Trendz sits on Level 1 of Freehold Raceway Mall, where the mall directory lists it as Trendz Prom & Bridal at (732) 954-9359. The location is the argument for it. US 9 through western Monmouth County, New Jersey, carries one of the state’s heaviest concentrations of prom boutiques, and Trendz is the only one you can walk into without making a separate stop.
Who else is on this road
Jovani’s own New Jersey retailer page describes the Route 9 corridor through Monmouth and Middlesex counties as a standout for selection, naming four stores in Manalapan Township alone — Castle Couture, Hearts For You, Rhona’s and Lola’s — plus Diane & Co. in Freehold. Those are dedicated destination shops a few miles up the same highway. Trendz is a mall storefront competing against them on convenience and on the labels it stocks, not on floor size.
Three brands are confirmed through their manufacturers’ own retailer locators: Clarisse, Jasz and Jessica Angel. If you are cross-shopping the Manalapan stores, ask by brand name and style number rather than by silhouette; the Clarisse line alone spans sequin ball gowns, fitted mermaid cuts and A‑line styles, so “do you have Clarisse” and “do you have this Clarisse” are different questions.
The schools this store draws from
Almost every teenager walking past the storefront in March belongs to one district. The Freehold Regional High School District runs six high schools — Colts Neck, Freehold, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan and Marlboro — with roughly 10,450 students between them. Freehold High School in the borough and Freehold Township High School are listed as athletic rivals, and both are minutes from the mall, which means two schools’ worth of shoppers hitting the same racks.
Timing runs earlier here than people expect. District calendars have put junior prom in the third week of April, and the Freehold Township student paper covered a junior prom held at the Grand Marquis on a Friday in late April. Working backward, that puts serious dress shopping in February and early March, with the mall’s Level 1 traffic at its worst on weekend afternoons in that window.
Practical notes
- The mall is at Route 9, Business Route 33 and Route 537, and it is served by NJ Transit bus routes 67, 836 and 838 — a real consideration for a sophomore without a license.
- The store’s Facebook page lists hours of Monday through Thursday 10–8, Friday and Saturday 10–9, and Sunday 1–7, matching typical mall hours. Call first anyway.
- Phone numbers for this shop are inconsistent across listings. The mall’s directory number is the one to trust; older third-party listings carry others.
- Reviews are genuinely split. Some customers name the staff member who helped them and rate the visit highly; others describe disputes over deposits and exchanges. Get the deposit amount, the exchange terms and the alteration arrangement in writing before you leave.
One footnote for anyone new to the area: the raceway the mall is named for is gone. Freehold Raceway, across Route 9, ran its last harness race on December 28, 2024, closing out about 170 years. The mall itself opened in 1990 and now runs to roughly 1.55 million square feet with Macy’s, JCPenney, L.L.Bean and Primark as anchors; a Von Maur is planned for the former Nordstrom space. So the shorthand still works even though the horses do not.