CINCINNATI — Finding a wedding dress for the bride is a big part of the wedding planning- but what about the moms and grandmothers of the bride and groom? One former business executive decided to give them the special moment they deserve.
What You Need To Know
- Kim Kraus spent 34 years at P&G, working her way up to senior vice president
- After retiring, she came up with the idea of opening a dress store dedicated to mothers and grandmothers of the bride and groom
- The Queen’s Lace is the only store in the country dedicated to moms and grandmas in the wedding process, according to Kraus
- Kraus said it’s important for these women to feel confident and beautiful during the wedding process
This is what Kim Kraus does every day at the Queen’s Lace- building up the confidence of mothers and grandmothers as they pick out the dress for their child’s or grandchild’s wedding.
The idea for the only store in the country dedicated to the moms and grandmas in the wedding process, according to Kraus, came to her when she was working at a bridal shop in the Reading Bridal District- a job she took for fun after retiring from P&G.
Kim Kraus pulls a dress from the rack at her store (Spectrum News/Katie Kapusta)
“The moms kept coming in saying I have no place to go for a dress and I have no moments in the bridal process and all this,” Kraus said.“So I went home to my husband, and I said I think I want to open a bridal shop for moms which was totally crazy because I’m a boy mom. I don’t do dresses, all that stuff.”
Now Kraus is using her 34 years of experience at Proctor and Gamble, working her way up to senior vice president, by building up other women.
“It’s been kind of like a re-birth in a weird way,” she said. “But some of it’s very similar. The truth is this is problem-solving and enabling people and that’s what I did a lot of at P&G, too. So problem-solving. I’ve always felt like supporting women is really important and this is just that on steroids.”
Women like Chris Sansom, who had to shop for not one but two dresses. Sansom said shopping at the Queen’s Lace made her feel beautiful.
Kim helps customer, Chris Sansom, find the perfect dress (Spectrum News/Katie Kapusta)
“When it became my turn to be mother of the groom and step-mom of the bride, I knew I was going to come here because this is what they do, it’s all about you and it’s so fun,” Sansom said.
It’s thanks to people like Kraus and other employees like Beth Kushon that make customers feel so comfortable in a vulnerable moment. Kushon relates to these moms as a mother of the bride herself right now.
“There is so much going on with the wedding,” Kushon said. “With the wedding planning and being the host of the event, thinking about everybody else and every other face-off it. At some point you say, ‘Wait a minute, I’m a part of this too.’”
Which is exactly why Kraus started this journey.
“For us, this isn’t about making a lot of money,” Kraus said. “This is about making moms happy.”
Making Moms Happy is the motto at The Queen’s Lace (Spectrum News/Katie Kapusta)
Kraus said she never envisioned this as her retirement, but says she wouldn’t change a thing.
“It’s got to be intimate, it’s got to be authentic,” she said. “If it stays like this and just helps more moms, I’m really happy about that.”
