Rockport is the seat of Spencer County, on the bluff above the Ohio River in the southwest corner of Indiana. The 2020 census counted 1,984 people inside the town limits. Rice N’ Ribbon sits in an old brick storefront at 415 Main Street, and the gowns inside carry labels a shopper would normally expect to drive to a city for: Jovani, Johnathan Kayne, Ava Presley and Jasz all list this address on their own retailer locators.
The drive math explains a lot about the store. Owensboro, Kentucky is about 11 miles away, roughly 17 minutes by car across the William H. Natcher Bridge on US 231, the cable-stayed span that opened in October 2002. Evansville is about 32 miles northwest on SR 66, about 40 minutes with Newburgh at the halfway point. For a family in Rockport, the nearest real shopping city is in another state, and a Main Street appointment is the short trip, not the long one.
It started in a bedroom, then a garage
Arna Jean Rice, a 1969 graduate of Tell City High School, began the business at home. Her obituary describes it moving from a bedroom to the garage and then to the Main Street building, dating the whole run to the mid-1970s. She died unexpectedly in February 2022 at 72. Her daughter Amanda took over, and the shop’s own About page still calls the staff Arna’s Aces.
Arna was certified as a pageant judge in Kentucky and spent years organizing and coaching pageants in Spencer County. That history is visible in what gets bought. Johnathan Kayne and Jasz are pageant-and-prom houses, not mall labels, and pageants are a fixture of the county fair week at Rockport City Park. If a competitor needs a gown for a stage and an interview rather than a gym floor, this is a store where that conversation is routine.
Who drives in
South Spencer High School is two miles north on Orchard Road, the only high school in its corporation, with about 352 students across four grades. A junior class that size means a duplicate dress at prom is noticed by everyone in the room, which is worth raising when you book. Beyond that, the shop is inside easy range of the Pocket Athletic Conference towns to the east and north — Tell City, Heritage Hills, Southridge, Forest Park, Boonville — and of the high schools across the bridge in Owensboro and Daviess County. The store markets itself to the tri-state, and the bridge is why that is not just a phrase.
Before you go
- Book first. The hours posted on the shop’s site are Tuesday through Thursday noon to 4, Friday by appointment 2 to 5, Saturday by appointment 11 to 2, closed Sunday and Monday. Third-party listings show a different schedule, so call or text (812) 499-0110 to confirm the day you want.
- All sales are final. There are no returns, so the decision happens in the fitting room, not at home a week later.
- Layaway is available; ask about it by phone.
- The store’s website lets you filter its catalog for in-store stock by size, which is a faster way to find out whether the dress you saved on your phone is actually hanging in Rockport.
- Suits and tuxedos for the date are handled here too, alongside bridal and mothers’ gowns, so a single trip can cover more than the dress.
Facebook lists the price range as $$, which for a store buying at this designer level means the floor is lower than the brand names suggest and the ceiling is real. Ask what is in stock in your size before you plan the drive.