Dresses & More occupies a storefront in Marketplace II, the strip center at 419 Route 34 about two minutes off Exit 120 of the Garden State Parkway. Its own About page mentions something you almost never see on a formalwear site in this part of New Jersey: the shop participates in the Old Bridge property tax reward program. Under that program, a percentage of what a registered resident spends at a participating merchant comes back as a credit on the homeowner’s third-quarter property tax bill; renters get it as a cash rebate. On a prom gown plus a mother’s dress, that is not a rounding error.
What the racks actually hold
Three labels are confirmed through the designers’ own retailer locators: Alyce Paris, Dave & Johnny and Terani. The store’s site goes further on its own account, listing Jovani, JVN, Abby Paris, Alex Evenings and Stella Couture on the evening side, and a mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom section running to Montage, Ivonne D, MGNY, Cameron Blake, Alexander by Daymor, Marsoni and Rina di Montella. The shop describes itself as a one-stop dress shop for prom, quinceañera and formal, and it sells all of those out of the same room, which matters if a family is dressing a daughter and a mother on the same trip. Its Facebook listing puts the price range at $$.
Judy and her husband Paul bought the business on December 1, 2002, according to the store’s own history page. Judy had worked there for the previous owner for six years before that, so dresses have been sold at this business since at least the mid-1990s.
No appointment, seven days
The store is open every day and takes walk-ins — no booking, no consultation slot. Hours from its own site:
| Monday–Wednesday | 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. |
|---|---|
| Thursday–Friday | 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. |
| Saturday | 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. |
| Sunday | 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. |
Call before driving in March, when small shops shift hours around their busiest weekends.
Where this sits, and who it is close to
The 07747 ZIP code is a patchwork. It carries a Matawan address but covers pieces of Aberdeen, Old Bridge and Sayreville, and the school directories show it: Matawan Regional High School on Atlantic Avenue in Aberdeen, Old Bridge High School at 4209 Route 516, and Cheesequake School under the Sayreville district on Route 34 itself. Commercial listings for Marketplace II cannot agree on whether to file the center under Matawan or Old Bridge. That is the nature of this stretch of highway.
Practically, that means three separate districts’ prom calendars land in the same store. Matawan Regional enrolled about 1,150 students in 2023–24; Old Bridge High is several times that. Keyport, Hazlet and Sayreville are a few miles out in each direction, and Route 34 meets CR 516 and US 9 within a short drive.
Marketplace II is a 50,000-square-foot center built in 1981 with 255 parking spaces, so parking is not the problem it would be at a mall in April. Route 34 carries roughly 20,000 vehicles a day past the entrance.
Timing
The Matawan-Aberdeen district calendar listed Matawan Regional’s junior prom for Saturday, April 26, 2025, 6 to 10 p.m. Central Jersey proms bunch into late April and May, which puts real shopping in January and February — earlier than most families expect, and earlier than the point when a specific size in a specific style is still findable.