The doors do not open until 1:30 in the afternoon Monday through Friday, and on Saturday the shop closes at 2. That is the single most important thing to know before you drive to this one. A school-day trip has to be an after-school trip, and a Saturday trip has to be a morning trip. The Pearl Chamber of Commerce write-up notes that appointments can be arranged outside posted hours, so if those windows do not work, the phone call is worth making before you write the store off.
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday–Thursday | 1:30 – 6:00 |
| Friday | 1:30 – 5:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 – 2:00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
Hours as listed by the store and its directory profiles; call ahead in peak season.
Where it actually is
Suite 204 of a strip center on Riverwind Drive in Pearl, on the Rankin County side of the metro. This is not the Outlets of Mississippi — that center sits off Bass Pro Drive near I-20 and US 49 with 80-plus stores in 325,000 square feet, and it is where most out-of-town shopping traffic in Pearl ends up. Southern Glitz is a suite in a small center a few minutes away, the kind you have to be looking for. When the chamber named it Business of the Month, the neighbors listed were a children’s boutique, a nail spa and a Pizza Inn; the Pizza Inn is now shown as closed. Steak ‘n Shake is on the same street. Plan on parking in front of the door.
Sizes, brands, and what the racks are for
The store’s own site puts its range at 000 to 40 and builds its pitch around that spread rather than around a designer name; its Facebook page claims 000 to 48, and the older chamber listing said 00 to 32 with other sizes available to order. Whatever the current top end, the wide run is the point, and the online inventory reflects it — a Sydney’s Closet gown in a size 22 was listed at $298 alongside a Jovani at $499 and a Portia & Scarlett at $650.
Verified designer authorizations here are Colette, Jovani and Tiffany Designs. The shop also stocks rhinestone jewelry, and the chamber listing mentions tuxedo rental.
Prom is only part of the calendar. The store describes its stock as prom, pageant, homecoming and military ball gowns, and that ordering is honest for central Mississippi, where school and college pageants run through the winter. One customer review posted on the store’s site is about finding a Beauty & Beau dress — the school pageant that Mississippi campuses from Petal High School to East Mississippi Community College hold every year. Miss Mississippi, a Miss America preliminary that has been staged in Vicksburg since 1958, sits at the top of that same circuit.
Two policies to read before you fall in love with a dress
- No refunds, exchanges or store credit. The store states this at the top of its website and again at the bottom. Once the gown is yours, it is yours.
- Alterations are billed separately from the price of the dress.
Neither is unusual for an independent formalwear shop protecting a one-of-a-kind-per-school inventory, but the no-returns rule raises the stakes on a rushed decision, which is another argument for the appointment.
Who it is close to
Pearl runs its own school district, split off from Rankin County in 1976, and Pearl High School enrolls roughly 1,280 students. Everything else nearby feeds out of the Rankin County School District, the second-largest district in the state at more than 19,000 students: Brandon, Northwest Rankin, Richland, Florence, Pisgah, Puckett, McLaurin and Pelahatchie. That is eight or nine proms inside a short radius, which is why asking whether a dress has already gone to your school is a reasonable question to open with. The nearest chain alternative is the David’s Bridal up in Madison, on the other side of the metro.