Nestled in the heart of Westford center, a new fashion hotspot has landed in the Art on Main building. The Fashion Truck on Main is the talk of the town among many teenage girls across town.
Westford Academy alumni, Emily Benson, started the Fashion Truck business in the streets of Boston selling clothes and accessories for a modern look. This accomplishment came after she graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in design and worked at a number of prestigious fashion companies before starting her own business.
The new boutique recently launched a new prom section to add another destination for formal wear shopping. Posh Prom is the name of the store and helped Benson pursue her dream of owning her own business in Westford, the town she grew up in.
“I felt that in a town like Westford there’s enough people here and it’s central to other towns that it’s a good location for my prom store,” said Benson.
Benson created this idea to provide girls with an opportunity to get a great dress but not having to pay hundreds of dollars for one at other local stores. Dresses at Posh Prom are all 100 dollars or below, unless a truly spectacular dress comes into the store.
“I think Westford needs this,” said Benson. “There isn’t another store closeby that sells prom dresses for an affordable price.”
During the prom season, the store will mostly be focused on the Posh Prom side of the business. It is a secondhand model, so girls bring in their old dresses to be sold. Benson tries to accept the most unique and beautiful dresses for her clients.
“We’re looking for dresses with sparkle, I think girls are really into sparkle, as well as color. Color’s been very important this year,” said Benson.
Customers are able to bring their old dresses into the store where they are displayed for sale. Once the dresses are sold, they have the option of receiving 40% of the sale price back in cash or 50% of the sale price in store credit. Right now, Benson has over 80 dresses for customers to try on in the store.
“Girls have really started to come in and look at dresses and try them on. We’re always accepting new dresses, so they can come back to find a new dress if they don’t see what they’re looking for that day,” Benson said.
Looking ahead, Benson is unsure of what is in store for her business. She plans to continue with the Fashion Truck and based on the success of Posh Prom, she will decide if it’s something she will continue.
“What I’d love to do is have every year from January to June have this prom pop-up and then for the second half of the year do some sort of gift shop, like a monogram shop or handmade gifts, more geared for holiday shopping,” she said.
The Fashion Truck on Main and Posh Prom are located at 40 Main Street diagonally across from the post office in the center of town. Doors are open 6 days a week and hours can be found in the store window or on Fashion Truck website.
