11/21/2023
This is one of the longest and hardest posts I have ever had to write, so please bear with me.
At the age of 23, newly married, graduated, and moved back to my hometown, I was lost. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I was struggling with post college transition. I found a local dress shop for sale, and I worked hard to secure funding, and bought it. Maybe the greatest gift of all through this was leading me to my best friend, Carla. Who has become my family.
After my first child, I realized I wanted something different. I wanted more flexibility, less Saturdays, and not feeling like I have to always be available to customers. I wanted a more traditional work environment, and after much prayer, was led to a job at Region 8 PDC in 2018.
Since 2018, and throughout COVID, I have juggled both Kaposy’s and my full time job. This would not have been possible without great employees along the way, my mom, and my husband. However, since having my second child, it has become more clear to me that this model for my life isn’t working. My time away from my “real job” needs to be at home with my kids, participating and volunteering in their activities, and being there for them. Too many times I have heard “mom’s always working,” and I have been called to simplify my life.
With that being said, I have made one of the hardest decisions of my life, and that is to close my store. I always joke that the store was my child, until I had a child. Which, if you have ever owned a small business, you know that the care it takes for one to run properly is similar to the care needed for your children. As my life has changed, my priorities have changed, and I feel that running the store just does not fit into the model of my life right now. I feel it is not fair to my family or to my customers to not be able to give either of them 100%.
This is not a decision that we came to lightly. It is a decision I avoided making for as long as I could by telling myself, “sure Ashley you can do it all, keep going.” But, ultimately I cannot do it all and I shouldn’t have to. I hope my customers over the years will understand how proud it is has made me to help you find your dress or tux. I have seen girls go from prom and homecoming dresses to selling them their bridal gown. I have had families who have come to me for all their children for their special occasions and it truly has meant the world to me. The love and loyalty that has been extended to this small business is what has made it possible for me to run it for the last 14 years.
With all of that being said, if anyone would be interested in buying out the inventory and keeping the business going, we would be happy to talk to you about it. Please reach out to me directly. There is certainly a need in this community and surrounding areas and I have felt the most guilty about having to make my customers travel to find their tux or dress.
If we do not have anyone interested in continuing the business in its current form, we will begin selling inventory in the next few weeks, with the plan of closing our doors fully in by the end of the year or early January. Please watch our Facebook for sales, times that we will be open, etc.
Our plan is to lease the space for the store and the great room in the hopes that another business can find a home here, as we have for so long. If you are interested in discussing a leasing (or even purchasing) opportunity, please message me for contact information for my husband, who will be handling this task.
It is my hope that this transition can be handled smoothly and kindly. I am aware how rumors fly in a small town, and this decision comes from no other place and for no other reason than the need to remove work from my plate, so that I can be the person I need to be.
Thank you again for the support and love over the years, thank you for allowing me to be a part of so many of your special days, and please keep me in your prayers (I don’t handle change well)!
With much love,
Ashley Brosh Anderson
Owner
Kaposy’s Bridal and Prom
