Jon M. Oliver, who owns Silver Spoon Formals, spent more than a dozen years as state executive director and executive producer of Miss Kentucky’s Outstanding Teen, and he is a Miss America certified judge who has judged at the local and state level in several states. He grew up in London, taught music for Laurel County Schools, and sat on the music faculty at Union College. He has run the store, along with Dogwood Market next door, through Silver Spoon Partners II for what the shop’s own account puts at 29 years. For a family shopping a pageant gown anywhere in southeastern Kentucky, that is an unusual thing to have on the other side of the counter: the person selling the dress has produced the show and scored the phase.
First, the address
Older listings still show 320 East Fourth Street. The store has moved. Its own site and its Amarra retailer page both give 312 North Main Street, in Block 300 downtown — next door to Dogwood Market, down from Local Honey, directly across Main from First Christian Church, the pink brick building with the stained glass. The store lists free curbside parking plus three city lots: one beside the church and two directly behind the building. If you are driving in from out of county, call the number on this page before you set the GPS, because the old Fourth Street address is still circulating.
What is on the floor
Four brands list Silver Spoon Formals on their own official retailer locators: Alyce Paris, Amarra, Johnathan Kayne and Tiffany Designs. The Johnathan Kayne authorization is the one that ties back to the pageant side — Kayne’s studio is in Nashville and his gowns turn up on Miss America and Miss USA stages.
Beyond the verified four, the store’s own designer page lists Portia and Scarlett, Rachel Allan, Jessica Angel, Sydney’s Closet, Tease Prom and Johnathan Kayne for Sydney’s Closet, and it describes an in-house exclusive label, J. Michael London, sold only in the store. Plus sizes are handled as their own collections rather than a rack at the back: Sydney’s Closet, Rachel Allan Curves and Tease Prom all sit in that group. The store says it registers each gown it sells, which matters more than it sounds in a county where nearly every junior and senior is at one of two high schools.
Tuxedos and suits are a real second business here, not an afterthought. The store rents and sells through Jim’s Formal Wear, stocks suits under labels including Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole and Ike Behar, runs a tuxedo counter it calls The Tux Bar, and does alterations in house. One trip can cover both halves of a couple, which is the practical argument for driving to Main Street instead of ordering online and hoping.
Who actually shops here
London is the seat of Laurel County, a city of about 7,600 inside a county of roughly 63,000. Laurel County Schools runs both high schools, and both are in town: North Laurel on East Hal Rogers Parkway with around 1,300 students, and South Laurel on South Laurel Road with about 1,100. That is roughly 2,400 high schoolers in one county — three times the enrollment of Corbin High School down I-75, and more than Rockcastle County in Mount Vernon or Clay County in Manchester.
The road map explains the rest of the trade area. London sits on I-75 with two exits, 41 for KY 80 and 38 for KY 192. Hal Rogers Parkway ends here, feeding traffic west out of Manchester and Hazard, and KY 80 runs in from Somerset. Lexington is about 75 miles north and Knoxville about 98 miles south, so a mall trip is most of a day either direction. Downtown London is the closest thing in the region to a full formalwear floor with tuxedo rental attached.
Before you go
- Hours on the store’s site: noon to 6 Monday through Friday, 10 to 4 Saturday, closed Sunday. It also says it will arrange hours by appointment.
- Appointments can be booked through the store’s online scheduler, and calling ahead with a style number saves a drive if you are chasing a specific dress.
- Homecoming shopping in late September collides with the World Chicken Festival, which takes over downtown London the last full weekend of the month and closes Main Street. Shop the week before or the week after if parking matters to you.