Vivi’s has been selling gowns in Madison County since 2015, and the internet cannot agree on where it is. Several designer retailer locators list Suite 8 at 116 Meridian Way, the retail cluster off Barnes Mill Road across from the Richmond Centre shopping corridor, roughly two minutes from I-75 Exit 87. The salon’s own website, along with its Yelp and Apple Maps listings, gives 1100 Lancaster Road, a freestanding brick building that spent years as a U.S. Bank branch. One thing is identical on every listing: (859) 575-1313. Dial it before you drive, especially if you are coming in from out of town.
Richmond is the Madison County seat and the home of Eastern Kentucky University, 26 miles down I-75 from Lexington. That makes it the retail center for a wide stretch of central and eastern Kentucky, and Vivi’s says its customers drive in from Lexington, Frankfort, Berea, Corbin and Somerset.
Where the name comes from
The shop is named for Vivian, the owner’s sister. Krystin Arnold opened Vivi’s in 2015 after planning Vivian’s wedding at The Kentucky Castle, and Vivian herself was named after their grandmother. Arnold owns the business, is on-site day to day, and runs it as a family-owned LLC that the Better Business Bureau dates to January 2015.
It is not a prom-only store, which matters if you are trying to get more than one thing done in a single trip. Wedding gowns are the anchor, with plus-size samples on the floor and extended sizes special-ordered. Alongside that: mother-of-the-bride dresses, pageant gowns, alterations, wedding-dress preservation, and tuxedo and suit rentals supplied through Geno’s Formal Affair, which covers prom escorts as well as groomsmen.
What’s on the prom and pageant racks
Five labels list this store on their official retailer locators: Jovani, Alyce Paris, Ava Presley, MNM Couture and Terani. Jovani, Terani and MNM Couture reach into evening and pageant territory as much as school dances, and the salon’s own site adds Rachel Allan and Primavera Couture to its special-occasion roster, plus Madam Burcu for couture pageant pieces.
Pageant is a real line of business here, not an afterthought — the shop stocks evening-gown-competition styles, asks clients to bring their program’s specific dress code to the appointment, and sponsors local pageants. Sample stock rotates through the year; anything not on the rack is special-ordered, which is the thing to ask about on the phone rather than discover in the fitting room.
The schools
Madison Central High School, on North Second Street, enrolled about 2,250 students in 2023–24, which makes its prom one of the largest single-night formal events in the county. Madison Southern, the district’s other large high school, is south in Berea. Model Laboratory School graduates a much smaller senior class from inside EKU’s campus, a few blocks from downtown.
For timing: Chenault Vineyards sold $25 prom-photo sessions for Madison Central’s 2025 prom on Saturday, April 26, which puts the serious dress shopping in February and March, back when the racks are deepest.
Getting in the door
Posted hours run Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Sundays and Mondays by appointment. Walk-ins are taken during open hours, but the salon would rather hold a stylist for you; special-occasion appointments are shorter than the 60-to-90-minute bridal ones. What the shop asks you to bring:
- Your event date, and for pageants, the program’s dress-code requirements
- Shoes with a heel height close to what you will actually wear
- A few inspiration photos if you already have a direction
- A small group — two to four people whose opinions you actually want