Late on April 27, 2024, an EF3 tornado with winds near 165 mph crossed downtown Sulphur, killing one person, injuring thirty, and flattening most of the old business district along Broadway and Muskogee. Mix Mercantile’s home, a 1920s building on the corner of West Third and Muskogee, was among the losses. Co-owner Christy Morris said at the time there was no way to salvage it. The store rebuilt on the same corner, and 300 W Muskogee is that new building.
Formalwear is on the second floor, in a section the store calls The Loft. It is not a separate shop down the street — you walk in past the gifts, kids’ clothes and men’s department on the main floor and go up. The Loft handles prom and homecoming gowns, bridal, and tuxedos, and it lists a phone line of its own apart from the main store number, so ask for The Loft when you call about an appointment.
Brands confirmed here
- Ava Presley and Clarisse — both list this store on their official retailer locators
- Faviana — the brand keeps a store page for The Loft @ Mix Mercantile
- Stella York on the bridal side, through Essense of Australia’s retailer listing
That is the verified list. The store also describes a signature bridal collection of its own, and the main floor carries everyday women’s and men’s clothing that has nothing to do with prom.
Who drives here
Sulphur is the seat of Murray County, a town of a few thousand in the southern half of Oklahoma, about ten miles east of I-35 at Davis on State Highway 7. Sulphur High School enrolled 445 students in grades 9–12 in 2023–24. Its rival is Davis, the other Murray County school, and the two meet every fall in what everyone here calls Murray County Bedlam. Both sets of juniors and seniors are now shopping the same upstairs racks, which is worth knowing if you care about turning up in the same dress as somebody from the other side of the county. Ask what the store tracks on repeats before you buy.
Beyond the county line, the nearest comparable formalwear counters are in Ardmore, roughly 35 miles south, and Ada, a similar drive northeast. Oklahoma City is an hour and a half up the interstate. For families in Sulphur, Davis, Mill Creek and the small towns around the Arbuckles, a downtown gown shop replaces a half-day round trip.
Making a day of it
The store sits in the tourist end of Sulphur, the gateway town for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The Artesian Hotel and the Chickasaw Visitor Center are at Broadway and Highway 7, a short walk from the corner. When the rebuild was announced, the plan was no indoor restaurant but an outdoor kitchen called Patio 1924, a nod to the era of the building the tornado took. Other downtown businesses came back on their own timelines through 2025, so the block reads as a work in progress rather than a finished shopping district.
One practical note about the calendar: the anniversary of the tornado falls in the last week of April, which in this part of Oklahoma is prom season. Alteration slots and appointment times around then get tight for reasons that go beyond the dance.