Prices over phone!

That rule makes good business sense, they want you to come in so you're already there and will just buy it out of convenience, and it gets you in their store in case you see something else you love, like another dress or even accessories for you. But as far as being practical and convenient that certainly isn't easiest for you! Lots of stores do do this though, some won't even tell you the name and designer of a dress until you buy it. So that leaves things in your hands as to whether it is worth it to you to go visit different salons in the hopes of finding a bargain.

I wonder what would happen if you asked a store over the phone whether they could beat the price of $288. Maybe they can't tell you their exact price, but maybe by letting them know you found it at a competitor for that price they might be willing to negotiate to get you to make your purchase from them. I've never personally tried this but it might be worth a shot?!

Actually very common I work in a bridal store the company does set our prices but so does the owner if the company allows.
Dress prices can bury on number of things location based on how far they need to ship them, time frame to the wedding some things will need to be rushed in some cases, also location when it comes into play I do know where I come from our prices are very reasonable compared to Toronto even for the same dress.
I do know a lot of stores won't give you prices over the phone it is unfortunate but it is part of the industry, they hope you come in and because you're already there decide to purchase.

I let my ladies do the running around. I gave them the designer and colour and it was up to them where to buy it. I did go to a couple stores with them, but not all. It’s their dress, they can shop around if they want a better deal. My ladies all ended up ordering from different stores.

I think that it's a bit unreasonable of them but at the same time I understand that they hope that when you come in that you see other dresses that you may like more and then also feel more inclined to buy the dresses there because you are already there.

At the same time here in Winnipeg the fancy dress shops are all in the same part of the city so they are only a couple minutes drive away from each other. Even if they were on the opposite side of the city I wouldn't mind the drive just based on the fact that to get from one end of the city to the other it only takes an hour time.