Business Spotlight: Big-city Style

White, off-white, cream, long, short, lace, bejeweled, mermaid, princess – there are as many variations of wedding gowns dotting the walls of Brenda Norman’s bridal shop as there are customers through her doors.

“Everyone wants to be unique, to feel special,” she says of the 35-year-old Normans Bridal Shoppe LLC. “Why shouldn’t they? This is one of the most memorable days in a woman’s life.”

Norman’s downtown Springfield boutique covers roughly 7,000 square feet of prime frontage on South Avenue, over a quarter of that added in August through a $25,000 remodel of the former Moda salon. The high ceilings, exposed brick and wood floors bring charm to the space, but Norman came for the glass.

“I was really interested in the front window,” she says. “Wedding dresses are big. They need to spread out, and that’s the window to do it in.”

What started with 25 dresses behind her husband Blake’s Lebanon jewelry store now encompasses inventory of 600 bridal gowns taking up three buildings in the Laclede County town.

“We had a lot of extra space and my husband said, ‘I’ll sell them the rings, and you can sell them the gowns,’” she says of Norman Jewelry, which opened in 1967. “The goal my first year was to sell 50 gowns, and I hit it.”

The jewelry and bridal shop expanded into prom dresses and continued until 2013, when the jewelry store was shuttered due to her husband’s declining health. Blake Norman died earlier this year.

Try it on for size
Through an attention to detail, eye for fashion and staff willing to go the extra mile, Normans Bridal became a southwest Missouri Mecca for bridal and prom attire, with women traveling the 55 miles from Springfield to shop Norman’s selection of formal wear. With Norman and daughter, Liz Stoner, traveling overseas to keep up on the latest styles, the shop carries such designers as Essense of Australia, Allure and Justin Alexander. Norman says gowns range from $300 to $4,000, but the average price settles at $1,500, on par with nationwide average spending of $1,357, according to wedding website, The Knot.

Business was good in Lebanon, when Norman says she got a call she never expected.

“Tom Latimer of McDaniel’s called me and asked me to buy his bridal business,” she says of the McDaniel Bridal & Formal business on South Glenstone Avenue. “I had a daughter starting college in Springfield and always wanted to be in the market, so I said yes.”

Fearing the loss of business at the original store, Norman retained the McDaniel name after her 2001 purchase, but she struggled finding dependable store managers, maintaining two sets of books and advertising budgets before taking the plunge to bring the Normans name to the Queen City in 2010.

Since opening the downtown shop, business is up 24 percent. Declining to disclose revenues, Norman says it’s a 60-40 split between bridal and prom revenue, however prom dresses out number bridals 2-1 in unit sales.

Currently open Tuesday through Saturday, Norman says it’ll be seven days a week once prom season starts in January.

“I’ve got 11 dressing rooms in that department, but some Saturdays I need 24 or 25,” she says.

It takes a village
The move helped spur business for two of Normans Bridal’s preferred vendors: Christine Bonnivier Photography LLC and Coco Couture alterations.

“A majority of my business comes from Normans,” says Socorro “Coco” Quiles, declining to disclose sales. “She passes my name to her clients because she knows I’m more than just a seamstress.”

Learning to make dresses 32 years ago in her homeland of Mexico, Quiles offers more than simple hems, altering dresses down multiple sizes or adding panels and structure to expand.

Bonnivier’s wedding photography can be seen on the cover of Normans Bridal’s annual catalog the past three seasons and in the homes of clients across the Midwest.

“I do a lot of weddings at Big Cedar Lodge with brides from across the country, but about 75 percent of my local brides are referrals from Brenda,” she says, noting the two share a mindset toward the wedding business. “What we’re doing here is fashion forward. This is big-city style.”

From puffy sleeves to strapless gowns and lace sleeves to open backs – Norman has seen it all.

“In the ’80s, the bows were so big you could see it sticking out on both sides,” she says with a laugh. “That’s one of the things I love about this business. The styles change, but the look in a bride’s eye when she finds the dress is always the same.”