The policy is spelled out on the shop’s own site: one dress per style goes to a school, and the sale is registered immediately. Fancy That calls it the Prom Promise. Once a style is sold to a student at Danville High, no one else from Danville High is knowingly sold that style.
Registries like this exist all over the country, but the math is different here. Vermilion County outside the city is a string of one-high-school districts — Westville, Oakwood, Salt Fork in Catlin, Georgetown–Ridge Farm, the Bismarck-Henning Rossville-Alvin co-op, Hoopeston Area. A prom in those towns is one room where everyone knows everyone. Danville High School is bigger, roughly 1,400 students across four grades and the only high school in District 118, and Schlarman Academy on North Vermilion is smaller still. Either way, a duplicate gown does not go unnoticed, which is the whole reason the register exists. It also means the shop needs to know your school when you try something on, and that early shoppers get the widest field.
Where it is, and the address trap
138 N. Vermilion puts the store in the middle of downtown Danville, on the same block and the same side of the street as the Fischer Theatre, the 1884 house at 158–164 N. Vermilion that reopened in 2019 after restoration. The city adopted a downtown revitalization plan in 2024 and has been putting money into this stretch of Vermilion Street.
Worth knowing before you drive: some listings, including Yelp, still show Fancy That at 2917 N. Vermilion, which is the Village Mall address about three miles north. The shop’s own website and the Downtown Danville business directory both give 138 N. Vermilion. Same street name, two very different destinations. Call ahead at (217) 442-6814 if you want the address confirmed along with current hours.
Who drives in
Danville is the Vermilion County seat in eastern Illinois, sitting where Illinois Route 1, U.S. 136 and U.S. 150 meet, with I-74 running along the south side of town. Champaign-Urbana is 35 miles west on I-74, and that is where the nearest cluster of competing prom stores is — M2 The Place for Prom, David’s Bridal, Michelle’s Bridal. The Indiana line is a few miles east; Covington, Indiana is about twenty minutes out on I-74 or U.S. 136, and Fountain Central sits on U.S. 136 in Veedersburg past that.
What the shop carries and offers
Alyce Paris and Dave & Johnny both list this store on their official retailer locators. The shop’s own vendor page adds Clarisse, Ellie Wilde, 2 Cute Prom, Sydney’s Closet and House of Wu’s Tiffany line, and names Jim’s Formal Wear as its tuxedo house — so a couple can handle the gown and the tux rental at one counter. That page has not been updated in several seasons, so treat the brand list as a starting point rather than current stock.
- Stock sizes 000 to 34 according to the store’s Facebook page, with special orders taken
- Free layaway and payment plans, which lets a gown be spread across a few paychecks
- Free steaming and free storage between purchase and prom night
- Alterations, plus pageant, homecoming, quinceañera and mother-of-the-bride dresses
Fancy That has been at this since 1999, which is long enough that some of the parents walking in bought their own prom dresses here.