The Bunny Patch

Walk-ins are the house style at The Bunny Patch. The homepage invites shoppers to come in and browse hundreds of dresses in every size and color, and the contact line underneath splits the difference: call to schedule an appointment, or simply visit anytime in downtown Dexter. For a student who wants to see the racks on a free afternoon, that open door is the point.

The store sells formalwear and nothing else. Its menu runs prom, homecoming and dance, pageants, little girls’ dresses, tuxedo rentals, shoes, jewelry and a sale rack. The online prom and pageant catalog listed 202 styles at the time of writing, and homecoming had its own list of 53 more.

Designers on the racks

The shop names its lines in two places, the homepage and a separate designers page, and the catalog itself fills in the rest, style by style.

Pageant gowns and prom gowns share one catalog here, which makes sense in a county where a girl may need a competition dress in the fall and a prom dress in the spring.

The store’s own explanation for the turnover is short and a little breathless, grammar included.

Our experience with designers make sure we have what's hot while it's hot.

Another homepage line points to the experience of decades behind the counter. The shop does not publish a founding year, so the decades stand as its own description of the team’s time in the business.

Tuxes, little girls and the towns that shop here

The tuxedo side runs through Jim’s Formal Wear.

A couple can pick the gown and reserve the tux in a single afternoon on Walnut Street.

The little girls’ section lists 63 styles of its own, so a younger sister can be dressed on the same visit as the prom shopper. Homecoming gets a separate catalog page, which keeps fall dance shopping from getting lost among the long gowns. Shoes and jewelry are stocked to go with all of it, and a photo gallery on the site collects pictures customers send in after the dance.

Dexter is the largest city in Stoddard County, Missouri, and US 60 brings the surrounding towns in. Dexter High School is the closest school, and students from Bloomfield, Richland in Essex, Bernie, Puxico and Malden all live within a short ride of downtown. For those families, a stop on Walnut Street saves a much longer day on the highway.

The Bunny Patch in Dexter, questions and answers

What does a prom gown usually cost at The Bunny Patch?

Posted prices in the online catalog ran from about $99 for sale styles to $749, with many gowns in the $300s. Floor stock and prices change through the season.

Does the shop carry pageant gowns as well as prom?

Yes. Prom and pageant dresses share one catalog, and the store keeps a separate little girls’ section as well.