Teen who drove more than six hours for £580 prom dress given it for free by shop owner

A teenager who drove more than six hours for her perfect prom dress was shocked to find out that the shop owner decided to give it away for free.

Elyse Monroe made the remarkable trek to North Carolina to visit Juicy Body Goddess, a plus-size only boutique.

There, she was greeted by owner Summer Lucille, who posted a video of Elyse trying on the dresses on TikTok.

Speaking to People, Summer said that Elyse was quite 'nervous and shy' when she walked into the store.

Summer then helped the teen pick out the perfect dress for her, with her mum, two aunts and grandmother watching on having very strong opinions about what she should pick.

The family were also very sure that they would stick to a $400 budget for the dress, with Summer's store manager saying that the kind of dresses that the teen was interested in would be more expensive than that.

But how did the owner respond? Well, she said: "It'll work itself out."

Summer also recalls saying: "They drove six hours. Don't worry about the budget, we'll figure it out."

But as it usually does, the topic of money kept coming up, with the family wondering how they would be able to afford the dress the student wants.

"At that moment, I knew that was the universe telling me, just give her the dress," Summer said.

"That follower was just an angel just reminding me that just you have to give."

TikTok/ @juicybodygoddess

She added: "I went in and the mom and the aunties kept asking, 'How much is this dress?'

"I said, 'Well, we'll worry about the price when we get to the register'."

A video of the whole day's events went viral on TikTok, with nearly 14 million views and 2 million likes on the video platform.

In the video, Elyse tries on three different proms dresses and there was certainly one that was the student's favourite.

"When she got into that purple dress, she lit up," Summer said.

"I couldn't let her walk out of that store without that dress."

Summer rushed to the till with the dress, with the family then in utter shock that the dress would set them back $700 (£580).

But as seen in the TikTok, they were even more surprised when the owner told them they were giving it them for free.

TikTok/ @juicybodygoddess

The family's joy was unmatched, with the emotional teen saying: "I'm going to cry."

Meanwhile, the rest of the customers inside the store staring cheering - "It was a beautiful, beautiful moment," Summer said.

Topics: Fashion

Callum Jones