A South Fulton dress shop is bringing pageant style to western Tennessee and has attracted customers – including the reigning Miss America – from across the nation to the small town.
Paige Dennis, the shop’s owner, began her career at Joann’s 39 years ago, when it was located on the other side of the nearby Kentucky state border.
Her mother started the business in Fulton and later moved it to Union City, Tennessee. Dennis purchased the shop after her mother retired to move it back to the Twin Cities.
Her resume isn’t a typical one. Dennis has starred in a Lifetime reality show, as well as in the Netflix Original program DeMarcus Family Rules. She is also involved in electoral politics, serving as a gubernatorial appointee on the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance and as a state representative for Tennessee on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Standards Board.
Dennis said she made the call to bring Joann’s back to the Twin Cities on the Kentucky-Tennessee border to help out her hometown.
“I made the decision to bring it back home, back to where I graduated high school, back to where I live right here in South Fulton to help increase our tax base, support the community and also work with others in my philanthropic projects to help make South Fulton and Fulton the place to be,” she said.
The Lions Club of Fulton called Joann’s “a great boost” to the community’s business district in a social media post earlier this year.
“Newly crowned Miss America Madison Marsh was outfitted at Joann's, flying in from Colorado to prepare for the competition. Seven Miss America contestants were dressed by Joann's this year,” the group wrote in the post. “Customers fly and drive in for fittings with Paige's guidance and then stay in Fulton, eating at local restaurants and shopping in local stores.”
Mark Welch, president of the Fulton-Hickman Counties Economic Development Partnership, said the dress shop has made a distinctive addition to the local economy.
“Paige Dennis has created a national reputation for exceptional quality and customer service,” Welch said. “We're so pleased that Joann's has changed our skyline with her beautiful new building and has created yet another reason for people to experience the unique charm of the Twin Cities."
Dennis said her custom-built shop – which she jokingly refers to as “the Taj Mahal of South Fulton” – takes inspiration from all the places she’s visited while incorporating the local flavor. The new Joann’s building – a sleek, elegant structure designed by a local architect – sits between old brick buildings and empty parking lots on a road that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee line.
Inside the two-story building, adorned with silver and gold accents and multiple chandeliers, are thousands of dresses.
“What we decided to do was build something that you would see anywhere but here, and I think that is the cool thing about it,” she said. “Some people say, ‘Your business sticks out like a sore thumb.’ That's just fine with me!”
The space has also been designed to incorporate space for a grand piano and an audio booth, so pageant contestants can be fitted for and try on dresses in between practicing their talents. Dennis has hosted nationally acclaimed pageant consultants, like Bill Wolfe – whose team has worked with 10 Miss Americas and seven first runners-up since 1990.
Making an economic impact in the local community – and getting community members involved – is one of Dennis’ goals for Joann’s. It’s not usual, Dennis said, to find a local high school student behind the counter in her shop, ringing up a locally made dress created by one of her locally employed designers.
“We have a custom warehouse that's just one block away with sewing machines,” she said. “Some of our suits are made by designers from Cuba and Venezuela who moved to this area – and they are buying homes, moving to the area and thinking about staying here for the rest of their lives, which is what we really wanted.”
Joann’s carries dresses made by other brands and other locally and artisanally made products, but Dennis hopes that, by getting Twin Cities residents involved, her shop can help add to the local economy on a grander scale. She said small businesses around South Fulton, like hers, are helping to restore the city and promote growth.
“Hopefully when people stay at The Meadows Hotel next door – which was the catalyst for redoing our community – at the same time they can look out over the park, come to our dress shop and go to the local coffee house,” she said. “It's almost like you're in a Hallmark movie.”
