Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start shopping for my perfect dress?
It’s never too early to shop for your dress when you shop at The Prom Shop! We open for Homecoming and Prom. For Homecoming we open in August. For Prom the season begins in December. We suggest early shopping for the best selection. Specially designed with our early shoppers in mind, we created safety nets - like layaway and trade-ups.
Do I need to make an appointment?
No appointment is required. You can always be guaranteed the full Prom Shop experience during our normal business hours. If you would like a personal shopping experience for you and some friends outside of our normal business hours, please give us a call and we will do our best to find a time that works for you!
Is it worth the drive?
It’s not uncommon for girls to drive 4 hours or more to visit us. We've had people drive down from Canada to shop with us! Sometimes a girl drives 9 hours one way to find her dream dress with us and have The Prom Shop experience! Once you visit us, you are always part of The Prom Shop family and many girls come back 2,3, and even 4 years.
What is the best day and/or time to shop for a dress?
If you like your shopping experience a little more relaxed and personal, then Monday through Friday is the best option. If you view homecoming and prom dress shopping as more of a sport than shopping, you probably want to come on a Saturday or Sunday. On weekends, there can sometimes be a short wait for a room but we have a couple of ways to help (see fitting room guidelines below).
What if I buy my dress in December and then find a dress I like better?
We know girls like to shop early so they get their dream dress before someone else at their school does but we also know some girls may change their minds (*wink wink*) so we created the trade-up program, YES, we said trade! See details below.
What if I can’t afford to pay for the entire dress right away?
We want every girl to have the dress of their dreams so we have a great layaway program. See those details below too. P.S. Layaway + Trade-up = you can’t lose!!
Are your designer dresses expensive?
We know that every girl has a different prom dress budget so we do our best to carry dresses from all price points. We have designer dresses starting in the $200 range and couture dresses up to $1000.
What size dresses do you have?
We have dresses sizes 00 through 24 in stock. If you find a dress that you love and we don’t have the size you need, we will do our best to special order it for you! Depending on the designer, the dress, and the time of season - we can special order dresses sizes 00 to 34.
How do I know what size I am?
That’s a hard one to answer but we can give you a couple of tips. Prom dresses are like anything else, the exact size will vary by designer and by the style of the dress. We can tell you that designer dresses tend to run on the small side so don’t be discouraged if you have to look a size or even two up from what you expected. Just keep in mind, the most important thing is that the dress fit and look amazing on you (you are the only one that will see the size on the label anyway)!
Do you have a large selection of dresses to choose from?
We can almost always tell our first time customers by the “deer in the headlights” look when they walk in our front door. We ordered over 2000 designer dresses for the 2018 Prom season (yes, we have a slight addiction to dresses)!
Do I have to order my dress and wait for it?
Having to wait for your dress would ruin the fun! You can either put it on layaway (see layaway guidelines at the bottom) or you can pay for it in full and take it home with you. It’s not un-common for girls to drive 4 or more hours for The Prom Shop experience and want to take their dress with them which is why we have so many beautiful gowns in stock at any given time (oh, and did we mention we have a dress addiction)?
I found a dress that I love at The Prom Shop. Can I shop around and come back to buy it if I don’t find anything better?
Of course you can! You are welcome to do whatever you like but please be aware that you may have to start shopping all over again. We sell a lot of dresses and it’s not uncommon for a girl to call us a couple hours later and the dress has already been sold. The layaway and trade-up safety nets covers you on this one too – you can always trade your layaway dress for a dress of equal or higher value.
What if I find a dress I love but you don’t have it in my size?
With all the dresses we have in stock, we can most likely find you something very similar. If you have your heart set on a specific dress, we will measure you and see if special ordering from the designer is possible (it can take up to 4 months for a designer to produce a special order dress so it isn’t always an option). We have a lot of experience so if a special order isn’t possible we will put our minds together to see if an alteration could do the trick – we promise to do everything we can to get your dream dress for you!
Can I find the same dress online?
If it was that easy, we would be sitting on a beach in the Bahamas selling dresses! There are a lot of fake sellers out there that use the professional pictures from the designer’s website to make you think you are getting a beautiful dress for a grat price. Let’s just say we have had our share of girls come in crying. If you think you want to give this a try, you may want to keep money aside in case things don’t work out the way you hope (you may need to buy another dress). Use caution, caution, and more caution and be sure to check the designer’s website to see if the dealer is listed as an authorized seller of their dresses.
How will I know that other girls from my school won’t have the same dress?
We register all the dresses we sell. When you find your dream dress we are happy to check the registry to see if it is registered at our store as going to your school. Although we can’t prevent someone from buying the same dress we discourage them from doing so and do our best to help them find an alternative.
How do you choose the dresses?
We pride ourselves in having one-of-a-kind and exclusive dresses from the hottest designers. Even though our store is open seasonally, our staff is working year round to keep up on the latest trends so we can give you the best of the best. We specifically order many different styles and colors of dresses because we know every girl has different taste and there’s a perfect dress for every girl.
What do you do with dresses you don’t sell?
We donate all of our dresses at the end of the year to a great prom charity; it’s called “Operation Glass Slipper”. We donate our un-sold dresses to them so they can share the joy with deserving girls throughout the state of Minnesota (and of course to make room for all the new dresses we can’t stop ourselves from ordering)! Check them out at Operation Glass slipper <http://operationglassslipper.org/
How do I know what the most current fashion trends are for Prom?
That’s an easy one! Make sure to follow us on all of our social media sites. They don’t all get the same updates so make sure you
follow us on all of them! You can find all of the links on the home page.
STORE GUIDELINES
Layaway Guidelines:
We ask for a down payment the day you put your dress on layaway and then you make payments every two weeks. It’s so easy, you can even make payments over the phone. Call for exact details.
Trade-up Guidelines:
As long as your dress hasn’t left The Prom Shop (hint: layaway), you can trade it for a different dress. SAY WHAT?? Yep, that’s right, you can trade it for another dress of equal or higher value. For you girls that change your mind frequently – this one’s for you!
Fitting Room Guidelines:
We allow three dresses per customer per turn. After your turn in a fitting room with three dresses, we ask you to come out and get on the list again with three more dresses. It’s not as confusing as it sounds, we promise! It decreases everyone’s wait time and keeps our racks full of dresses so everyone has a great selection. Oh, and we have a pager system so you can keep looking at dresses while you wait.