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[ Fashion Index ]

	When a bride walks into Kleinfeld, what kind of information should she be equipped with?
	It would be helpful if she has taken a very strong look at the magazines that are available in the bridal business so she can sort of focus her attention on the kind of dress, not necessarily with a particular designer or the particular dress, but the type of dress she is most interested. It would also be helpful if the bride arrives with a handful of pictures, names of those dresses, or drawings of those dresses. It will make it much easier for the sales consultant to be able to go through our stock and bring the dresses to her that are going to be the most suitable for whatever it is that she is looking.    Second of all, she should make sure that she has her budget firmly in mind so that she doesn't waste her time looking for gowns which are not available at Kleinfeld or any other bridal store for that matter. The gowns that brides will find at Kleinfeld range in price from $1,200 to $10,000. Brides who find themselves within that budget range may have better success at finding their dress within our store.    It is also helpful to understand the process. A custom dress takes time. A custom dress also allows the bride to make some changes - a longer train or another row of beads or some other kinds of changes that might make that dress seem natural to her. But it also takes time to receive their customized dress.    If their wedding day is a couple of weeks or even a couple of months from the day she walks in, it is very difficult for us to accommodate that. We have specific dresses that we know we can get in a rush order and within a short time. However, that means instead of being able to pick from a thousand dresses, the bride can probably only pick from three hundred dresses. Still a whole lot of dresses to pick from. So, type of dress, budget, timing, and an understanding of the process.
	What makes Kleinfeld so unique from other bridal shops?
	I think three things that make us unique are 1) an extraordinary selection of gowns to choose from, 2) a pricing philosophy that provides good value, 3) a group of people at the front end and at the fitting end who are used to making sure that the brides go through the process of informing our people what it is they want.    Last year we did that for over 6500 brides. We've seen most of the problems that can come up and we've had people here who say, "Oh yeah, remember that one, it's just like a problem that happened before." Having that institutional knowledge of how to solve the problems that arise for a particular bride is only available at a place like Kleinfeld. We have fifty years worth of history and we have done it 6000 or more times a year - for many years.    And we have on the buying side terrific relationships with a wide variety of vendors some of whom sold their first bridal dresses to Heda Schacter when they went into the business. The vendors have essentially grown up and been nurtured, at least in this neighborhood, by the Kleinfeld company.
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