Marisa Vaughn grew up here and got her start in formalwear at Jillian’s while she was in college. She met her husband, moved to Charlotte, and spent the years after that specializing in couture bridal. When she came back, she opened Ivy Marie on Maple Avenue in the spring of 2023, because nothing in Zanesville was doing the work she had built a career on.
She was also straightforward about scale in the interview WHIZ ran the week the store opened. A dress shop pays for its own inventory, which is hard at the beginning: “we are small but what we offer is the newest, and the best.” That is worth knowing before the drive. This is a one-party-at-a-time boutique that works by appointment, not a floor you wander through on a Saturday afternoon.
Where it sits
The address is 1415 Maple Ave, in Buchanan Square — the Victorian-era block set back from the road, sharing a lot with Bistro B in the Square at 1405R, which serves weekday breakfast and lunch and is shut by mid-afternoon. Maple Avenue is State Route 60. From east-central Ohio’s main east–west artery, I‑70 Exit 153B feeds directly onto it, and Maple widens into a four-lane boulevard running north — the same street that carries traffic up to Colony Square Mall at 3575 Maple. Ivy Marie is on the older, closer-in stretch of it, well short of the mall.
Parking is a private lot plus street spaces, and the storefront is wheelchair accessible. Posted hours move around by day of the week — some evenings late, some afternoons short — so the appointment link matters more here than the hours sign does.
What the racks are
Three prom houses list the store on their own retailer locators: Amarra, Ashley Lauren and Faviana. All three are current-season prom houses, which puts the store at a different end of the local market from resale and rental. The bridal side is authorized for Sincerity Bridal and Sophia Tolli. The shop puts its size range at 0–24W and advertises quick ship dates, which is the part that matters when a decision gets made in March instead of January.
Menswear is sold, not rented: suits start at $199, which is a real distinction for a junior who would rather keep the jacket than return it Monday morning. Yelp lists the specialties as prom, bridal and tuxes.
Who shops here
The trade area is essentially Muskingum County’s high schools, most of them in the Muskingum Valley League. Zanesville City is on Moxahala Avenue, Maysville out on Panther Drive, West Muskingum on Kimes Road with 370 students and a standing rivalry with the Tri-Valley Scotties, Philo down the river in Duncan Falls, John Glenn over in New Concord. Half a dozen or so separate prom nights, all drawing on one county seat — which is the argument for going in early rather than in the last three weeks.
The alternatives
Downtown, Second Dance Formals sells new and gently used gowns and rents suits and tuxes, which is a different price ceiling and a different way of shopping. Jillian’s, where Vaughn started, is now listed as closed. West on I‑70, A Formal Affaire in Newark carries prom and homecoming alongside its tuxedo rental business. Past that it is Columbus, which the county visitors bureau puts at an hour west along I‑70 — a real day, and a real gamble on whether the store you drove to has your size in the room.