Formals & Florals On Main

A dozen prom labels, a tuxedo rental desk and a florist share one storefront on West Main Street in Covington. For a student at Alleghany High School, that changes the shape of prom season. The gown, the date's tux and the flowers do not have to be gathered from three different towns, and the shopping trip does not have to involve a day on I-64.

The shop opened in stages. Tara Simmons-Brewster, a lifelong Covington resident whose full-time work is real estate, opened the florist side in June 2022, according to a 2025 Cardinal News profile, and added the formal wear the following January. The Recorder covered the Alleghany Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Tourism ribbon cutting on August 29, 2022. The building also houses Good News Church, and Michelle McCoy Shumaker works as the shop's designer.

Why a Main Street boutique

The reason is personal. Simmons-Brewster told Cardinal News that her mother, Connie, who died in October 2021, had always wanted to open a boutique on Main Street.

When she passed, I just felt it in my heart to open the business in honor of my mom.

Simmons-Brewster said that to Cardinal News reporter Matt Busse, and she added that the backing of the community has driven the shop's growth.

The same profile describes her as someone who left Covington and came back for its close-knit community, and she holds a management degree from Radford University. The shop's Formals page carries that hometown tone into its sales pitch. It speaks to brides and prom-goers in the same breath, promises a staff that will guide shoppers through the process, and points to an extensive selection of sizes, styles and accessories.

The prom wall, label by label

The store's prom page lists its collections by name, and the homecoming page adds three more. Grouped loosely, the names look like this.

Not every style will be on the rack, and the store says as much on its Formals page with an offer that matters in a small market: if a dress is not in the boutique, the shop can get it directly from the dressmaker. That turns a dozen labels on a web page into a dozen catalogs a shopper can order from without leaving the Highlands.

Shoes come from Marc Defang and the De Blossom Collection, both lines the shop promotes for prom and homecoming, and the accessories case covers jewelry, headpieces and belts. Short dresses and little girls' dresses fill out the floor, which helps when a younger sister wants something for the same weekend.

Sizing runs wider than one storefront might suggest. Sydney's Closet, featured on the prom page, is a plus-size line, and the page's own description of it cites gowns in sizes 14 to 40. The order-from-the-dressmaker option also covers sizes that are not hanging on the floor. For special orders, start early in the winter: a gown shipped from a designer needs time to arrive, and any fitting work has to come after that.

Tuxedos, flowers and the rest of prom weekend

A couple can choose the gown and the tux in the same building.

• Tux rental

  Jim's Formal Wear, the national rental company featured on the shop's tux page, with colors matched to the gown on the spot

• Florist

  Arrangements for every kind of occasion, so prom flowers can be ordered at the same counter once the dress color is settled

Bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and veils are also part of the business, but the site gives prom and homecoming pages of their own with as much detail as the wedding side.

The audience is mostly local. Alleghany High School, which absorbed Covington High when the two schools merged in 2023, serves both Covington and Alleghany County, and Bath County High School in Hot Springs serves the next county to the north. Both sit in the Alleghany Highlands of western Virginia, where a nearby formal shop is a real convenience for families.

Formals and Florals on Main in Covington, answered

Can the shop order a prom dress it does not have in stock?

Yes. The Formals page says that if you cannot find a dress in the boutique, the shop can get it directly from the dressmaker. Ask about timing so the dress arrives well before the dance.

Where do the tux rentals come from?

The shop rents tuxedos through Jim's Formal Wear, which it features on its tux rental page.