Kay Faulkenbery had rented 30 dresses for her daughter’s pageants before she decided that was enough and opened her own shop instead. The family had moved to Tupelo in 1984 so her husband, a pastor, could oversee an area Methodist church. She opened the store a year later, in 1985. That daughter, Wendy Smith, now owns Kay’s Kreations with Sam Thomas and with Kay herself.
The origin story is also the practical thing a prom shopper should know: this is a bridal and pageant house that runs prom as a season, not a prom boutique that dabbles in gowns. The Tupelo Daily Journal reported 1,000 wedding gowns in stock, and the store claims the largest bridal selection in north Mississippi. Prom dresses come in for spring, homecoming dresses for fall, alongside bridesmaids, mother-of-the-bride, tuxedos and suits the rest of the year. Walk in during March and you are sharing the floor with brides being fitted for April weddings.
What’s on the prom racks
Seven prom labels list Kay’s on their own retailer locators: Amarra, Ashley Lauren, Ava Presley, Dave & Johnny, Jovani, Sherri Hill and Tiffany Designs. The store’s own prom filters add Studio 17, Tease Prom and Sydney’s Closet, a plus-size label, and the size range shown online runs from 000 to 32. The bridal count is public; a prom count is not, so treat any rack figure you hear secondhand as unconfirmed. Reviewers note that because the store carries a number of designers, it can special-order a style that isn’t in stock — if you start early enough for the dress to ship and be altered.
Who drives to Veterans Memorial Boulevard
Tupelo is the place northeast Mississippi already comes to shop, and the store sits on the north side of it, in Suite A of a commercial strip rather than a mall corridor. The nearest customer base is Tupelo High School’s Golden Wave and the Lee County schools — Saltillo, Mooreville, Shannon. Past that, the drive-in radius covers Pontotoc to the west, Fulton and Itawamba Agricultural to the east, New Albany up I-22, Baldwyn and Booneville north on US 45, and Amory and Nettleton to the southeast. Most of that is inside 30 or 40 minutes. The next tier of choice is Memphis, roughly 100 miles up I-22, which turns dress shopping into a full day.
Two things follow from the store’s mix that are easy to overlook. Tuxedos are handled in the same building, so a couple can be outfitted in one trip. And because Kay’s has been fitting pageant and prom customers in this town since the 1980s, it is worth asking on the phone how they handle duplicate dresses if your school tracks who bought what — policies differ shop to shop, and no published policy for Kay’s could be confirmed. Appointments can be booked through the store’s website; the number is (662) 844-1704.