ANCHOR INTRO:
March marks the beginning of spring…and for many teenagers, an important night. NCC News Reporter Lianza Reyes tells us how one local store has been preparing.
Prom night. The night of nights for many high school students is coming. Mother Melissa McConell’s first stop is here at Boom Babies, where her seventeen-year old Cassidy is searching the perfect fit for senior prom.
Melissa McConnell: We came here last year, and we had a good experience. We went to other places, and she really likes it here. So we came back.
It’s going to take a lot to find a dress, but Boom Babies staff is always here to help. Staff member Brittany Oliveira is used to the rush for girls to find their dream dress.
Brittany Oliveira: On Saturdays, we can have over 40 people to get to the fitting rooms. Plus, their mother, their grandmother, their little brother. A stroller…
STAND-UP: Now, Boom Babies began in 1986 as an alternative clothing store, however now it seems to have become a one-stop shop for dresses.
Oliveira says they see plenty of customers, but not just from the Central New York area.
Brittany Oliveira: So we do get a lot of people from Canada, all over the states as well. I mean they travel from 3 to 4 hours away for the most part.
And while she is always on her feet, it’s going to take a while before the rush slows down.
Brittany Oliveira: It’s really heavy through February, March, April, May, June. It’s still really busy during spring break. But it slows down May, June.
And it might take a little longer before every girl, including Cassidy, finds her dress.
Melissa McConnell: If she can’t find a dress here, I’m sure she can’t find a dress anywhere.
Lianza Reyes, NCC News.
By Lianza Reyes, SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – It takes more than a dress to just say yes.
At least that’s what it seems when mother Melissa McConnell is taking her seventeen-year-old daughter Cassidy to go prom dress shopping at local store Boom Babies. As Melissa and a friend of her daughter’s are finding dresses for Cassidy to wear, the options seem endless. How can anyone just decide on one?
Prom season is underway here in Central New York, and all across the country. Boom Babies is a vintage store that’s transformed to selling more formal gowns. Staff member Brittany Oliveira says that the prom dresses are easily the most heavily sold items in the store.
“Prom season starts as early as the day after Christmas,” Oliveira said, “It’s really heavy from February, March, April, May, June. It’s still very busy.”
And Boom Babies caters to customers not just within the Syracuse area. As customers, Melissa McConell and her daughter are from Parish, NY, which is 40 minutes away from the store. Oliveira says that some of their customers come from as far as Canada to shop for dresses, and that she sometimes has had to flip fitting rooms over 20 times in one day. That’s just about how popular Boom Babies seems to be for prom dresses.
And as for Melissa and her daughter Cassidy, they will have plenty of options to try before they find just the perfect fit for a night to remember.
