Blog

Mike and Tabitha. Photo by Nelly Saraiva.

Planning a wedding is (hopefully!) a once-in-a-lifetime event that can be both thrilling and stressful. During this emotional time, it’s easy to be victimized by false or misleading advertising, so in an effort to help you sort through some of the misleading claims out there, we’re going to break down the most important details about selecting your wedding’s formal wear.

Formalwear Selection
Brides like to have choices, no doubt, so often they explore chain stores first, under the erroneous impression that bigger companies will offer a wider array of products. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The logistical challenges of supplying chain stores from coast to coast force them to homogenize their inventory and offer fewer choices. Independent stores like Main Street Formals have the flexibility to offer all the standard styles the bigs guys offer—plus an exciting array of styles to which franchises don’t have access. What if the style or color you want doesn’t exist? Main Street Formals can custom-make it.

Uncle Charlie’s nephew from Roswell.

Convenience of Experience
Chain stores often boast of having hundreds of locations across the country to make fitting your groomsmen more convenient. In truth, all tuxedo shops easily and routinely accommodate out-of-town groomsmen. These men simply request a courtesy fitting at any shop in their home state and then send the measurements to us. In fact, in all of these cases, independent stores like Main Street Formals have the advantage. Why? Because courtesy fittings are notoriously inaccurate, and so when/if the tuxes don’t fit, we have a team of talented seamstresses who can correct them on the spot. Even more important, we carry inventory on site, so when things can’t be tailored (for instance, if shoes don’t fit), we can simply grab another pair. National chain stores cannot do this because individual locations keep almost no inventory on site.

Old-World Service
When it’s all said and done, most tuxedo shops can all get all the same (or similar) styles. So, why do two men wearing the exact same suit look so different? It’s the fit. This is the most important component of a tuxedo rental, and yet it’s often the most overlooked. In short, the fit is EVERYTHING. Main Street Formals is the only formalwear shop in the region that offers full-time professional on-site tailoring. We alter suits, street clothes, uniforms, even bridal wear. Do you think a bride would trust a national men’s store with her bridal gown?

You can often buy outfits like this for close to the cost of what you pay to rent at the Big Box.

Affordable Prices
Many people think that chain stores will be cheaper. If you’re shopping for paper towels, maybe. Tuxedos, no. Indeed, chain stores will advertise low prices. But after they sink their hooks into you, you’ll find those low introductory prices are accompanied by countless hidden fees that transform your vision of a $69 bargain tux into $269. Beware the shell games.

Value-Added Specials
We all offer free rentals for qualifying grooms. But what makes Main Street Formals’ free rental different? Well, its…free. Yes, it sounds nuts, but with many competitors, “free rentals” are often not free. By the time you’ve added things like shoes, vests, insurance, you can pay up to $30-$70 for a FREE rental. We work to build a relationship with our customers, and most of our business comes from referrals. We’d lose that if we broke trust by tricking them. We can tell you for certain that we offer, bar none, the best specials in the region. Don’t miss out on any; call us today at (508) 995-0200 to learn which specials apply to you.