Several women claim a consignment bridal store in Elm Grove closed last summer without contacting them about their dresses.
Return Engagement Bridal on Elm Grove Road still has its sign hanging above the front door, but peek inside and you'll find a completely empty store. That wasn't the case when Erin Butler of Burlington brought her wedding dress there to sell a year and a half ago.
"It looked like a very legitimate business, there were a lot of really beautiful dresses," she said. "It looked like any other bridal store."
Butler said she trusted the owner to sell her dress, originally worth $2,000, at a discounted price.
"I'd never wear it again so I took it to the consignment store where she said that she could have it up to a year and that she would sell it and I would get half of the money that she got," Butler said.
When a year passed by, she started wondering and looked up the shop on Facebook to find a number of complaints after the store abruptly closed last summer.
"She never contacted me, no one contacted me that they were even planning on closing so it came as a surprise," she said.
Butler isn't the only one who feels slighted by the shop owner. Her landlord's attorney told TODAY'S she was kicked out for not paying a substantial amount in rent at her business. According to Waukesha County court records, the owner was evicted last summer and sued by the Village Court, LLC, the owner of the multi-business tenant facility, for more than $60,000. The case was resolved earlier this month.
"It makes you feel taken advantage of," Butler said.
Butler is worried she's out several hundred dollars and that others may be in the same position. TODAY'S TMJ4 tried to contact the shop owner via phone, email, social media, even at her home to no avail. We'll bring you an update if and when we hear back.
