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LOCATION: 8829 E. W.T. Harris Blvd.

8829 E. W.T. Harris Blvd.

¡Feliz Quinceañera!

In the heart of Charlotte’s Latino community, Zoila Nuñez and her family sell a kaleidoscope’s worth of dresses

HUNDREDS OF QUINCEAÑERA DRESSES in every color of satin, tulle, and lace imaginable hang from shiny metal racks in the Novedades Yadira dress shop on East W.T. Harris Boulevard. They’re frothy, fairytale gowns t for a Disney princess, some with dazzling beadwork, others with swarms of intricate fabric butter ies sewn onto voluminous skirts.

The shop, and the Latino community it serves, were both much smaller when owner Zoila Nuñez started the business 17 years ago and named it a er her daughter Yadira. But as demand for gowns and other formalwear grew through the years, she expanded further into the L-shaped strip mall near the Albemarle Road intersection, a hub for Latino-owned businesses.

Novedades Yadira is now a family operation and destination for mothers and daughters throughout the Southeast who want to feel lace under their ngertips and hoop petticoats under their skirts. A quinceañera celebration is a rite of passage for Latina girls on their 15th birthdays that signi es their transition to womanhood. Online retailers abound in the quinceañera marketplace; a big shop with ready-towear gowns isn’t as common. “Girls come in, and they say they really want a red dress, but then they leave with teal,” says Carla Hernandez, one of Nuñez’s nieces, who works at the shop.

About half of the store’s sales come from quinceañera dresses, priced from $400 to more than $1,000. Baptismal gowns, rst communion dresses, and wedding attire ll the aisles, too. This year’s sales started strong, but families have postponed or cancelled celebrations since COVID-19 struck. The shop’s sta tries to compensate through long-term purchase plans that let customers space out their payments.

On a summer Saturday, customer Nicole Wiggins’ daughter slips into a dressing room and walks out in a skyblue confection of a gown—one of two dresses she’ll wear during her quinceañera next spring in a Monroe event hall. It’ll be a few months past her actual 15th birthday, but celebrating properly seems worth the wait. “I’m spending more on her quinceañera dresses,” Wiggins says with a laugh, “than I spent on my wedding gown.” —Cristina Bolling