I had the opportunity to visit the lovely people at Maggie Sottero's flagship store and international office while the hubs and I were in Sydney, Australia. It was such a pleasure getting to learn more about the brand, how it got started, talking with their General Manager- Kym, getting to know the owners, and seeing their flagship store in downtown Sydney. Did you know that Maggie Sottero has a flagship store called Abbey Bridal located in downtown Sydney? They used to have several locations throughout other major cities in Australia, but after becoming well known in wholesaling other retailers, they focus on their only location in Sydney and stock their gowns with well-known, independent retailers in the area. Leslie and Wayne (the owners) opened their store (Abbey Bridal) and soon after opening they began designing dresses for local brides that they would design and craft. The demand for their designs grew and that later developed into the business it is now. They are now an internationally known, award winning designer label that so many of us have grown to know and love.
Though we wish we could have taken pictures of the Sydney store to show you how beautiful it is, is located on the 2nd floor of the Dymocks Retail Complex/Building where many other bridal salons and businesses are also located on the 2nd floor. (They do not allow photography inside the store which is a common practice for most designer/couture bridal salons and we understand completely!) None of the other bridal salons compare in size to the Abbey Bridal store as many of the other stores are less than 700 square feet which is pretty typical for the downtown Sydney area as we noticed from many other retail businesses as well. Many of the clothing boutiques were quite small!
Their salon was very busy the day we came to visit even though they are only open till 5pm. Their staff wore all black which was a nice contrast to the ivory/white on cream decor. The store was quite small even for most bridal salons even though it was very large in footage by Sydney, Australian standards. They had 9 dressing rooms and can serve up to 50 brides on any given Saturday! We spent time getting to know the owners and General Manager- Kym who was our tour guide and gave us such helpful information to understand their industry differences in Australia as well as the similarities. Kym has been with the company over 20 years and it's such a neat story to see someone who worked their way from an entry level position, proved their abilities and now helps run the company nationwide.
Kym's favorite part about her job is working upstairs (directly above Abbey Bridal Salon) in their design department! She also loves working with her other stores in her Australia territory to help them grow their business with Maggie Sottero. One of the neatest things for me to see was ALL THEY CARRY is Maggie and Midgley in the store! It was so neat to see every gown I have ever seen on their website or at Market on the sales floor! No other brands, but Maggie! Sounds like Bridal Heaven to some of us, eh? :)
Zach and I got a quick picture with Kym before we left and also took some pictures of the outside of the store even though it was quite dark in the entry way. One of the things that our store and our customers in the USA have to look forward to is that Maggie Sottero has already tested their next line (even though it doesn't debut markets for months!) of dresses in their flagship store to make sure their designs work on the body and will be what brides want. I got to see several of the new designs that are going to be taking the Maggie Runway and will be on our sales floor at Classy Concepts Bridal Boutique in Mansfield, TX which is such a treat to be able to see them before they go to market. There are some really innovative designs that are coming out this next season that are not expected so I am really excited to see what our brides think of the new Maggie looks!
We saw some other great bridal moments while in Sydney which I will share as well- starting with seeing 2 brides getting married at the same HUGE St Mary's Cathedral near Hyde Park which we got pictures of and we also saw a bride getting married in New Zealand's Victoria Park as well. One of the things I noticed in the 3 brides I saw up close AND the brides I saw from a distance is these ladies LOVE the ballgown! It can't be the venues they chose becuase we saw one who got married in the cathedral, one in the chapel, and several in the beautiful parks... and they all wore satin ball gowns. :) Many of those ballgowns weren't strapless either! ...some Australian food for thought!