A girl who bought her prom dress on Long Run Road in 1998 bought it from this shop under a different name. It opened in 1987 as Special Moments Bridal Shop, and Gerri Inama built it from a small dress business into a store that could outfit a whole wedding party. After 36 years she sold it to Lindsay Giammaresi, a Schuylkill County native. Same address, different name over the door.
The handoff kept the part that is hardest to replace. Two members of the original staff stayed on through the sale, and alterations are done in the building by the shop’s own seamstress, Martina, who has more than two decades of experience — not sent out to a tailor across town. For a prom gown that needs a hem and a strap taken in three weeks before the dance, that is the whole difference.
Prom labels
Two prom houses list this store on their official retailer locators: Jovani and Tiffany Designs. Jovani is the beading-and-fitted-mermaid end of the market; Tiffany Designs runs toward classic ballgowns and pageant-friendly silhouettes. The shop keeps homecoming as its own category, which matters in a county where the fall dances land weeks apart from school to school.
Tuxedo rentals are handled here too, so a couple can be measured and fitted in one stop. On the bridal side the shop carries Justin Alexander and Stella York, which is worth knowing if a mother shopping for her daughter’s prom dress is also six months out from her own wedding.
Where it actually is
This is not a mall storefront. Long Run Road branches off Route 183 — Chestnut Street — at the western edge of Schuylkill Haven, and the stretch around 1523 is residential. Coming down Route 61 you turn onto Pottsville Street, pick up 183 at the light, and merge onto Long Run Road. Put the address in a phone before leaving; it is not a block you stumble onto while running errands.
The schools it draws from
Schuylkill Haven Area’s Hurricanes are the home school, but the shop’s reach is the whole Schuylkill League — Pottsville, Blue Mountain, Minersville, Pine Grove Area, North Schuylkill, Tamaqua, Marian, Mahanoy Area, Shenandoah Valley, Tri-Valley, Williams Valley, Panther Valley. Most of those towns are inside a half-hour drive, which is why prom weekends in April and May pull from a dozen districts at once and why the good sizes in a popular Jovani style go early.
Hours are the real constraint
- Tuesday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
- Wednesday 1 – 7 p.m.
- Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Saturday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
- Sunday and Monday closed
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are the only slots that survive a school day and a work day; Thursday and Friday close at 4, and Saturday shuts at 3. Bridal appointments are preferred, and the shop has said prom and other formal shoppers can walk in without one. Hours have shifted seasonally before, so call (570) 739-7290 before making the drive from Tamaqua or Pine Grove.