For north-side Indianapolis prom shoppers, Sophia's goes by a different name. The company sells its prom and homecoming dresses under a sister label, XO by Sophia's, and runs that label out of the same storefronts as its bridal and tux business, including this one in The Shops at River Crossing on East 86th Street. The Indianapolis Business Journal placed the space just east of The Fashion Mall at Keystone, describing a 5,000-square-foot store that would replace Sophia's boutique on East 96th Street in Fishers, which the business had outgrown.
2007
Where Sophia's history starts
2014
Jessica Limeberry takes over the business
2021
The River Crossing store is announced in December to replace the Fishers boutique
The takeover date comes from a Voice-Tribune profile. In an interview with CanvasRebel, Limeberry described inheriting a friend's single boutique of about 2,400 square feet. Over the next six years, she said, she grew it into four locations, the largest at 10,000 square feet, with a team of 50 to 100 people depending on the season. Before that she studied fine art and economics at DePauw University and spent more than ten years as a photographer.
The prom side, under the XO name
The same CanvasRebel interview is where Limeberry laid out the product mix in a single sentence, prom included.
We sell wedding dresses, formal wear, tuxedos, accessories, and prom dresses (our sister brand, XO by Sophia’s).
The prom label has its own stock, and the numbers on it are large for an independent business. XO advertises thousands of designer prom dresses, an exclusive line of its own designs that it says cannot be found anywhere else, and sizes 00 through 28 at every store. When WRTV covered the River Crossing opening in 2022, the station described Sophia's as a woman-owned bridal and prom-wear boutique carrying sizes 00 to 28 and exclusive designers such as Sherri Hill. WISH-TV's Life.Style.Live! covered the grand opening and ran a 2022 prom trends segment from Sophia's.
The prom racks at the north-side address have their own listing in this guide as XO by Sophia's Keystone, and the full XO picture, from pricing to the prom party package, lives there. This page covers the business that stands behind it.
Tuxes, the four stores and how they divide the work
Sophia's handles the other half of a prom couple through its tuxedo department, which works with Jim's Formal Wear. It sets out what a rental includes and what a dress buyer saves.
Tuxedo department
Working with Jim's Formal Wear
Rentals
$155 to about $250, depending on upgrades and add-ons
Purchase
Suits starting around $500
Dress buyers
A discount on either a rental or a purchase
The set
Shirt, tie, vest, jacket, pants and shoes, hemmed and ready to wear
Timing
Around half an hour to measure and choose; order two to four months out
Each location has a defined role.
- North side, River Crossing
- Bridal, tux and the XO prom floor, near Keystone at the Crossing, in the space that replaced the Fishers boutique.
- South side, Southport
- The company's largest building, a former post office on Southport Road. Its prom store is listed here as XO by Sophia's Southport.
- Louisville, St. Matthews
- The first store outside Indiana, on Shelbyville Road. The prom side is listed as XO by Sophia's Louisville.
- Columbus, downtown
- An XO prom location on Washington Street, sharing the address with a discount sample boutique called With Love, Sophia's.
On the bridal side, the company's signature is an exclusive line called Joié, made only for Sophia's. Bridal appointments are recommended rather than required.
The north-side store pulls from both sides of the county line. The move from Fishers put it on the same East 86th Street as North Central High School, while Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern families who shopped the old boutique still reach it by I-69 and I-465. For a business that started as a single small boutique, the River Crossing store marks how far its reach into central Indiana now extends.
Sophia's at River Crossing, answered
Are Sophia's and XO by Sophia's the same company?
Yes. XO by Sophia's is the prom and formal brand of the same business, owned by Jessica Limeberry, and it shares the River Crossing address with the bridal and tux side.
Does Sophia's handle tuxedos for prom dates as well as weddings?
Yes. Rentals and purchase suits are available, and buying a dress at Sophia's qualifies for a discount on either.