In 2016 Grayce bought a small boutique in Portland's Old Port, then called Tavecchia, that sold women's ready-to-wear, formal gowns and mothers' dresses. Within a few seasons the ready-to-wear was gone, the shop had narrowed to bridal and formal, and its 1,700 square feet were full. In 2018 it moved across the Fore River to the former Ethan Allen furniture building in South Portland, a space more than three times the size. Part of that extra room became a formal floor with its own runway, which is where prom shoppers spend their visit.
The location works for southern Maine in a plain geographic way. The store sits close to Interstate 295, the Portland International Jetport and the Maine Mall, so a family driving in from Gorham, Westbrook or Scarborough is not threading through downtown Portland to get there.
The formal floor, by the numbers
The store sets out the formal department's selling points.
Our formal side of the store features a wide selection of prom, pageant, homecoming and evening gowns complete with a full runway and 7 fitting rooms.
Seven fitting rooms is a real number for a prom floor, and it is the detail a group of friends should care about most, since several people can be trying on at once instead of taking turns. The details that come with those rooms:
Labels
Sherri Hill, plus Ana Sophia Occasions, the company's own private-label collection.
Price
Prom, pageant and evening gowns typically run $400 to $900.
Homecoming
A separate collection at $60 to $300, sizes 0 to 24 in stock and up to 32 by order.
Group visits
The Prom Party Appointment gives up to five shoppers two hours with mocktails, a gift each and a $10 credit per prom dress bought. Each shopper may bring one adult, and the booking needs a week's notice.
Prom and pageant sizes
000 to 28
- 000
- 00
- 0
- 2
- 4
- 6
- 8
- 10
- 12
- 14
- 16
- 18
- 20
- 22
- 24
- 26
- 28
Prom and pageant stock runs from 000 to 28, though what is on the floor shifts as dresses sell.
Today
Off the rack
- Discontinued and discounted prom dresses, bought straight off the rack
Special order
Styles not in the store
- Any size or color the designer offers
Prom and formal shopping takes walk-ins. Every other department here prefers an appointment, but the formal floor is open to anyone who comes in during store hours.
Alterations, ambassadors and the Bangor connection
South Portland does not have a seamstress in the building. After a purchase, Grayce sends an email and a text with its list of recommended local seamstresses, so plan to book a fitting with one of them once the gown is home. Build that fitting into the calendar the same week you buy, before local seamstresses fill up with the rest of prom season. The company's Bangor store does have a seamstress on staff, if a trip up I-95 ever makes sense.
The Formal Ambassadors program reaches students here as well. Each year Grayce picks high schoolers to model new prom styles.
Prom sales
Each one made with an ambassador's code adds $20 to her own dress budget
Homecoming sales
Each one enters her in a drawing for a free dress
Scholarship
A $500 leadership award the program opens to its members
South Portland High School is in the store's own city, Cape Elizabeth High School and Scarborough High School sit just over the town lines, and Portland High School and Deering High School are across the bridge.
Size range is part of the company's identity. The company's sizing pledge is to stock prom dresses across a wide range and keep them on hand up to size 28, with the caveat that each store's stock shifts with sales, so a quick message to the South Portland stylists before a visit can confirm what is on the floor. Its Celebrate Your Shape campaign puts models of many sizes and backgrounds in front of the camera. On the prom side, the student ambassadors collaborate on themed photo shoots, so the prom gowns are modeled by local teenagers rather than only by catalog models.
Grayce no longer rents or sells menswear, so prom dates need to find a tuxedo elsewhere. Bridal has its own private suites and a private room for Luxe appointments, with special-order gowns starting around $1,700, but the runway belongs to formal.
Planning a South Portland prom trip
How many friends can come to a Prom Party Appointment?
Up to five shoppers in total, each with one adult guest. Book it at least a week ahead.
Are there sale prom dresses in South Portland?
Yes. The store keeps a selection of discontinued and discounted prom gowns that can be bought and taken home the same day.