Here’s an idea: the emergency prom dress.

Announce, one week or less before prom, that if they haven’t found a prom dress yet or if that guy FINALLY worked up the courage to ask…

Your shop is offering prom dresses at actual cost!

Why on earth?

Hey, those prom dresses are just gonna hang there, unloved, unworn and unsold, after Prom. Might as well clear them out now. And get some goodwill out of it.

And maybe even some good press:

TheIdealShop is donating, this week only, its profits on prom gowns for those young ladies who haven’t found the ideal dress yet.  Owner BoomBoom Baker says “I know how important the right outfit can be, and how hard it is sometimes to find the right dress at an affordable price. So for this last week, every single prom gown at TheIdealShop will be offered at actual cost, for just what we have to pay our consignors. I’ll be willing to forgo any profit on these last-minute purchases because the beaming smile of a teenager…and the relieved smile of her parent…is worth it to me!

But beware…

Keep this promo a total secret until the day you start it. Don’t even tell your staff.

Do NOT think or promote this as a “markdown”…you want the shop to be seen as the rescuer of the teen. “Donating every penny of profit… forgoing any profit… offered at actual cost”

“At cost” is much more appealing than “final markdown”…especially for something as romantic as a prom gown.

Plus, “final markdown” makes the remaining dresses seem like the dregs… not what a prom-goer wants!

And Be Prepared:

Make up some pretty, feminine special price tags ahead of time (I’m thinking, use your or a friend’s scrap-booking skills) ready to go on whatever date you announce this event.

You can afford to give up the profit on those dresses in their final week, IF you have ready and beautifully displayed, everything else that a prom goer needs: shoes, wraps, jewelry… and put some gentle effort into selling these. Just keep in mind that some of these shoppers will be cash-strapped while others are simply Last Minute Leslies or Indecisive Isabelles.

Don’t be surprised if consignors, reading this, call and offer to take less…or nothing… on gowns they have consigned.