One Ottawa bridal boutique owner is adapting to changing needs by carrying inclusive sizes, only Canadian designers and dresses that appeal to a new generation of shoppers. Abby Osterer was working in corporate marketing in 2019 when she started thinking it was not the path for her. In the evenings, she would spend time crafting […]
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One Ottawa bridal boutique owner is adapting to changing needs by carrying inclusive sizes, only Canadian designers and dresses that appeal to a new generation of shoppers.
Abby Osterer was working in corporate marketing in 2019 when she started thinking it was not the path for her. In the evenings, she would spend time crafting with her Cricut, a computer-controlled smart cutting machine. One day, she searched what Cricut craft products sold best.
“The answer was weddings,” Osterer told OBJ. “Then it kind of evolved over the years. It started with me doing little crafts, wedding gifts, in our apartment. Then I moved to a storefront and we were supplying wholesale for bridal boutiques, until one of them asked if we would ever be interested in doing a consignment pop-up where they would lend us their dresses and we said, why not?”
Never Knew I Needed, or NKIN, an off-the-rack bridal consignment boutique, was formed in 2023 to sell sample dresses from boutiques.
“So when dresses are discounted, the designers no longer make them or the boutiques no longer carry them, they get sent to us from all over Canada to be sold as-is,” Osterer said of her “one-stop wedding shop” that has evolved to offer alterations, bridesmaids dresses, veils and other accessories.
Though successful, Osterer explained that a consignment shop is at the mercy of what other boutiques and designers have left over. And so brides would come in looking to say yes to the dress, but some would leave disappointed.
“The way a bridal boutique works is the designers launch a dress, usually in a street-size six to eight, which is wild because the average woman in Ontario is a street-size 14. We found that we had a lack of plus sizes and smaller sizes, because everyone would send us their sample dresses, which were bridal size 10 and 12.
“We were getting hundreds and hundreds of gowns in those sizes, but struggling to find other sizes. What’s further is that there was a lack of luxury plus size,” she explained.
At about this time, Osterer saw a unit across the street from her Carling Avenue location go up for lease. While she’d been planning to open a second location in a few years, Osterer said the pieces seemed to be falling into place.
And so she got to work on Always Knew I Needed, a made-to-order luxury bridal boutique, in 2025. At the core of Osterer’s mission for AKIN was the need to carry dresses in two sample sizes so all brides could see themselves in their dress.
As Osterer built her roster of designers, trade tensions continued to simmer between Canada and the U.S., leading her to make the decision to carry only Canadian designers.
“When we were finding those Canadian designers, we told them our mission was to bring two sample sizes in for every dress, which was huge for them. But we also told them that we had strict rules that (the dresses) had to be designed and sewn in Canada. We also wanted to make it so there was no limit on the size chart and we wanted to customize the dress fully,” she said.
Though stocking two sample sizes for every dress is an accessible approach to bridal shopping, it is an expensive one, Osterer said.
“It’s a much bigger financial endeavour. You basically have to double your stock inventory. What we did to add a little variety is maybe the standard size is strapless and the plus size has straps, so at least you could visualize the customizations that could be done.”
She took out a loan with the Business Development Bank of Canada to cover some of the opening costs for AKIN. “But we were pretty lucky to be able to do it off the profits of our original store. The BDC loan was to help bridge the one- to two-year gap of opening early.”
Each dress at AKIN ranges from $3,000 to $6,000, which Osterer said is on the higher end for Ottawa bridal shops, but lower- to mid-market in general. “I do think our customers see the value in knowing where (the dress) is made and who’s making it.”
And in a time when many retailers are using the term “luxury,” AKIN is finding its own definition.
“As gen Z starts getting married, they are redefining what luxury means to them. It’s not about big brands or designers. I think it’s more about the ability to make it theirs and the experience they’re having … They want something they’ve never seen before, something that feels true to them.”
With a new generation of brides comes a new way of customer service, Osterer said.
“Gen Z is much more informed and they take longer to make a decision, which is not necessarily a bad thing. They are doing more market research and coming in with more examples, which is great but can be really hard.
“It’s just about taking a different approach,” she said. “Gen Z doesn’t want to be sold to. They want to know that you have the experience to hold their hand and lead them through the process.”
Another hurdle to keeping the business running smoothly is finding the right people.
“At the end of the day, it’s a customer service job, but it’s also retail. You need to find strong, real employees that you know believe in your product and your mission. I’m lucky that, during COVID, my sister joined me and now she runs NKIN and I run AKIN.”
Many of her employees work in the wedding industry as photographers and planners and offer their help in the off-season.
“In our very cold November to April, we don’t have many weddings, so they will fill in,” she said, adding that having four seamstresses on staff helps.
