Thoughts on Pearl's - long

Here are my impressions of Pearl's Place.

I live in Dallas, Texas. At least live there now. After traveling all over the country in job transfers I have had the opportunity of visiting a lot of stores all over the country. I have been to what is supposed to be the very best and the worst. For my money let me say that Pearl's Place is the best. Here are some of my experiences.

Chicago - Snobby, snobby and not helpful at all, overpriced and not honest about pricing or anything.

Atlanta - Most of the above and not helpful at all.

San Francisco - Bridal Galleria, the store in Burlinghame and others are just too snobby, uppity and I cannot believe that they are still in business.

In the Dallas area, Mockingbird has little competition and they show it in their attitude and the store in McKinney is far worse. All of the above are "tag rippers" and over pricers. I mean by over pricing not even having the real retail price on their gowns, say about $200.00 more on nice designer and couture gowns. I woulld say they will make enought on alterations, not to charge this.

Now to Cincinnatti, Bride and Formal, well they have thousands of gowns. No appointments, but wait for hours, then when you find your gown you go to a central room to try on, everyone is looking at you. My best friend went with me, who was a bride. She had just had some surgery and did not want to expose herself in that environment so I was amazed when that was all that they offered to her.

After getting data I called Pearl's Place- here are observations.

Yes you, at times, have to wait on the phone. I estimated I spent about $5.00 in phone calls and saved around $1000.00 on my gown and about $1100.00 on bridesmaids for a total saving of $2200.00. I do not think that $5.00 in phone calls was too much for that saving. Fred is amazing, replies instantly, almost to questions. Does not quote every designer in emails, you have to call for some, but sends size charts that are actual scans from the lists of the manufacturer. I found some typo errors in other lists on the web for sizes.

Pearl's received every item I ordered earlier that I expected. My gown was three weeks early and my maids about 1 week. All were shipping by computer by UPS with signatures required, even my gown that was shipped to my office. I checked and their shipping charges were actually less than normal charges.

Then I happened to visit their store on a convention trip. It was totally crazy. We dropped by on a Saturday and there were about 90 brides in the store. I can see why some local brides have posted here and other sites that it is pandemonium in that store. But, Courtney finally got to help my friend. They had so many good suggestions, and she was not really going to order from Pearl's Place. I had not received my stuff but they were kind, gave us some restaurant suggestions and places to here some music and we left. One of Courtney's friends is a chef, locally and she advised us where to go also, she was there to fit a bridesmaid.

My friend, who was not planning to order there finally has ordered with Pearl's as she just could not better their price and loved the personal help.

Finally, depsite other comments, the owners of the store are there almost all of the time. This is also a plus in my mind.

Sorry for the post which was very long, but I wanted to say it all.

Lisa Rabin
[email protected]

Feel free to email me any comments-

I am glad to hear so many good things about Pearl's Place. I am so grateful to this and another message board that provided information about dot.com bridal shops. I would never have found this by search engine. My daughter found a lovely Maggie Sottero Dress at a full service salon here in Sacramento. I was disappointed that they would not negotiate or even include alterations in the price which was $970, but I felt the dress was beautiful and the price wasn't too outrageous. They couldn't have been nicer there. Since the wedding is a ways off, we weren't ready to order. I decided to do a little checking, and found that Pearl's Place could order the dress for us at a savings of $450.00!!!! :D Now, Can you explain that??!! I had no idea there was SO MUCH MARKUP on bridal gowns. I will definitely place my order with them. Problem: I am struggling with the ethics of trying on a gown in a store that carries the inventory then purchasing it via the internet. We did not see the dress in a magazine, and if we hadn't gone to that store we would probably not have picked that dress. It is no wonder so many bridal stores are a little cagey about cutting out labels, not allowing photos, they are getting used. (none of that was the case where we went but I hear it does happen) Well ladies, what would you do? Sally

Yes that is what you can expect from that store. Let me clarify as this post and others have been questioned by other brides. This is an example of what I mean by overcharging. Or pricing over retail. In markets where there is little competition or gowns confined I understand that there is a policy of setting prices. I think this is immoral and that is why I suggest Pearls.

Whoo Hoo, that was my experience, with some of the very same stores. I travel everywhere also, and have had two transfers in my job. I totally agree about the stores in Chicago. Who do they think that they are? I have never experienced such poor service and attitude. Take for an example my friend, who wanted to purchase a gown, but arrived without an appointment, mid week, well they did not let her in. So she then promptly went to the net and Pearl's and ordered her gown there.

Seline

I, too, ordered my gown from Pearl's back about 2 years ago. I told Fred in September that I really liked a certain Paloma Blanca gown that he could sell me. It was discontinued the following December, but he e-mailed to tell me that in November. Let me add that the gown wasn't advertised and he just took my description to find the gown, style number, and a sketch to make me more comfortable that he had found the right gown.

I ordered my headpiece and gown from Fred and saved about $1000 and made a sincerely good friend in Fred. My now husband and I will definitely be stopping by next time we're down that way.

Fred is the best!

Melanie & Michael
http://www.melanie-michael.com
(check out my gown on our site)

That seems to be most folks view on Fred and Pearl's. Glad to hear it.

Seline

My sister also found The Dress at a full service salon in Sacramento. Saleswomen at other stores ignored her wishes, brought her dresses she didn't want to try on, and tried to sell her dresses in size 12. She wears a 4.
At the full service salon, she was lucky enough to get an ethical saleswoman, but couldn't justify paying what they were charging for The Dress.
She eventually got it through bridesave.com. (Great service, by the way.)

I think you're entirely justified in buying over the internet. You didn't go to the store planning to use their service to buy elsewhere. If you're not getting top service and top value, there's no ethical reason to buy from the Sacramento salon.