations, flowers, catering, and photographers. Not only do these alliances provide a one stop shopping option for customers where all preparations can be accomplished at Recycled Dreams, but Recycled Dreams earns a commission on the referrals creating an additional revenue source.

The Market and Competition

Recycled Dreams will be targeting two distinct market segments, the bridal couple and the parents of the bridal couple. Couples as a market segment is growing at 9% a year with 114,584 potential customers, and the parents of the couple have a 8% growth rate with over 112,000 possible customers.

Recycled Dreams faces competition from traditional bridal shops that sell the products. While these are competitors, Recycled Dreams sees them as indirect competitors since Recycled Dreams believes that the ability to rent the dresses is a huge value added service. Currently, there are no other bridal rental facilities in Portland. The concept is brand new. It has been tested to great success in San Francisco and Recycled Dreams is the first to offer it in Portland.

Competitive Edge

Recycled Dreams has two competitive advantages that will help them quickly grow their customer base and validate this new concept. The first is the idea that indeed, like men’s tuxedo’s, women’s bridal wear can be rented. This is particularly intuitive since the dresses are only worn once. Although some might feel that there is a social stigma attached with women renting clothing, there is no way for anyone other than the renting customer to know that the dress that they are wearing is rented. Their second competitive edge is their benchmarked customer service. Recycled Dreams sees their role in the entire process as the one to hold the client’s hand and walk them through the entire event, meeting all of their needs. This philosophy has been engrained within the entire organization.

Management

Beyond the fact that Recycled Dreams is a great idea, the company has a seasoned founder and manager at the helm to guide the company to profitability. Connie has years of retail management experience. Her experience was at the Salvation Army where she was the manager of several stores. While manager, Connie was responsible for growth up to 46% a year per store. Connie will leverage this outstanding industry experience to make Recycled Dreams a success.

Recycled Dreams is an exciting concept that acknowledges the fact that most bridal party dresses are not the prettiest creations, are quite expensive, and almost never worn after the intended wedding. Recycled Dreams will reach profitability by month 10 with healthy sales for year one and more than doubling by the end of year three.

1.1 Objectives

The objectives for the first three years of operation include:

• To create a service-based company whose primary goals is to exceed customer’s expectations.
• To increase the number of clients by 20% per year through superior service.
• To develop a sustainable start-up business providing cost effective bridal dresses.

1.2 Mission

Recycled Dreams’ mission is to provide cost effective use of bridal dresses and accessories for weddings. Our services will exceed the expectations of our customers.