The Quality Shoppe occupies the two-story brick building at the southeast corner of Ladiga Street SE and Pelham Road South, on the square in downtown Jacksonville — the square being a traffic circle with a park in the middle of it. The store says it opened on that square in 1935, that it is the longest continuously operating business in the city, and that ownership has changed hands exactly once, in 1979, when the current owners bought it from the founders. For a prom shopper in this part of northeast Alabama, that history mostly translates into one thing: the building is easy to find and the racks are downtown rather than off a highway.
Walk in for prom, book ahead for bridal
The shop divides its business by appointment rules, and it’s worth knowing which side of the line prom falls on. Bridal is by appointment only. Prom, pageant and social-occasion shoppers do not need one, and neither does anyone renting or buying a single tuxedo; appointments are requested when two or more people in a wedding party need measuring at once. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. Saturday is the long day, with the caveat that the store has posted an early close for the first Jax State home football game — a normal hazard of doing business four blocks from the campus.
The prom labels
Alyce Paris, Clarisse and Faviana all list this store on their official retailer locators. The store’s own prom catalog is broader than that: Alyce Paris Prom and the Alyce Paris Exclusive Collection, Faviana and Faviana Plus Size Prom, Ellie Wilde by Mon Cheri, Morilee Prom, Portia and Scarlett, and PS I Love You. Homecoming runs through Alyce Paris Homecoming, and there is a separate plus-size category covering prom, bridal and social occasion.
Prices on the store’s site give a usable picture. Featured Portia and Scarlett styles have been listed at $379 and $439. Marked-down prom stock has run from $89.99 for a Blush gown originally tagged $358 up to $599.99 for a Morilee style originally $1,119. The online catalog also has a filter for stock that is physically in the store, plus a size filter that runs from 000 to 32 and includes W sizes — useful before driving in from Ohatchee or Heflin on the chance a particular style is only orderable.
Pageants, and the rental rack
Pageant work is a real part of the year here, not an afterthought. Girls’ pageant dresses come from Tiffany Princess, with most in-stock styles in girls’ sizes 6 to 16, and the store rents most of its in-stock girls’ pageant dresses rather than requiring a purchase — which changes the math for a family working a circuit of several pageants in a season. Tuxedos and suits are available for rental or purchase; Jim’s Formal Wear lists the shop as a dealer.
Getting there
- From I-20, take Exit 185 toward AL-21 North (Oxford/Anniston) and follow AL-21 about 16 miles; it becomes Pelham Road at the city limits and is signed as Jacksonville State University Highway through town.
- From US-431, take AL-204 East (Peeks Hill Road / Rudy Abbott Highway) about 9.5 miles, then Pelham Road North about a mile.
- Entering the circle, take the immediate right onto Ladiga Street SE. The store is the brick corner building.
One navigation warning: some directory listings still carry an older address on the west side of the square, 24 Public Square West. The current address is 101 Ladiga Street SE, on the southeast corner. On a circle, that is the difference between arriving and going around twice.
Who shops here
Jacksonville High School, home of the Golden Eagles, runs grades seven through twelve with roughly 750 students, and its prom is the closest one to this door. Pleasant Valley High carries a Jacksonville mailing address out on Pleasant Valley Road, and the rest of the Calhoun County district’s eight high schools — Alexandria, Weaver, White Plains, Ohatchee, Saks and Wellborn — sit south and west of town, all inside a reasonable evening drive. Jacksonville State, one of the largest employers in the county, adds sorority formals and homecoming to the same racks.
Ladiga Street takes its name from the Creek chief from whom the land was purchased in 1833, and from the Chief Ladiga Trail, Alabama’s first rails-to-trails conversion, which runs 33 miles from the Georgia line to Anniston with a nine-mile Jacksonville section and a restored depot. Riders come off the trail into the square regularly, which is part of why the coffee-and-lunch options around the circle make a dress trip into a longer errand. The city took an EF3 tornado on March 19, 2018 that tore through the JSU campus and, by the mayor’s count, damaged 433 houses. The square is still the square, and this store is still on it.