Ryle students open prom dress rental shop

by Justin Duke, NKY Enquirer
Ryle students open prom dress rental shop


FLORENCE — Two enterprising high school juniors are looking to cash in on prom season.

Morgan Sandmann and Olivia McGregor are owners of the Lemon Drop Dress Shop, a consignment rental shop for formal wear like homecoming and prom dresses.

The Ryle students started the business over the summer after the dresses they’d worn had proven popular.

“Girls would ask to borrow our dresses, but our parents didn’t want us just giving them out because they paid so much for them. So we figured renting was a good idea,” Sandmann said.

The two started gathering all of their old dresses and getting others to offer up their old dresses.

“Every time it’s rented, they get a percentage,” McGregor said.

The two started working out of the dining room of McGregor’s parents’ Florence home and offered dresses for the homecoming season. Girls from all over Northern Kentucky rented their dresses.

“We didn’t expect it to get as big as it has,” McGregor said.

They attribute their early success to a simple concept. “Girls don’t want to spend a lot of money on a dress,” Sandmann said.

With the success, the two are looking to open a storefront sometime in the next year.

Because a dress is rented, it can be used for more than one dance in a season. So if girls from different schools like the same dress, it can be used on different weekends and Lemon Drop will dry clean it in between rentals.

With the new year under way, many girls are already hunting for prom dresses, so Sandmann and McGregor are already busy.

“People are already asking,”Sandmann said.

The shop shows the dresses it gets in on its Facebook page, and Sandmann and McGregor are planning a fashion show at Ryle Feb. 15.

“We’ll have all of our dresses on display,” McGregor said.

Proceeds from the fashion show will be given to Ryle’s junior class to help pay for this year’s prom.

McGregor and Sandmann are currently sizing customers so they can find the right dresses. To set up a sizing or to look at the dresses in stock, email lemondropdressshop@ gmail.com.