Ask a Batavia mom where her daughter found her prom dress and odds are good the answer is a storefront on Batavia Avenue. Special Occasions on the Avenue has been dressing Fox Valley girls for dances since 2009, and founder Mary Marconi-Popiel has built the business around one simple worry every prom shopper has: showing up in the same dress as someone else.
The shop handles prom dresses, homecoming dresses, cocktail dresses, evening gowns and accessories, and it carries a hand-picked rather than warehouse-sized selection. Naperville Magazine described it in 2022 as a small, carefully chosen stock of formal gowns for prom and homecoming, set in a historic downtown Batavia building that once housed a dry goods shop. Walk past on Route 31 and it looks like what it is: an independent boutique in an old commercial block, a few blocks from the Fox River.
The one-dress-per-school promise
This is the reason many families make the trip. The store keeps a record of every dress it sells, organized by school and by event, and it will not sell a second one in the same color to another girl going to the same dance.
We keep track of what dresses get sold for which specific school and occasion. We won't sell the same dress in the same color to anyone attending your event.
The prom FAQ makes that pledge, and it counts for a lot in a river-town cluster this tight. Batavia High School, Geneva High School, St. Charles East High School and St. Charles North High School all sit within a few miles of one another along the river, and all four appear on the store's own list of schools it has dressed. That list is long. It runs from Kaneland, Burlington Central and Sycamore out west to Neuqua Valley, Naperville North, Wheaton Warrenville South and Glenbard North to the east, with Marmion, Rosary, Aurora Central Catholic and St. Francis among the private schools. Girls from West Aurora, Oswego and Yorkville turn up on it too.
The lesson for shoppers is simple: shop early, because the first girl from your school to claim a dress in a color gets it. The store's homecoming page says exactly that, telling shoppers to come in early for the best selection.
The idea of making Batavia a prom destination goes back years. In 2010 Marconi-Popiel organized a Prom-O-Rama show with Batavia MainStreet, dressing 20 local high school models, and told the Daily Herald she wanted girls from around Chicagoland to see Batavia as a place to find everything they needed for prom. The long school list on her site suggests that has worked.
Designers and how a visit works
The store's prom page names its current designers: Jovani, Alyce Paris, Ashley Lauren, Faviana, Primavera, La Femme, Portia and Scarlett and Jessica Angel. Jovani, Alyce Paris, Primavera, Ashley Lauren and Faviana also anchor the homecoming racks each fall.
On the site
In the store or arriving soon
- Anything listed online
Sold out or not in stock
Ordered for you
- The store will order styles it does not have in stock
- Paid in full at purchase
- Final
The house rules are spelled out clearly, which saves an awkward surprise at the register:
- Appointments
- Walk-ins are welcome and no appointment is needed, but a private appointment gets you a full hour one-on-one with a stylist who stays with you in the fitting room.
- Who comes along
- Shoppers under 18 must have a parent present to try on dresses, and a booked appointment is for one girl and one parent.
- Alterations
- The store keeps a list of recommended seamstresses around the Fox Valley, from Geneva and St. Charles to Aurora and Wheaton.
All sales are final, and the store does not hold dresses, so plan to decide on the day. Payment can be cash, check with ID, or the major cards. Layaway is also available.
At purchase
Put down a 30 percent deposit and set the pickup date
Before that date
The store sends a courtesy reminder
Pickup date
The tone online is young and playful, with homecoming drops, behind-the-scenes videos and a TikTok following, but the founder's line on the About page is the one that sums the place up: "We do not just sell dresses, we sell dreams!" For girls across this part of northern Illinois, that dream usually starts with a dress nobody else at the dance will be wearing.
Batavia Avenue prom questions
Do I need an appointment?
No, drop-in shoppers can browse without one. Appointments are encouraged if you want a stylist to yourself for an hour.
Will anyone at my prom have the same dress?
Not one bought here in the same color. The store tracks sales by school and event and will not sell a duplicate to another girl attending your dance.
Can I put a dress on layaway?
Yes. Layaway requires a 30 percent deposit and a pickup date set at purchase.