One suite in the Cedar Mall handles both halves of a prom couple. Simply Elegant Bridal Salon sells the gown and rents the tuxedo — it is a Jim’s Formal Wear affiliated store, so the suit order and the dress fitting happen at the same counter. In a county where two people going to the same prom often live twenty minutes apart in opposite directions, that consolidation is the practical case for the trip.
The mall sits at the south end of town, where South Main meets Access Road, about a minute east of the US 53 interchange at exit 140. The commercial listing for the property describes a customer radius of roughly thirty miles year round, plus the cabin and second-home traffic further north — which is a fair description of who walks in. Rice Lake is the largest city in Barron County and the retail center for a wide, thinly populated area. Heading south for alternatives means the Chippewa Valley, which UW–Eau Claire’s Barron County campus calls about an hour’s drive; Eau Claire is where the nearest David’s Bridal is.
The four prom labels
Each of these brands lists the Rice Lake store on its own official retailer locator:
- Jovani
- Clarisse
- Dave & Johnny
- Tiffany Designs
The shop’s own site groups prom, homecoming and pageant together and keeps quinceañera gowns as a separate category, alongside bridal, bridesmaids, mothers’ dresses, and men’s and boys’ tuxedos. The Better Business Bureau profile lists Brenda K. McDermott as owner. Beyond that, the store leaves a thin public trail: no reviews on most listings, no floor size or stock counts published anywhere we could find. Call and ask what is on the racks in your size before you drive.
Who shops here
Rice Lake High School is the big feeder — 712 students in grades 9–12 as of 2023–24, and the only Big Rivers Conference school this far north, which means the Warriors’ competition is mostly Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls and Menomonie. Recent Rice Lake proms have been held off campus at Turtleback Golf and Conference Center, the Elks Lodge and Mommsen’s Harvest Hills, with themes like Garden of Glamour and Nighttime in the City.
The smaller districts around it are the rest of the trade area: Barron, Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, Cameron, Shell Lake and Spooner all run well under 400 students in their high schools, and several of them hold prom in a barn or a school gym rather than a hotel ballroom. Dates cluster in mid-April through early May here, earlier than the Wisconsin school year ends and earlier than a lot of people expect — Barron’s junior prom fell on April 13 one recent year, Shell Lake’s on April 30. Shopping in February is not early.
Planning the visit
The store takes appointments through its website and its own materials say walk-ins are welcome, but a Saturday in March is not the day to test that. The Jim’s Formal Wear dealer listing shows weekday hours to 7 p.m., Thursday to 8, Friday to 6, Saturday to 5, and closed Sunday — late enough to come straight from school, though mall-tenant hours change, so confirm at (715) 234-3995.
Since it is inside an enclosed mall, the trip absorbs the rest of the errand list. Glik’s, TJ Maxx, Bath & Body Works, GNC and Dunham’s Sports are under the same roof, plus a grill and a mini golf course, and the corridors are open to walkers during business hours. If the gown needs a second opinion, there are people to fetch from twenty feet away.