Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen dress rental shop closes its doors and moves online as events start back up

Must Have Dresses in Rosemount has shut its doors
Must Have Dresses in Rosemount has shut its doors

Rental shop Must Have Dresses in Aberdeen’s Rosemount has closed.

The store, founded by Vish Archer, was among the first to bring high end frocks for rent to the Granite City.

But Ms Archer has now decided to focus on online trading and transfer her business to Glasgow in a bid to reach a larger market.

Must Have Dresses first opened in October 2019 but was forced to close its doors due to the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

L-R Diana Archer, Vish and Brian Archer.</p> <p>

Ms Archer was able to reopen in October last year but further restrictions had an impact on business with many social gatherings cancelled.

Lack of parties and social events hit business

She said: “Most of our business came from parties and events but with Covid restrictions there was not much happening.

“I thought moving to Glasgow would be better for the business because I’d have a bigger market but I’ll still continue online.

“I’ve had some regular customers say they are disappointed and it is disappointing but it seems to be the way the high street is going. Everything is moving online.

“My customers can still get in touch and hire.”

Ms Archer’s stock will be transferred to Glasgow where her products will be available to people who want to dress up across the UK.

Expanding business with Glasgow move

She said: “The company has a warehouse and they do lots of rental hire across Scotland working with some big names in the business.

“It’s very professional and on a large-scale. It’ll be like a central unit and whenever an order comes in it’ll go from there.

“The shop was ok at the time but because I’m getting more clothes all the time I thought it was better to get a bigger space.

“It’ll be much better for me to go to Glasgow and cover the whole of the UK.

“And with restrictions eased I expect it to get busier.”

‘Want shops to stay in Rosemount’

Midstocket councillor Bill Cormie said the closure of any shop in the area was “sad” and hoped Ms Archer would consider reopening in the future.

Bill Cormie in Rosemount Place

He said: “It’s sad to hear about any shop closing in Rosemount. The high street is different to how it used to be.

“Obviously a dress hire shop, sadly given the Covid regulations, hasn’t been so busy with no functions going ahead.

“We want to see shops staying open in Rosemount and not moving elsewhere.

“Hopefully it’s something that may be considered in the future.”

The rental dress market was given a significant boost when Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie Symonds wore a rented dress to their wedding in June last year.

Carrie Symonds rental wedding dress, Photo by Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock

Ms Archer said: “It’s great thing that she’s promoting sustainable fashion.”