CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — A national tuxedo rental company with several locations in Northeast Ohio has abruptly closed its doors, seemingly for good.
American Commodore Tuxedo, which has 12 stores in Ohio and nine across Greater Cleveland, is apparently no longer in operation, leaving dozens of area couples scrambling amid wedding season.
"I literally broke down at work, everything was just running through me so many emotions, I was stressed, upset, very frustrating."
Those are words from Cuyahoga Falls bride-to-be, Makenzie Sparks. 3News' Kierra Cotton spoke to Sparks, who says with just 17 days left until her wedding, she wants answers. Sparks and her fiancé Brent thought their wedding planning was complete, that was until Sparks got a message from a friend on Facebook--never hearing from the company directly.
"I have not gotten an email, text or anything, their doors are just closed," Sparks explained.
Cotton spent time on Tuesday reaching out to the company to get clarification on what's going on with their stores. She called several Northeast Ohio locations and the national customer service line, but was unable to get any answers. 3News even visited the Cuyahoga Falls location and found a sign on the door saying all locations would be closed this past Sunday, August 6, but it made no mention of a permanent closure.
American Commodore Tuxedo is one of several brands as part of parent company, Dapper & Dashing. 3News' sister station WXIA 11 Alive in Atlanta is also reporting that several of the Dapper & Dashing locations in that area posted generic closing notices. In Texas, 3News' sister station KBMT is reporting that Al's Formal Wear, another Dapper & Dashing brand, has closed.
11Alive obtained an email from the company's HR account to employees informing them they were being laid off.
(A portion of the email relating to pay information has been removed in the image below.)
3News reached out to the CEO of Dapper & Dashing via LinkedIn for a statement, but has not yet heard back.
Sparks says she had eight people fitted for their wedding back in February, spending nearly $1,000 with American Commodore. But now she has nothing to show for it except added stress.
"It wasn’t a minor thing, they guys weren’t gonna have their suits—so it’s very frustrating very upsetting. And just not a good time, weddings are supposed to be fun and everything and that was not," she said.
Since the abrupt closure, Sparks was left to scramble to find a solution for her big day.
"We went to Men’s Wearhouse yesterday (Monday). They were going to accommodate us, it was just a lot more money that the guys would have to spend cause they would have to do the rushing, " said Sparks. "So we’re gonna try Amazon and hopefully that seems to work."
Despite having found a solution, Sparks says she still wants American Commodore to take responsibility and make things right.
"I would at least like them to reach out to me and let me know," she explained. "All the guys should be refunded their money and I would like an explanation and something to make this better for my big day."
*Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from a previous story that originally aired March 2, 2022.