Two formalwear businesses sit at 1721 5th Avenue. Little Black Dress sells the gowns. Ducky’s Formal Wear, immediately next door, rents and sells the tuxedos and has been in the formalwear business since 1946, with its rental stock kept in the store rather than shipped in from a warehouse. A couple headed to the same prom can settle both halves of the problem without moving the car — which is not something most shops on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities can offer.
Little Black Dress says it has been locally owned and operated since 2012, and it names three occasions as its core business: prom, homecoming, and quinceañera. That third one is not decoration here. Fifth Avenue runs west from the store into the part of Moline where Mercado on Fifth sets up at 12th Street, a few blocks from the front door.
Sizes run 0 to 30, with the store noting that numbers vary between labels and that staff will do a sizing to find a starting point. New dresses arrive weekly. Verified labels on the racks include Alyce Paris, Clarisse, Dave & Johnny, and Jasz; the shop’s own site also displays Primavera Couture and Nox Anabel.
The rules, before the drive
- No appointment. The store’s own answer to that question is to just stop by.
- Purchase only. Nothing is rented, which the shop attributes to how delicate the gowns are.
- Layaway is available: half down, balance due a month before the event.
- Dresses are not held. An account can be opened and a dress added to favorites, but the rack is first come.
- No in-house alterations. They hand out a list of local seamstresses instead, so budget for a separate appointment.
- All sales are final. Cash and the four major cards.
Consignment runs on a calendar that mirrors the season: short dresses, unworn or dry cleaned, are taken from June 1 through September 30, and long dresses from November 1 through May 31. Bridesmaid and wedding gowns are not consigned. In practice, a homecoming dress bought here in September can come back for credit the following summer.
The block itself
Fifth Avenue is the spine of the Moline Downtown Commercial Historic District, a 33-acre stretch between 12th and 18th Streets listed on the National Register in 2007, which is why the storefronts here are brick and two stories rather than a strip-mall bay. Holmes Shoes is a block west at 1614 5th Avenue, close enough to solve footwear on the same trip. The John Deere Pavilion, Bass Street Landing, and the Vibrant Arena at The MARK — where Moline High School holds graduation — are all within a few blocks. Coming from Bettendorf or Davenport, the 6th Avenue exit off the I-74 bridge lands one block over.
Who actually shops here
Moline High School and Wharton Field House are a couple of miles south. United Township in East Moline, Rock Island High School, and Alleman are all inside a fifteen-minute drive, and the Iowa-side schools — Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley, and the Davenport high schools — are one bridge away.
This is not a shop that wins on isolation. Hope’s Bridal & Prom in Davenport, David’s Bridal on Elmore Avenue, and the mall chains at NorthPark are all reachable in about the same time it takes to get downtown. What Little Black Dress has is the walk-in door, the size range, and the tux shop sharing its wall. Listed hours are Monday through Thursday 11 to 6, Friday 10 to 6, Saturday 10 to 4, and Sunday noon to 4 — seven days, which matters in the two weeks before a prom. In peak season, a phone call ahead is still the safer move.