Bridal Shop Hit by Repeated Break-Ins

WOODLAND HILLS —  A bridal boutique that closed without warning was broken into Tuesday for the third time in a week--apparently by angry women looking for their dresses, police said.

“They’re breaking the law,” said Officer Thomas Gahry of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division. “Who knows if they’re taking their dresses, or just taking any dress?”

In fact, most of the 50 to 100 dresses stolen in the break-ins were store samples, said Bridal Designs owner Bruce Anderson.

The boutique’s troubles began Thursday, when the manager of the shop at 22540 Ventura Blvd. abruptly quit, Anderson said. The next day, two sales clerks did not show up to open the store.

The sudden closure sparked alarm among brides-to-be. Friday night, someone ripped the shop’s wooden door off its hinges to get inside, Gahry said. Saturday, a swarm of irate women stole dozens of dresses from the rear of the store, Anderson said.

Trying to calm the frenzy, Anderson--a Sun Valley businessman who said he’s never personally sold a dress--reopened the store Monday. He said that up to 100 women showed up to claim their dresses, with some staying to help him answer the phone and sort through the orders.

“Considering everything, everyone was actually very cordial to me,” he said. One woman, who had joined the looting Saturday, even stopped by to apologize and pay for her dress.

“I’m trying to do the right thing here,” Anderson said, adding that he intended to return every dress to its rightful owner.

But the bridal brouhaha worsened Tuesday, when two employees failed to show up for work again. Anderson, who said one of the workers complained that the television news cameras made her nervous, kept the store closed.

The store was then broken into a third time, on Tuesday afternoon, although police said it was unclear if any more dresses has been taken.

Andreea Shnayder, 24, stopped by the store Tuesday evening looking for answers. The Encino woman, whose wedding is set for June 2001, said she put down $300 on a chiffon dress with a removable train.

“I’m kind of disappointed,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s there. And if it is, I don’t know if someone stole it.”

Even the policeman who was twice called to the scene of the crimes can sympathize. “I feel bad for the ladies,” Gahry said. “I mean, I’m married and I can’t imagine this happening to us when we were getting ready for our wedding.”

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Times staff writer Hilary MacGregor contributed to this story.