BRINKLEY -- Just as Dorcas Prince was finishing up this interview, a squeal erupted from the other side of the room.
A bride-to-be was standing in front of a full-length mirror with her family and friends around her. They broke into applause. The bride was handed a framed poster. It read, "I said yes to the dress at Low's Bridal!" People snapped photos of the beaming bride.
Prince, who owns the business with her husband, Stanley, also smiled brightly.
"People ask me how I got into the bridal business and I say it was God's decision," says Prince, who at one time planned to follow in her father's footsteps and become a pharmacist.
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Low's is located in the circa 1913 Rusher Hotel that has been fully restored on West Cedar Street in Brinkley. It houses more than 2,500 gowns -- or almost enough dresses for every person in town. The hotel is at the crossroads of seven railroads that used to stop at the once-vibrant Monroe County town. At one time, Brinkley had 10 hotels downtown, and the Rusher was the largest.
But like many small towns, its downtown now stands largely vacant. But then there is Low's. The restored three-story hotel is impossible to miss. The stately red brick building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Stepping into the entrance is like a dream come true for any girl who wished for a fairy-tale wedding. There's even a pale blue dress named the Cinderella for sale -- if the glass slipper fits.
SIX DRESSES AND A DRUG STORE
Prince is the daughter of Margo and Bob Low, who was a pharmacist. They owned Low's Drug Store, which is a bit of a misnomer -- in addition to typical pharmacy items, the store offered fine china, crystal, silver, jewelry, cosmetics and children's clothing. Brides would register there for china, silver and crystal. The Low family lived in a large apartment over the drugstore.
Margo was at a wholesale trade market in 1977 in Dallas shopping for children's clothes when a woman asked if she would be interested in selling wedding gowns. She said she didn't think Brinkley was big enough for a bridal store. But she bought six gowns anyway and set up a bridal shop on top of the drugstore. She sold all six dresses.
"The first one she sold off the floor, coming out of the box. A girl walked in and said, 'I hear you are going to sell wedding dresses.' And Mom said, 'Yes. I just got them in.' And Mom opened a box and pulled one out and the girl said she would try it on. And that was her dress."
The bridal shop eventually took over the drugstore and a nearby building. The business now offers one of the largest wedding gown selections in the country. A typical bridal shop offers 125 to 150 dresses, Prince says. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the shop is "one of the largest bridal shops in the United States, attracting far-flung clientele to Brinkley."
In 1981, the Princes bought the Rusher Hotel and turned it into the Great Southern Hotel, a bed and breakfast and restaurant. A tornado in 1994 ripped the roof off and flooded the building.
After extensive renovations, the Princes moved Low's Bridal to the hotel in 1997 where it takes up most of the first two floors. The Brinkley Fire Department is made up of volunteers and does not have enough personnel, water pressure or equipment to fight a third-floor fire. So the third floor is used for storage.
With 2,500 dresses, fire protection is a must. Most dresses start at $1,000 and go up to $4,500. And the vast majority are wedding gowns. The store stopped selling prom, flower girl or mother of the bride dresses years ago.
"Moms are hard. Moms tend to take care of everybody else before they get to find their dress. Then they are in a panic and they don't have time to order," Prince says. "It was really hard to take care of the bride and take care of the mom. And so to be better at what we do, we take care of the bride."
WEDDING DRESS HEAVEN
When the store was closed last year during the covid-19 pandemic, Dorcas and husband Stan rearranged the gowns. Downstairs, dresses are grouped in sizes 0 through 10. Upstairs, dresses are in sizes 12 through 34.
"We try to do a good selection for every size because girls get disappointed," Dorcas Prince says of the wide variety of sizes. "If you can't try it on how do you figure out what style you like?"
Prince says she tries to have a good selection of dresses because a woman who wears a size 34 can't try on a size 16 and know what she will look like in it.
Despite the pandemic, Low's recorded one of its best years of sales in 2020. She attributes it to brides-to-be who didn't want to wait until the crisis was over to get married and wanted to buy a dress quickly. Before covid-19, the shop would take 65 appointments on Saturdays from brides. During covid, the shop took 45 appointments. Appointments are required, even before the pandemic.
"You make an appointment because we work one-on-one. Every bride gets their own consultant," she says.
Styles of wedding dresses are ever-changing. Strapless gowns used to be hot. Now many women want sleeves. Some dresses are even featuring a somewhat modified puffy sleeve reminiscent of the 1980s.
"There are a lot of things that have made full circle as far as fashion. ... We have seen puff sleeves. The vast majority don't want puff but the designers are showing it," she says. "Sometimes the designers are doing things that stretch the edge of the envelope to do something different. And there is not that much different to do. Somewhere in the past it has been done before."
