Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio — Local services in Ripley

Hello! I'm Brianna, and I'm from Hernando High School my Junior year of high school I wanted to be involved in school events as much as I could so l decided to be apart of Hernando High school annual Beauty Review I had no clue where I would go and find a not only beautiful but affordable gown from. I came across Merle Norman on my instagram feed and instantly told my mom we had to go look at their dresses. Driving for almost an hour and a half as soon as I arrived I got greeted by the most amazing and uplifting team of individuals ready to help me find a perfect gown that I would just fall in love with. Being that they were slammed packed when I got there they made sure everyone was accommodated and no one felt like they were being singled out or not helped with. Upon sizing and things of that nature the lady that helped me find my dress (Shelbi) asked was I just looking for a pageant dress or did I have anything else coming up that I needed a dress for I told her that I did also have a prom coming up but I wasn’t really searching for a dress just then since the pageant was way sooner. She replied, “okay girl we gotcha”. I had an instant relief. After Passing me dress after another in the dressing room walking out into the big mirror hearing my mom and all the other moms yell that looks so good on you I not only walked out with a pageant dress that I ended up winning MOST PHOTOGENIC & 1st Runner Up, but also my dream prom dress I was super excited. Make sure you all go check out this amazing dress store in Ripley Ms these people...

Recently I rented a dress for Little MS Hospitality. I want to first say the young ladies in the store were extremely friendly and helpful so I certainly don’t want to give them a bad rap. During this pageant, it was a total of 41 young ladies in the little Mrs. and they range from a 6 to probably 10 or so of course it was a little stressful and my seven year olds dress got stepped on down on the hem and ripped. I assumed I would have to pay something to get it fixed maybe $50 or $60 or that maybe I would have to pay nothing since it was an accident and I had already paid them over $300. I was told when I returned it after I immediately show them what it happened that it cost in approximately $200 to get this fixed and that I could pay the $200 or I could pay $300 and it would be my dress. I opted to buy the dress for the $300 and immediately started contacting other Rental people I knew to see if they knew someone to fix it. I had three offers one said $60 to fix it. 1 said she could fix it for about $20 and a friend said although she’s not a seamstress she felt she could fix it for free. I realize the dress was torn but I don’t believe they should’ve charged me $200 when they could’ve easily gotten it fixed for less. I rented a dress from them I purchased earrings from them. I purchased shoes from them and I purchased a blouse for myself so I don’t think they were exactly gonna lose money on me and I think they would’ve gotten lots more positive feedback if they had...

Overall I was disappointed. I would like to say they have a very large variety of dresses, but there is no way of knowing because customers aren’t actually able to look through the dresses or pick them out. When you enter for your appointment you must sign a contract stating you will only be in the store for an hour. As someone who doesn’t know what kind of dress looks good on them, that is simply not enough time. The seating area for the mom/guest is less than ideal. Parents/guest must sit there while the customer walks out on the “stage” to show their family/friend the dress they are trying on. With that being said, the parent has no idea how much a dress cost until after the person has already tried it on. As stated before, only employees are allowed to look at the dress options and pull them for customers. With this policy, I wasn’t given anything that I liked. I tried on around 8-9 dresses and hated every one of them. The staff is also extremely pushy about encouraging you to buy a dress even if you say you don’t like it and even if it looks hideous on you. Also, you are not allowed to take pictures of any dress you try on unless you are for sure buying it. This can be pretty annoying for multiple reasons. As I said, you are only allowed around an hour for an appointment. After I had been there close to an hour without finding a dress I even came close to liking, I felt that I was rudely rushed out. I would not recommend this...