Bridal Store Set for Friday Opening

The sign above the storefront at 7 Sloan St. still announces the departed women's clothing store Urban Femme, but a bridal store is opening there on Friday.

The store is Designer Loft West, and it's a satellite of the 6,000-square-foot bridal store and showroom in Manhattan's Garment District. Co-owner Paulette Cleghorn—a South Orange resident since 1998—says she and her partner, Elizabeth Sellassie, had scouted locations in Montclair and Millburn but saw the Sloan Street location was available last month and had 48 hours to make a decision. They managed to renovate the space and complete an electrical re-wiring in two weeks.

The decision to open a new location was partially intended to save New Jersey brides the trip into the city. "When it comes time for your fittings, it's a drag to go to New York City four times," Cleghorn said.

The store offers "bohemian chic" dresses by 11 designers in the South Orange location, including British designer Jenny Packham and Japanese designer Yumi Katsura, whose crystal-encrusted creation—nicknamed The Million Dollar Dress—is on a mannequin in the display window. (It doesn't actually cost a million, but Cleghorn declined to say how much it is.)

While one of the Packham dresses costs $7,000, Cleghorn says the store sells dresses for as little as $1,100. And a designer-in-residence, Janet Nelson Kumar, will be working at the store three days a week.

Though conventional wisdom says this isn't the best time to be opening a business, Cleghorn calls the bridal industry "recession-proof." Though the average price of a wedding dress drops in an economic downturn, the volume of sales goes up, since couples become more likely to see the financial benefits of marriage.

"It's cheaper to double up," she said.