The majority of first-time visitors to The Princess Shop always say the same thing upon entry into our location, something along the lines of: "Wow. There are a LOT of dresses in here."
Since its inception in 2007, The Princess Shop has accepted donated graduation and formal dresses from members of the public and from dress stores. We have an inventory of over 3000 dresses (and growing everyday)! We have been so fortunate to have amassed such an incredible selection of beautiful gowns. But, there's more to it than just collecting dresses! We thought we would share a bit about how our dress donation and invetory process works.
How does The Princess Shop receive its dresses?
Dresses are donated to The Princess Shop or to our dress drop off location. We currently have one drop off location besides The Princess Shop, but we are always looking for more! If you would be interested in collecting dresses at your business on behalf of The Princess Shop, please let us know! Further details of the dress donation process are available here. But a summary is that we love and accept all dresses that the donater thinks a 2015 Princess Graduate would wear - so generally, a dress should be no more than 5 years old. We ask that the dress is in clean, wearable condition.
Once a dress comes in as a donation, members of our volunteer team enter it into inventory. Each dress is assigned a unique number and entered into our large inventory spreadsheet with description of the dress and any information provided with the donation. Once a dress is selected, the spreadsheet is updated to reflect whether the dress is out witha Princess Graduate, or has been returned to our shop.
Every fall, the entire volunteer team gets together for an afternoon and we go through each and every dress in our inventory. We ensure that all of the dresses that should be in the dress racks are accounted for, check for any mending or drycleaning needs, and take the opportunity to organize the racks. At this time, we also take the opportunity to keep our inventory up to date and remove any dresses that are damaged beyond repair, or we think might be a bit too dated for a 2015 Princess Graduate to wear to her high school graduation. This year, the inventory process took the entire team 6 hours together, plus an extra 5 hours put in by one of our awesome volunteers (thanks, Lizanne!).
What does The Princess Shop do with the dresses that have been removed from inventory?
We make an effort to keep our collection of dresses up to date and exciting for our Princess Graduates selecting their dresses. Some dresses that have become a bit dated over the years have a limited liklihood of being selected for graduation. Rather than tossing these dresses, we take the oppotunity to give them another life! We sell donated dresses at a very reasonable price at flea/thrift markets and comic-themed festivals. We have had a lot of people purchase dresses to be re-purposed in sewing projects or costumes. We like the idea that these dresses have been worn to a special occasion, donated to our organization and worn by Princess Graduates, and now can continue to be re-used in another way!
How can you get involved with the dress donation or removed inventory process?
We love to accept dress donations! It keeps our inventory fresh and interesting for each year's Princess Graduates. Please consider donating a dress that you think a 2015 graduate would wear (less than 5 years old, preferably). If you provide your contact information, we will send you a photo of a Princess Graduate in your dress when it is selected for a graduation ceremony.
Interested in picking up one of our dresses that has been recently removed from inventory? Stop by the Saskatoon Lions Club Super Duper Flea Market - this Saturday, November 15 at Prairieland Park from 9:00AM-5:00PM. We will be there in Hall D!
Thanks for your donations and support!
The Princess Shop