High school proms are lucrative events for all but students

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 22, 2003 by Alexandra Polier Associated Press

WESTPORT, Conn. -- Raquel Lucas is spending a small fortune on her senior prom.

Her dress cost $250; her shoes were $100; and there was $60 for a bottle of Christian Dior's J'adore, her favorite perfume. A trip to the beauty salon will cost $70, the limo is $50 a person and it will cost $90 just to get in the door.

Lucas, 18, who attends Staples High School in Westport, expects to pay more than $700 by the time the evening is over.

"It's totally worth it!" said Lucas, who got a part-time job at a clothing store to help pay for the June 6 event. "How can you put a price tag on a lifetime of memories?"

Proms are a huge business, estimated to bring in $2.7 billion in revenue for purveyors of dresses, shoes, lingerie, cameras, film, beauty supplies and salon services. Teens also rent limousines and hotel rooms and plan after-prom parties.

Almost 20 million students will attend proms this year, with the average 17-year-old spending $638, or more than $1,200 per couple, according to research by Conde Nast, which publishes Your Prom and Modern Bride magazine.

"It's definitely become a reliable, growing industry," said Wendy Liebmann, a retail analyst at WSL Strategic Retail. "And right now, it's booming."

Retailers are pouring millions of dollars into prom advertising. Magazines such as Your Prom, Seventeen magazine's prom issue, and YM magazine's special prom book attract millions of readers.

"The prom is recession-proof," said Antonia van der Meer, editor in chief of Your Prom, which is published every January. "Even with the war on terror and the war in Iraq, people go to the prom. It's a feel-good event, and right now people need to feel good."

Your Prom says that of its 5.2 million readers, 55 percent have part-time jobs, earning an average $4,651 a year. Overall, teens spent $172 billion in 2001, with nearly half going toward clothing, jewelry and beauty products, according to Conde Nast research.

Van der Meer, the Your Prom editor, said many teens get a life lesson from shopping for their proms.

"They learn -- in this microworld of prom -- what things cost and how to budget," she said. "Whether you have a prom girl who has a lot of money to spend or a little, they're going to have to budget."

Department stores are often a destination when teens shop for prom dresses, but small businesses are also beneficiaries. Teens spend $416 million a year for limousines, and $172 million on flowers, Conde Nast found.

Robert Rivera, of Continental Limo service in Westport, who will be driving many of Lucas's classmates to their prom, said he makes about $40,000, or about 15 percent of his annual sales, during the prom season, which runs from late April through June.

"Every limo company looks forward to prom," he said.