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By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 18, 2001
TAMPA -- Michal Boetzel is getting married in 14 days. She has seven bridesmaids, but no bridesmaid dresses.
The shop where Boetzel ordered her gowns in May, the Main Event, unexpectedly closed on Thursday, leaving brides around the Tampa Bay area in a lurch and competitors scrambling to fill emergency orders.
Customers who showed up for appointments on Thursday and Friday found the doors to the south Tampa salon locked. They peered through the glass windows to find the lights off, dresses still on the racks.
"I'm a nervous wreck," said Boetzel, a personal assistant who went to the store Friday looking for answers. "This is a nightmare."
The Main Event, open for about 15 years at 1534 S Dale Mabry Highway, has gone bankrupt, said Scott Stichter, the attorney representing the store's owner.
Kelly Price, who bought the business about four years ago, put in $20,000 of her own money three months ago to try to keep it afloat, Stichter said.
"The cash flow problems that have been hitting this industry hit the Main Event as well," he said. "(Price) has lost her life savings. There's no winner in this situation. She feels bad for everyone."
Thousands of dollars in liens have been filed against the business, including those from a bank and the shop's previous owner, Stichter said. A federal tax lien for $10,000 was filed in Hillsborough Circuit Court in December. A state tax lien in the amount of $27,000 was filed in April 2000.
Stichter said he was working with attorneys for the lien holders on Friday to release some of the gowns so Price could turn them over to customers.
Price did not return messages left at her home but asked Stichter to speak on her behalf. She spent Thursday and Friday contacting customers, Stichter said. But for those looking for refunds or to get their deposits back, they are out of luck, Stichter said.
"There's just no money left in the company," he said.
Boetzel, 34, called an attorney for advice. She spoke to Price on Friday and afterward said she doesn't expect to see the navy satin and chiffon dresses or the more than $1,000 her friends paid for them.
As she lamented her predicament outside the Main Event on Friday, Tricia Carreno, an assistant manager at a nearby Brides by Demetrios, drove up.
Carreno said two frantic brides stopped by her shop and others called asking for help.
"I had to drive over here to see what was going on," Carreno said. "It's unbelievable."
Carreno asked Boetzel about the style of her bridesmaid dresses and said she'd try to work out something for her.
"I don't care what color it is anymore," Boetzel said, laughing nervously as she thanked her.
Other shops were inundated with calls from frantic brides and parents.
Employees at C.C's Bridal Boutique on Fourth Avenue N in St. Petersburg had a list of nine panicked brides by Friday afternoon.
"They're hysterical," said sales manager Michelle C. King.
King said many of the Main Events' customers contacted the manufacturers of their wedding dresses, and the manufacturers were calling her.
One bride paid $3,500 for her wedding dress and is getting married in three weeks, King said.
Others are getting married up to nine months from now, but all either paid for their dresses or put down deposits.
"It's hard to deal with," said King, who plans to open extra hours and offer discounts to accommodate the desperate brides. "And it hasn't quite hit the fan, yet."
King said the Main Event was considered one of C.C's biggest competitors, so she estimated the number of affected customers to be in the hundreds.
Another of the brides, Jennifer Collins of Dade City, said she put down a $250 deposit for her dress, which she was hoping to wear in April. Even though she has time to find a new dress, the 24-year-old was distraught.
It was the last one of more than 80 dresses she tried on.
"This was the dress that I imagined myself getting married in," she said. "This was my dream. I feel kind of robbed of that."
- Times researcher Catherine Wos contributed to this report.