Prom dress shops · Maine
Prom Dress Stores in Maine
Maine proms land in mid-May, and the dress clock starts well before the snow melts
2 shops on the map
Where the shops are
Look at when the dances actually happen. Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, Baxter Academy in Portland and Boothbay Region High School have all held their proms in mid-May, and that is the pattern.
Work backward from that. A gown bought in late April still needs a hem, and a hem needs a seamstress with an open slot.
2 shops
Two Grayce floors, in Bangor and South Portland
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Grayce Bridal & Formal, Bangor (Penobscot County): the formal department fills the ground floor of a former bank on State Street, stage and runway included.
- Alterations
- 1 label
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Grayce Bridal & Formal, South Portland (Cumberland County): seven fitting rooms on the formal side of a former furniture showroom near the Maine Mall.
- 1 label
Between them, the two floors cover Greater Portland and the Bangor area, the state's two largest metro areas. Two corners sit outside that reach. Kittery is about 26 miles in a straight line from 125 Bridal & Tux in Plaistow and 43 from South Portland, so York County families near the line can check New Hampshire prom dress stores as well. Aroostook County has nothing closer than Bangor, roughly 135 miles from Presque Isle.
Where the weeks go
Both shops listed here belong to Grayce, a company whose story begins in 2011. The Bangor store is the only location in the chain with a seamstress in the building, and she works first come, first served. That one detail decides the calendar. Buy in February or March and the gown goes upstairs to a short line. Buy the week before the dance and the line is everyone else.
The South Portland store has no seamstress on site. Instead, every buyer gets an email and a text listing recommended local seamstresses. Call one the same week the dress comes home, not the week of the dance.
Some things do not need lead time at all. Prom shoppers walk in at either store without booking, and stock runs from size 000 to 28. A rack of discontinued and discounted gowns sells off the floor, which suits a late shopper who cannot wait for a special order. Sherri Hill styles not on the floor can be ordered in any size or color the designer still offers, though an order is the slow road.
Groups need a little more planning. The Prom Party Appointment covers up to five shoppers for two hours and must be booked at least a week out. Grayce no longer rents or sells menswear, either, so a date's tux has to be lined up somewhere else, and early.
Questions people ask
Questions people ask
When should a Bangor-area student buy a gown to get it altered in-house?
By mid-March. The Bangor seamstress takes work in the order it arrives, and with proms clustered in mid-May, gowns bought in April join a crowded queue.
Where can I donate a prom dress so another student can wear it?
Give it to the Cinderella Project, run by Waldo Community Action Partners. Gowns can be dropped at the WCAP office in Belfast as a tax-deductible gift. Clean the dress first and drop it off by March. The Bangor Daily News reported the group's Searsport event had about 3,000 gowns on hand one April, and the dresses go to students free.