On July 15, 2022, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the grand opening of Party Dress Express at its new location on Pleasant Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Mayor Paul Coogan, along with City Councilors Andrew Raposa and Linda Pereira, and State Representatives Paul Schmidt and Carol Fiola, were present to celebrate the occasion. Mayor Coogan presented a citation to owners Jessica and Adriana Cadero, acknowledging their long-standing business as a staple in the city since 1984. State Representative Carol Fiola praised Party Dress Express for providing beautiful bridal, prom, and special event attire, calling it a "tourism attraction" for the region. City Councilor Linda Pereira expressed pride that the business remained in Fall River despite challenges, noting its wide selection beyond bridal gowns. One of the owners thanked their family, employees, and new landlord for their support during the two-month relocation process. During a Q&A, the owners explained that Kelly Collins from Collins Commercial Real Estate helped them find the new space, which perfectly suited their needs. They highlighted their broad customer base from across New England, New York, and New Jersey. The business currently employs seven people and plans to hire more, having previously had 21 employees before COVID-19. They discussed their methods for staying current with fashion trends, their referral system for alterations, and their five-year lease. Party Dress Express is open six days a week, with bridal and bridesmaids appointments strongly encouraged, and can be found online at partydressexpress.com.
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here comes the bride
0:20so this is a great day on pleasant street we have the grand opening of party dress express and we have some of our local elected officials with us today uh my partners in city government are here andrew raposa and linda pereira and also a few of our state representatives paul schmidt and carol fiola were nice enough to join us obviously party dress express and the cadero family have been staples in the
0:46city of florida for a long time uh jessica and adriana do a great job and we want to acknowledge their work today if you get a chance come on down and visit them the place is absolutely gorgeous and the selection goes forever so come by uh who's going to take the citation come on up all right you're the other brave one so in honor and recognition of the grand opening at the new location for party
1:08dress express i wish you nothing but best thank you so much
1:18well on behalf of rep schmidt and i we are so proud of you we've watched you grow your business provide the most beautiful bridal and prom and special event attire to the region to new england and so i look at you i cheer tourism arts and cultural development and i look at you as a tourism attraction here in the community because people come from far and wide to benefit so on behalf of myself my colleagues we
1:48couldn't be prouder we wish you so much success as you realize your dream because if you come inside you will see that this is such a incredibly gorgeous high-end beautiful store destination but yet it's incredibly affordable i don't i don't know how the two go together but it does and so to you and your family thank you from the bottom of our hearts
2:18okay i guess i'm designated to speak congratulations i am so proud of the two of you i know your grandmother would be very proud of you i know she would and i know that she's smiling down on you when you were not too sure what you were going to do when the building closed i was so happy and encouraged that you found the location and that you remain in fall river and i'm telling you it's
2:40not just bridal gowns but really good evening gowns other good clothing ask my three granddaughters because they've all come down shopping so come on down check it out and congratulations i couldn't be prouder of the two of you i would just like to say thank you to our family my parents my family behind us without them this wouldn't have been possible in the two months that we had to get this structure set up and go
3:21obviously our employees that helped with a move set up everything get everything in here our new landlord that we're pleasant to have here that's on site every day it's nice to see that cares about the property which is another plus and we're just really excited and looking forward to the future for sure
3:43all right maybe ask a few questions yeah okay um tell us about the move we were all anticipating not so happy of an ending it's beautiful how did this all come about um so we actually met with kelly collins from collins commercial real estate and she had brought us in to take a look at the space after another uh plan had not worked out and it was perfect for us it was the right square
4:07footage it was exactly the style we had in mind and it just laid out that way i think it helps football river on the map i do i mean we attract customers from all over new england i mean we go up to you know even to new york sometimes we'll get some customers in new york new jersey connecticut boston um so i think it definitely is a staple in the city i
4:26mean the store's been open since 1984.
4:29um you know so it is a staple here in the city of far river tell us about your employee base how many so right now we are at seven we're looking to hire additional ones now that we've moved into the new store originally we had 21 employees but then due to covert and everything else that happened we did end up losing like a lot of employees like many other small businesses did but we are looking to
4:49increase our employee base for sure how do you and your sister stay abreast of the latest and greatest styles oh we're definitely both into fashion you know for sure we're always doing research uh we do go to the trade shows to buy the merchandise so there they always have the runway with all these cool ideas fashions that come across so accessories too yeah absolutely absolutely
5:11alterations able to be done on site uh we don't do alterations in store however we have a wonderful referral list from all over new england because again not everyone is from far river but they like to have a little bit broad perspective of where to go we have a wonderful seamstress that's in our old location that's still you know is there doing alterations for us as need be and i hear you lisa's five years yes
5:31why is that important you know you're we can promise you'll be here absolutely definitely promise to be here for five years i like working with your sister you and i just had a little bit of chat inside well i mean for the most part we really are like the ying to the yang what i like she doesn't what she likes i don't i mean you have sibling fights here that's
5:54usually about how to set up the store what product to buy but then we're over it in a few minutes so it's fine okay tell us how we can find you and anyone who's interested website so you can find us our website is partydressexpress.com we also have a facebook page party dress express instagram partydress express uh we're pretty much open six days a week the only day we're not here is wednesday
6:17bridal and bridesmaids is by appointment only we do strongly encourage an appointment for mother of the wedding as well as we like to make sure she has enough undivided attention uh but everything else is walk in you feel uh feel free to come in during normal business hours how's the city been to you i can't believe the flower arrangements absolutely amazing to see the you know the gratitude and everything from
6:38everyone and the congratulations it's been overwhelming but we're really excited for the new beginning we're just really excited for the future fabulous congratulations thank you so much thank you