There are only a few occasions when someone needs to rent a tuxedo, and most of those special events — proms and weddings — were cancelled last year. For the stores that rent tuxedos and formal wear, that was financially crushing. But now, those shops are getting back in the business of making teenagers look presentable — for the first time, again.
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There weren’t too many patent leather shoes on the dance floor last year, or too many teenagers struggling to put on cufflinks for the first time.
“Last year was pretty much non-existent in our business,” says Pam Guedoura, owner of Tuxedos and Suits With Style, in Dover.
The three-decade old shop limped along, dressing a handful of groomsmen last summer before the second wave of COVID-19 arrived, largely ending formal events. But this spring, with cases down and vaccinations up, Guedoura is once again measuring, hemming and dressing customers.
“I went black on black, with a royal blue vest and tie,” says Andrew Diamant, a senior at Spaulding High School in Rochester, who stopped by Tuxedos With Style last week for a fitting. “I’m pretty excited for it. It looks really good.”
Spaulding, like lots of school districts, made a last minute decision to host an outdoor event.
“There’s like 170 of us going, which is pretty good,” says Diamant.
Along with the rush of hastily arranged proms, the summer wedding season is also shaping up to be busy for Guedoura, as nuptials cancelled last year look to finally cross the threshold.
“I’m hoping that it will be a good year,” she says. “Everything is looking up. It’s looking like we are coming back to life.”
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