The Columbus store on Airport Thruway is the biggest of the three Lasting Impressions shops. The company opened it in 2006, six years after the first store in Eufaula, Alabama, and today calls it the location with the most extensive inventory. Prom, cocktail and social event dresses fill most of it. It is also the flagship for couture and pageant gowns, which is where the company's celebrity stories come from.
Earrings built around the gown
The headline service on Airport Thruway is small and shiny. Staff keep a large selection of earrings and accessories year round, and when nothing in the case is right, they will design a pair with you. The About page says they weigh color and shape against the dress and against the customer's facial structure. Every custom pair is handcrafted with Swarovski crystals.
Shoes are sold here too, and the store's blog has firm opinions on them. Pick the gown first and the shoes second, it says, so the hem can be set to the heel you will wear. For most formal events it suggests a heel of 2 to 4 inches, whatever height you can stand and walk in comfortably. Under a floor-length gown, a slightly higher heel helps the skirt skim the floor instead of pooling.
6,000
Square feet on Airport Thruway
4
Dresses off the floor at a time
2 to 4 in
Heel height the blog suggests for formal events
From a first Columbus space to 6,000 square feet
The company came to Columbus to reach a bigger market, by its own account, and the first store was outgrown within a short time. Moving was not simple. The About page recalls waiting for the lease to run out while hunting for a new building. The answer was a 6,000-square-foot space on Airport Thruway, which the company says became the flagship of its shopping center.
The pageant side gives the store its résumé. The company claims to have dressed Miss U.S.A.'s, Miss America's, country music stars and reality stars, and that pageant clients travel hundreds of miles to build a competition wardrobe with it.
What the in-store prom racks cost
The website separates styles flagged as in store from the designers' full catalogs. Hundreds of prom styles carry the in-store flag across the company. Most sit between about $550 and $800, entry styles start under $300, and the top of the range runs past $5,500. That flag covers all three shops, so ask Columbus staff what is hanging on Airport Thruway before you make the drive.
Typical in-store prom prices online
Under $300Most $550 to $800Over $5,500
Prices on the site are the designer's suggested retail price. The returns policy explains why. The designers it represents do not allow their gowns to be shown online below that price, so a much cheaper listing elsewhere for the same style, from the same designer, is a counterfeit, the store warns.
The online prom filter names sixteen labels. Beyond Sherri Hill it lists Rachel Allan, Johnathan Kayne, Alyce Paris, Primavera Couture, Amarra, Jessica Angel, Ava Presley, Portia & Scarlett, Tiffany Designs and Tiffany Prom, Ellie Wilde, Tarik Ediz, Panoply, Studio 17 and Sydney's Prom. Most of those are catalog styles the staff can special order, not stock on the floor.
Four at a time, and how to pick a size
Because demand runs high, each shopper may have four dresses off the sales floor at once. Hand them back and take four more as often as it takes to find the one. The store says the rule lets every customer see the full inventory and get a better read on style, fit and color.
The sizing advice in the policy is plain. Formal dresses run differently from everyday clothes, so measure carefully against the designer's chart. If your bust, waist and hips land in different sizes, go with the largest, because a dress is much easier to take in than to let out. Plan on alterations either way. In-stock dresses are sold as is, and alterations are not part of the price.
Airport Thruway is one of north Columbus's main shopping roads, and the Muscogee County high schools are all in its orbit, with Phenix City just across the Chattahoochee. For more shops in west-central Georgia, see our Georgia page. Hours are Monday through Friday from noon to 6 and Saturday from 11 to 5, Eastern time, and the store is closed on Sunday.
Airport Thruway prom questions
Is Columbus the main Lasting Impressions store?
It is the largest, with the biggest inventory, and the flagship for couture and pageant. The original store is in Eufaula, Alabama, and a third opened in Dublin in 2022.
Why does a gown cost less on some other website?
The store posts the designer's suggested retail price, and its designers do not let their gowns be shown online for less. A far lower price on the same style from the same label is, by the store's warning, likely a fake.
Will a gown I order on the website be registered for my prom?
No. Only dresses bought in the store are logged against your school or event, and the store cannot register one bought anywhere else.
What does a custom pair of earrings involve?
A session with staff to choose colors and shapes that suit you and the dress. Each finished pair is made by hand with Swarovski crystals.