Local Business is Gold Standard at Prom Time

Tucked away on Pasqualone Boulevard for 40 years in a fairly non-descript two-story brick building is what Jon Liney proudly touts as the biggest prom dress retailer in the country.

But the president of says it's more than that.

“It's a constant joyful experience,” he said. “Face it; this is commerce, and we're businesspeople. But in the end it's really this positive thing.”

“There are few times nowadays that we get to feel good and get dressed up and go out, and these girls really love the whole process of it,” he said. “When they leave the store, nine times out of 10 they have a sense of joy … and for us, that's a great thing.

Golden Asp originally opened in 1969 on Route 13. But the next year it moved to its current location at 2438 Pasqualone Blvd. It always has been a family business, with Liney and his wife, Daphne Hardin, taking over about 12 years ago.

But prom dresses weren't always its exclusive ware.

“It was only a small part of the business. It just evolved into a prom dress-only business,” Liney said, while describing the original incarnation as a “hippy shop” that featured jeans and “funky outfits.”

“This was before The Gap,” said the 40 year old. “Mothers who shop here now say it was the only place you could find jeans back in the day.”

The store stopped selling sportswear in the early 1990s and soon wedding dresses faded from the inventory and then bridesmaid dresses were gone around 2007.

“Part of it was forced by the fact that bridesmaid dresses had gone online mostly,” Liney said. “We were good at that but we were great at selling prom dresses.”

And proms, Liney said, have become “much much bigger than ever … perhaps because of the celebrity culture.”

But how does one relatively small store in Bensalem get so successful?

“We do advertise heavily and we have a prominent place on the Web. We've done TV, direct mail, we'll try just about anything. We're very aggressive with advertising,” he said. “And we deliver what I think is the best customer service around. … A lot of places say that but it's just lip service.”

Liney says his staff is trained “extensively” and they do everything they can to make the shoppers

“as comfortable as possible.”

“Customers can stay all day and come back tomorrow if they want to,” he added.

The pure bulk of the inventory can't be understated, as the 5,000-square-foot facility has more than one dress per every one of those square feet, according to Liney.

“We have the largest selection in this region,” he said.

And included in the 3,000 square feet of store – the rest is used for storage – are 33 dressing rooms.

“So, it's rare someone has to wait,” he said.

And a customer who buys her junior prom dress one year won't see that dress when she returns for her senior prom.

“We donate our remaining inventory at the end of each year to Fox Chase Cancer Center's retail outlet,” said Liney. “So, everything each year is brand new.”

Liney and his wife travel extensively -- last year they were in Paris -- to find new and often exclusive designs.

“We find unique things you won't find anywhere else,” he said. “About 1,000 of our dresses you won't find anywhere in this area because they are specifically produced for us. And at least (another) 200 to 300 fit that bill because no one works with those vendors.”

The bulk of the dresses range in price from $300 to $500, he said.

The “big season” for the store is January to May. Golden Asp is closed in July and August, and reopens each year with a big sale.

“It's 50 percent off or $99 a dress,” Liney said.

So what about the name? Why was the one-time hippy boutique of the 1970s named Golden Asp?

“The story of Cleopatra was big at that time, and the name fit in with whole hippy theme of the store,” Liney said. “The golden asp was the snake that Cleopatra used to kill herself. It has no relationship to prom dresses but the name stuck.”

Ironically, Liney – who grew up in Bensalem and attended Holy Ghost Prep – is no fan of snakes.

“I see a picture of a snake in a book and I instantly have a reflex and lift my feet off the ground,” he said with a laugh.