In addition to the Cinderella, there is the Pocahontas -- a beaded number with skinny straps, plunging neckline and train; and the Stevie Nicks -- a Bohemian look inspired by the singer.
"We have a certain percentage of girls -- it's not huge -- but we do well with black dresses. Last year and this year, Halloween falls on a weekend and we've had a lot of girls go to New Orleans to get married or something like that. It's been kind of interesting."
What is Prince's favorite style?
"That changes every week. When we go preview dresses, it changes every six months. There are beautiful dresses of all styles. There are some of the cleanest, simple dresses that if the right person owns it, it is just magnificent," she says. "And then there is the prettiest sparkly big ballgown for the girl that's wearing it and loves it and it is just perfect."
Angela VanZandt Bumpass decided to buy her gown at Low's for her July 2019 wedding to Rodger Bumpass. Rodger was in the same class at Little Rock Central High School with Stan Prince and the couples are friends.
As a bride in her mid 60s, Angela wanted a dress that was age appropriate. She also wanted one that looked like something actress Audrey Hepburn would have worn.
"Dorcas is the iconic proper lady who knows all the rules that a lot of women have forgotten so I felt safe going there that I would be getting the right look for my age," Angela Bumpass says. "Going to Low's was like going back in time, a better time, a more genteel time."
Bumpass, who is a native Arkansan living in Burbank, Calif., said she felt welcome the moment she walked through the door.
"It's the same feeling one gets when you walk into Tiffany's in New York. ... To me it was like stepping into wedding dress heaven," says Bumpass, who is a screenwriter.
WORKING FROM HOME
Prince and her husband live in an apartment on the second floor of Low's Bridal. With the exception of college, Prince has always lived where she worked.
"No matter how bad the weather is, my husband and I just walk out of the door of the apartment and we are at work," she says.
Her first job was when she was 8 years old and made bows in the wrapping room at Low's Drug Store. At the store, she also worked on displays, was a salesperson and worked in the office. After graduating from high school she went to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to study pharmacy -- just like her father.
At UALR, she met Stan who was studying finance.
"My husband was in the Marine Corps and when we met in college he asked what do you do for fun in Brinkley and I said, 'Well, my best friend and I used to go shoot snakes on rice canals.' He said, 'I don't think I've ever heard a girl say that before.'"
The Lows have two daughters. Prince's sister Rebecca was a fashion model in Italy, Japan and New York. Rebecca now lives in Dallas and is an interior decorator.
"Dad didn't have any sons so I grew up going to deer camp, fishing, I did everything dad did," Prince says.
Dorcas and Stan married in 1980. For her own wedding, she chose a long sleeve, A-line dress with minimal pearl beading and a splash of crystals. The wedding was at a Baptist Church and the reception was across the street at her mother's house.
GETTING OUT OF TOWN
The Princes also own a home on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. On Saturday nights, they usually head to the resort town where there are a large selection of restaurants and entertainment. Low's is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
At one point, they thought about moving their business to Memphis and even hired an architect to look at a couple of buildings they were interested in buying.
"In the end, we figured out if we move to Memphis, we lose the Little Rock business. If we move to Little Rock, we lose the Memphis business," she says.
There aren't a lot of dining options in Brinkley and when she is asked, she recommends visitors try the Cottagemall and Cafe just down the street.
Beth Taylor, owner of the cafe, worked at the Great Southern Hotel from 1984-85 when it housed the restaurant and bed and breakfast. It was there that Taylor learned how to run a restaurant.
"Brinkley would be lost without Low's Bridal. It is by far the biggest drawing card we have. When I started my little cafe 16 years ago, Yelp, Tripadvisor and Google Maps were not in existence, or if they were, they were highly underutilized. Dorcas and Stan were some of my first regular diners, locals who came to eat on a daily basis," Taylor says.
"They were honest with me about what was important and gave me their input on my dishes when I asked. But more than that, they recommended my cafe to their brides. As you know, brides come from all over to 'say yes to the dress' and are always astounded that such a treasure as Low's is in our little Delta town. Without their referrals, I doubt very much that I would be in business today. They also do business with us by allowing us to cater their employee meals each week as well as their Christmas event. Low's Bridal is our unsung hero here in Brinkley.
"Personally, I admire Dorcas for so many things. She is such a lady. Strong, hardworking and very stylish. She is my mentor in so many ways," Taylor says.
Brinkley, Arkansas -- bridal gown destination of the South. It always astonishes Prince.
She has friends in New York who own a large bridal store and called her to ask what she was doing to get her shop ready to open during the covid-19 pandemic.
"We talked about all of the different things we were putting in and what they thought about doing. We talked for over an hour and a half. It was a very interesting conversation. I was like 'Why is somebody from New York City calling Brinkley, Arkansas?'" she says.