Golden Treasures leads with a number: more than 3,500 dresses in stock on Glenn Boulevard, according to the store, with another 1,500-plus on order for the new season and arriving through spring. For a DeKalb County prom shopper, that changes the whole errand. You are not driving to Fort Payne to see a few racks and place a special order. You are driving in to try things on.
Its website describes a full service prom, pageant and bridal store. Prom is where the volume sits. Scroll the collection menu online and most of what you see is formal and pageant wear built for spring.
The labels on the floor
Golden Treasures names its lines by collection, and the prom side runs deep:
- Sherri Hill, featured right at the top of the store's homepage
- Jovani, split into separate prom, pageant and short and cocktail collections
- Rachel Allan, with prom, homecoming and Prima Donna lines plus the Perfect Angels and Princess girls' collections
- Portia and Scarlett, carried for both prom and pageant
- Morilee prom
- Alyce Paris and La Femme
- Ashley Lauren, including Ashley Lauren Kids, and Johnathan Kayne for pageant contestants
The split between prom, homecoming and pageant collections from the same designers shows who the store is built for. A senior can find her prom gown in the Jovani or Sherri Hill racks.
Homecoming
Short Rachel Allan dresses a freshman can grab in the fall
Little Girl Pageant Dresses
A section of its own for a younger sister headed to a local pageant
Jim Ball jewelry
Bracelets, earrings, brooches and pins, each listed as its own collection
One store, three seasons of formal wear.
The homepage puts the store's whole attitude in one line:
Our only desire is to make sure that you find the dress of your dreams!
Why the inventory matters up here
Fort Payne sits in the valley below Lookout Mountain, and the county's high schools are spread across the mountain and the valley floor. Fort Payne High School throws the biggest prom in town. Plainview in Rainsville, Sylvania, Collinsville and Fyffe each send their own juniors and seniors looking for a dress, and families from Scottsboro and the Sand Mountain towns make the drive too. In small schools, nobody wants to show up in the same gown as a classmate. Thousands of dresses on one floor make that a lot easier to avoid.
The website helps with planning. Its search lets you filter for in-store stock and pick up to three sizes, with a range that runs from 000 up through 32 and W sizes. The occasion filters cover prom, homecoming, sweet 16, quinceanera and girls' pageant dresses. Check the in-store stock filter before you leave the house, and you will know which styles you can actually zip up that day.
Timing still matters. With new-season stock arriving week by week through spring, an early visit gives you first pick of the season's arrivals, and a later visit shows you what came in since. That makes a strong case for an early look in winter and a second visit once more of the spring order has landed. For more shops in this corner of the state, see the northeast Alabama prom guide.
Bridal and mother-of-the-bride gowns are part of the business as well, but the racks and the menus lean hard toward prom and pageant, which is exactly why this stop belongs on a spring shopping list.
What DeKalb County families ask about Golden Treasures
How many dresses does Golden Treasures carry?
Over 3,500 dresses are in stock, according to the store, with more than 1,500 more dresses ordered for the new season and arriving through spring.
Can I see what is in the store before driving to Fort Payne?
Yes. The store's website includes a filter for in-store stock and a size search, so you can narrow styles to what is physically on the floor in your size before you make the trip.
Which prom designers does the shop stock?
Its collections include Sherri Hill, Jovani, Rachel Allan, Portia and Scarlett, Morilee, Alyce Paris, La Femme, Ashley Lauren and Johnathan Kayne.