This shop started as a needle-and-thread business, not a dress store. Nicholas County owner Tennile Martin began taking in alterations in 2015, and the requests she kept hearing pushed her toward a storefront. WV Living quoted her on why:
“Many girls told me they wanted a local shop where they could buy prom dresses.”She opened Tennile’s Boutique and Formals at 866 Broad Street in Summersville in 2019, and the alterations work stayed in the building. That is the practical argument for shopping here rather than an hour away: the person hemming the gown is the person who sold it to you, in the same room.
Summersville is the Nicholas County seat, a town of 3,431 people at the 2020 census sitting at about 1,880 feet on the Allegheny Plateau. Its trade area is bigger than its population because of U.S. 19 — Corridor L, the four-lane shortcut between Interstate 79 and the West Virginia Turnpike, which has fed roadside business in the county since it was finished in the 1990s. Nicholas County High School, home of the Grizzlies, enrolled 697 students in 2023–24. Richwood is 25 miles east; its high school and middle school students moved into a permanent building in August 2025, nine years after the 2016 flood destroyed the old one. Webster Springs is about 40 miles out, Fayetteville about 24, the I-79 interchange near Sutton about 25.
The alternative is a real drive. Beckley is 46 miles down U.S. 19, roughly an hour, and that is where the nearest comparable prom-and-bridal store sits, out at Beckley Crossing. Charleston is 88 miles by road, about an hour and twenty-five minutes. For a family in Craigsville, Mount Nebo or Richwood, a Broad Street stop is a two-hour errand instead of a lost Saturday.
What the store handles
- Prom and formal: Colette, Jessica Angel and Jovani all list this store on their own retailer locators. WV Living’s 2025 profile also names Alyce Paris and Rachel Allan.
- Bridal: the shop appears on the Justin Alexander family locator for Lillian West and Sincerity Bridal; the magazine profile adds Christina Wu.
- Suits and tuxedos: rentals through Jim’s Formal Wear, which lists Tennile’s as an affiliated store.
- Everyday: Judy Blue and Risen denim, men’s wear, and West Virginia–made goods. The store’s own page bills it as the Judy Blue retailer for the Mountain Lakes region.
- Sizes: 0–30, per the store’s own listing.
Pageant work is part of the calendar
Martin competed in pageants before she sold gowns, and this is pageant country. The Nicholas County Potato Festival runs its teen and queen pageants in July, ahead of the festival itself downtown in September, and its winners go on to state-level competition. That means the formal season here is not one spring spike; there is a summer stretch of stagewear and a fall one, which is worth knowing if you are trying to shop when the racks are least picked over.
Before you make the drive
Listings show weekday hours running to 5 p.m., Friday to 6, and a short Saturday that closes at 2, with Sunday closed. The Saturday window is the one that catches people out. Call (304) 872-3926 first, especially in March and April, and ask whether the designer you want is on the floor and how long alterations are running.