SUPERIOR, Neb. — Brittany Kroeker remembers the only time she got a new dress for a school dance.
“People spent too much money on their dresses,” the 20-year-old recalled. “I paid $200 for one dress all throughout high school. The rest of them were all handed down to me from my cousin, who’s 6 foot, or I got them at the thrift store or garage sales.”
Knowing that paying hundreds of dollars for a dress for homecoming or prom could do everything from causing financial hardship to keeping a girl from going to one of the big events of the school year, Kroeker started Brittany’s Dress Closet two years ago in her hometown of Fairbury, Neb., in the former United Methodist Church.
After moving to Superior last spring, where she works as a technician for the local John Deere dealer, she hauled the dresses over and started a second location at Superior United Methodist Church, where she attends.
“Last spring when I moved here, I figured I’d see how good of a turnout I could get here to give me something to do, since I’m an hour away from home and don’t have anything else to do other than work,” she said. “I know there were girls that didn’t go because they couldn’t afford a dress, because you had to pay $150 for a dress — at least $100. But they can come here, shop for dresses. I don’t go back to high school, so obviously I can’t tell where they came from.”
Brittany’s Dress Closet offers dresses, shoes and jewelry for free.
“They can do whatever they want with the dresses when they get done,” she said.
Kroeker said her pay is the excited looks she sees on the high school girls faces when they find the right dress for homecoming.
“It makes me happy, because you know they’re not the kind of girl that’s going to go straight to Lincoln and pay $250 when they can come here,” she said. “No dress here is the same. You come in here and you know you’re not gonna see that same dress on anybody else, most likely, at the same dance.”
While the Fairbury location — where she’ll return Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 — has about 250 dresses, she can fit 150 in one of the classrooms of the Superior church.
“It did turn out a lot bigger than I thought it would,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d get such a good response out of it.”
She will return to each location in the spring during prom season.
Bonnie Brock, pastor of Superior UMC, said she loved Kroeker’s idea the minute it was presented to her.
“I told her to bring it before our administrative council, and they were very receptive to it,” Brock said. “I’m so excited she reached out here not just for us but for the surrounding communities close to us. What an exciting mission. She’s given a lot of herself to this.”
A rainbow of colors are arranged by size — anywhere from 0 to 24 — on racks inside the classroom, with dresses tried on in the church restrooms.
Brock said the closet succeeds in two areas: connecting to the community and putting empty church space to good use.
Lois Kroeker said she and her daughter are both thrift store addicts, especially when they visit relatives in the Kansas City area.
“We went to a Goodwill store when we were on vacation this year, and she found a handful of them for like three bucks apiece. They’re not huge, extravagant things, but they’re reasonable,” she said. “It’s been fun, and it is exciting to see the girls have a good time doing it. It’s not something that’s going to take a ton of time. We are fortunate, the church has room to leave dresses in.”
Brittany Kroeker said it was her father, Russ’s, idea for her to capitalize on her love of dresses and thrifting and offer the service.
“For whatever reason, I have the oddest obsession with going to the dress area,” she said.
Kroeker said she’ll pay as much as $20 for a used dress, with money coming from the cattle she raises on her parents’ farm.
“I know girls who have paid $600 at stores in Lincoln,” she said. “You go on Facebook Marketplace and look for prom dresses, and most of them are over $1,000. They have worn them once and basically want their money back for them.”
Donations, she said, can be dropped off at either Superior or Fairbury churches, and she can be contacted through the Brittany’s Dress Closet Facebook page.
Zoe Grove, a hairstylist in Superior, brought a teenage client whose parents were unable to shop for a dress for her this year.
“I think it’s awesome,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to bring beautiful dresses to a town where a lot of kids can’t go and get the hundreds of dollars of dresses, but here they are in our small town. I think it’s a blessing to the community.”
Contact David Burke at [email protected].