Bearden High School’s address is 8352 Kingston Pike. The Gilded Gown’s is 8435. Same road, a few doors apart, in the West Knoxville shopping center that used to hold the Books-A-Million at 8507–8513 Kingston Pike, near Walker Springs Road and exit 379 off I-40. For a school of just under 2,000 students, the prom store is close enough to walk to.
That was not always the arrangement. The shop opened in 2008 in South Knoxville and moved into Knoxville Center Mall — East Towne, to anyone who grew up here — in 2014, where it kept expanding while the mall around it emptied out. When the mall’s closure was announced, the store held a moving sale on the lower level of the Sears wing and relocated west, aiming to be open on Kingston Pike by December 1, 2019. Knoxville Center closed for good on January 31, 2020 and was demolished the next year. The practical effect for families: the store went from the I-640 side of town to the I-40 side, so shoppers coming from Carter, Gibbs and Central now cross the city, and the west-side and Farragut schools got a shop in their own back yard.
Two prom stores, one floor
Bella Boutique moved inside The Gilded Gown for the 2025 prom season and is there for a second season in 2026, listing the same 8435 Kingston Pike, Unit 1400 address under its own name and phone number. The combined floor is advertised at more than 3,000 prom gowns in stock. Verified prom labels here include Tennessee retailer listings for Sherri Hill and Ashley Lauren.
Sizing is the point, not a footnote
The store stocks every size from 00 to 32 on the rack, and describes itself as a boutique for women of all sizes to a 32. In 2019 the owner, Jacqui Wadsworth, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the prom side then carried about 1,200 dresses in sizes 000 to 36, and put it plainly: “We have just as many size 24s as we do 2s.” That is a different proposition from a shop that keeps two plus-size samples and orders the rest. Bridal runs 000 to 32 in stock, with many styles custom-orderable to a 42.
How a visit works
- No appointment for prom. Bridal is by appointment only, with a stylist, fitting room and runway assigned.
- Gowns are stocked in-store, so a dress can go home the same day rather than being ordered in.
- The store’s FAQ describes a four-month layaway: dress price plus a $99 fee plus tax, divided into four payments, the first due the day you choose the gown.
- Closed Wednesdays. Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday afternoons — useful if your prom weekend is already full of a game or a rehearsal.
When to go
Wadsworth has described the Knoxville prom season as running from mid-January to mid-April, which tracks with Knox County proms landing in the first half of April. Homecoming brings a second, shorter rush in late summer. In 2019 she said bridal clients were coming in from seven states, which is what you would expect from a store this size sitting on the main east–west retail road between Nashville and the Tri-Cities. If you are driving in from Maryville, Oak Ridge, Sevierville or Lenoir City, Kingston Pike at Walker Springs is a straightforward exit-and-a-mile trip rather than a mall parking deck.