Local prom dress shop owner goes the extra mile to help a former customer get back on her feet by opening Quinceanera dress shop in Statesboro

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - When you walk into a shop searching for a dress for any special occasion there’s nothing better than having someone special experiencing it with you.

For Cynthia Martinez, it was her mother.

“We were looking for a dress, my mom was a single parent so we struggled, and at first, I didn’t want a Quinceanera I understood that my mom didn’t have one and I had the opportunity to have one and I know she really, I was her only daughter and I had to make that happen for her. It was a big ordeal. My mom liked to say the phrase we are like oil and water como el agua el aceiete,” said Cynthia Martinez.

Martinez recalls her dress experience as chaotic before finding dress shop owner Maria Proctor.

“Miss Maria would step in and help sort us out so we wouldn’t walk out the door.”

After finding the perfect dress Martinez describes her Quinceanera as magical.

“I happen to have a fixation for Disney princesses and Cinderella happened to be one of the contenders we ended up going with the Cinderella theme once moms ideas, Maria’s ideas , Dolce’s ideas worked out.”

But what made the night truly special wasn’t what she was wearing…but who she spent it with

“The most important part was having that moment with my mom.”

A memory she now clings even tighter to, as just a few months later her mom passed away from a tragic accident leaving Cynthia in a dark place.

And that’s where Miss Maria stepped in.

“She kinda laid low for a little bit and when she was old enough to come to start working at the shop she came and started working part-time at the shop.”

And what turned into a part-time gig resulted in co-owning her own Quinceanera dress shop.

“She kept telling me I need a quince shop we need a quince shop and that evolved to the quince of your dreams,” said Maria Proctor, the owner of a prom dress shop in Statesboro.

A dream she knows wouldn’t have been possible if not for Miss Maria

“I would like to say to Miss Maria for taking the time and that piece of her heart that she gave to me. And she encouraged me along the way. I don’t know if she knows it but I was struggling for a bit,” said Cynthia.

And with time, Martinez says she is healing with each customer she helps.

“As I worked at the store with her seeing Quinceanera’s come in all the time I loved getting to see those moments with mother and daughter having a great experience.”

Copyright 2023 WTOC. All rights reserved.