The Andover Prom Dress shop has closed it’s doors after 4 years of making prom dreams come true.
Mum of 2 Kate Lamb, who has run the shop and has seen the level of demand rise has decided to call it a day due to time commitments with her new job and the increase in demand due to the cost in living crisis. The dresses from the shop will be donated to Cancer Research UK shops across the country.
Kate Lamb announced on the businesses Facebook page the following:
“It is with heavy heart that due to a significant change in personal circumstances, I will sadly need to close the Andover Prom Dress Free Rental initiative with immediate effect. When I started this initiative 4 years ago it was to be able to give something back to our community with the small amount of free time I had to help a minority of local youngsters (usually those in receipt of free school meals) who would most likely miss out on prom due to extreme financial difficulties, this was very manageable.
“Times have now changed dramatically since I started this and with the current cost of living crisis I am now inundated with hundreds of requests from regular working families which would now require a full time shop and service to meet the change in demand. As a full time working Mum of two, with travel to London with my new job, I would sadly not be able to meet this huge new unforeseen increase in demand alongside my full time career.
“Unfortunately I am also unable to simply hand over the initiative to a full time volunteer should there be one, due to the complex nature of the setup including a premises licence agreement to a named individual that would need to be applied for with the council plus the need to purchase your own public liability insurance from your own pocket as well as being prepared to move premises and all of the stock on foot every 12 weeks.
“However, please know the kindness and generosity of our amazing dress donators will not be futile. I’ve met many wonderful parents, carers and young people who have been impacted personally by cancer. Therefore all of these beautiful dresses will be collected by Cancer Research where they will be distributed to their stores and sold to raise money for this amazing worthwhile charity whose fundraising and research aims to help beat cancer sooner. So our kind dress donators continue to keeping make a difference, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of kind and generous dress donators I’ve met who have proven how many wonderful people there are in our town and beyond.
“I’d also like to thank Test Valley council for offering a great pop-up shop initiative and support to have made this possible as well as the Chantry Centre staff for looking after us. Together with all of you, it has been an absolute pleasure over the last four years, helping to make prom dreams come true for some really amazing and deserving young people and seeing their smiles and confidence boosted. Below are just a few of the awesome youngsters I’ve been lucky to meet“.
