Thirty-four dressing rooms, first come, first served. That number from GLAM's own story page says more about this Clive store than any slogan could. GLAM is a seasonal prom and homecoming dress store in the Des Moines suburbs, open from late December through April for prom and in August and September for homecoming, and it is built for volume: an 11,000-square-foot showroom in the University Park shopping center on University Avenue, stocked with nothing but dresses for high school dances.
The store advertises itself as the largest prom and homecoming dress store in the state, and as the only Sherri Hill retailer in its region. It also carries a long bench of other prom labels, with most regular-priced prom dresses landing between $300 and $700 and homecoming dresses starting around $175.
From a corner of a Cedar Falls bridal shop to University Avenue
The GLAM story starts in 1997, when founder Amy began selling prom dresses inside her bridal store, An Elegant Affair by Amy, in Cedar Falls. The prom section took off quickly, and in 2009 she opened the first GLAM store at Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines, dedicated only to prom. GLAM has been in the Des Moines area since 2009, and today it operates from what its contact page calls its permanent location in Clive.
We stock only prom and homecoming dresses - no bridal, no bridesmaids, no distractions.
GLAM's Our Story page sums up the business with that sentence, and the designer list backs it up. The prom menu names eighteen labels, including Sherri Hill, Jovani, Portia & Scarlett, Jasz Couture and its Lush line, Johnathan Kayne, Ashley Lauren, Amarra, Ava Presley, Ellie Wilde, Faviana, La Femme, Rachel Allan, Scala, Alyce, Atria, Joshua McKinley and JVN. Homecoming gets its own menu with eight lines, from Sherri Hill and Jovani to Amarra and Rachel Allan. The site lets shoppers filter by size from 000 up through plus sizes, and dresses marked "in stock" are the ones available to try on in the store. Everything else on the site can be ordered.
School registry, layaway and special orders
GLAM registers every dress it sells to the buyer's school, so it will not sell the same dress in the same color to anyone else going to that prom. For students at large schools like Valley High School in West Des Moines, Waukee High School, Waukee Northwest, Urbandale High School and Johnston High School, where many classmates shop the same racks in the same few months, that registry is the kind of detail families ask about first.
The payment page sets out two paths.
In stock on the sales floor
Layaway
- 25 percent down, then 25 percent monthly payments
- Paid in full before pick-up or shipping
A style or size not on the floor
Special order
- Special order fees waived in January
- 50 percent non-refundable deposit, balance due within 30 days of the dress arriving
During prom season a special order can take up to 12 weeks, according to the FAQ, so a January visit leaves room for a back-up plan.
Sales are final, and the FAQ asks shoppers to check size charts carefully when ordering online. Alterations are not done in house, but the store keeps a list of recommended seamstresses.
House rules before the first visit
GLAM posts a short set of visit rules, and they are useful to know before a family drives in from Ankeny or Indianola.
Bring
- A parent or guardian, for shoppers under 18 who want to try on dresses
- Slippers or socks on snowy days, when the store goes "no shoes"
Not in the store
- Food and drink, including the morning coffee
On weekends, MLK Day and Presidents' Day, dressing room time may be limited to 1 hour and 15 minutes if others are waiting, with a waitlist for another turn.
Those holiday Mondays are school days off across much of the metro, which is why the store spells out the time limit. A weekday after school, early in the season, is the calmer choice. The site also lets shoppers check stock by size before leaving home, and staff will check stock over the phone, though the FAQ notes that inventory moves fast and the website updates in the evening.
For anyone mapping out central Iowa prom shopping, GLAM's calendar is the main thing to plan around. The doors close in early October after homecoming season and reopen the day after Christmas for prom, so the fall gap is not a time to plan a visit.
GLAM Clive: what families ask
Does GLAM sell the same dress twice to one school?
No. GLAM registers each dress to the buyer's school and will not sell the same dress in the same color to another student attending that prom.
When is GLAM open for prom?
Prom season runs from late December through April. For the 2027 season, the store has announced it will reopen on Saturday, December 26.