Yes, the name says coffee. Walk in anyway. Tom's Coffee, Cards & Gifts on Binghamton's Main Street has a whole Prom section in its own navigation menu, right between hand-crafted pottery and gold and silver, and its site crowns the shop the prom and homecoming dress capital of Binghamton, NY. Anyone who grew up on the West Side already knows the place for gift baskets and fresh-roasted beans.
It is an unusual setup, and it works because of who runs it. Tom Kelleher opened the shop in 1982, when he was 25, under the name Main Street Coffee, Tea and Spice Shop. Customers kept calling it Tom's, so Tom's it became, and as Binghamton University's Pipe Dream told the story, the shorter name also meant fewer letters to pay for on the awning. The first store was less than a quarter of the size of the current one.
What prom shopping here looks like
When WBNG covered the unveiling of the store's 2023 prom collection, Tom's had more than 700 dresses in stock, in sizes 0 through 30. If a particular gown is not on the rack, the store can special order it from the designer. The buying starts early: the station reported that the shop begins preparing for prom season the previous May, traveling to fashion shows around the country to pick the inventory.
The store's prom page groups the selection four ways:
- Homecoming dresses, for the fall dance that sneaks up on everyone in September.
- Senior prom dresses, the core of the spring season.
- Special occasion gowns, for formals, galas and weddings that aren't yours.
- Unique gowns, the category to ask about if you want something nobody else in the hallway would pick.
No appointment is required, according to the same WBNG report, and the help is personal rather than a self-serve rack. That makes Tom's one of the easier prom stops to fit around practice, a part-time job or a Saturday that already has three other things on it.
The registry, by high school
Parents ask about this one first.
In a city where Binghamton High School shares the very same Main Street with the store, and where Johnson City, Chenango Valley, Chenango Forks, Susquehanna Valley and Windsor round out Broome County's prom calendar, that registry does a lot of quiet work.
The demand is real. During a pandemic-era spring, Kelleher told WIVT that many schools had decided to go forward with prom and that the store's prom business had been extremely brisk, on pace to beat its busiest prom year. The station described the shop as a regional prom destination for shoppers from upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania.
Making the trip count
Main Street is also NY 17C, which runs west through Johnson City toward Endwell and Endicott, so families from those towns can reach the store without touching the highway.
The store's own site lays out the broader point of view in a letter from Tom himself. Its headline line is When we support small businesses, we support our community. For a prom shopper in the Southern Tier of upstate New York, that translates into something concrete: a locally owned shop that tracks your dress against your school, sells a pound of coffee to whoever drove you, and has been on Main Street since 1982.
Prom is a very special time in a girl's life. It's that transition from girl to young woman, and we enjoy and are honored to be a part of that process.
Tom Kelleher, speaking to WBNG about why the store does prom at all
Quick answers
Is Tom's Coffee a prom shop?
Yes. Prom has its own section on the store's website, which lists homecoming dresses, senior prom dresses, special occasion and unique gowns, and the store has been covered by local TV for its prom collections.
What if the gown I want is not on the rack?
Yes. The store can special order a particular gown from the designer, and sizes in stock have run from 0 through 30.