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Dallas Retail Highlights
It's no coincidence that leading retail design firms such as Callison, Little and RYA have offices in Dallas. Retail is big business here. And for those in the business of creating retail environments, Dallas is a goldmine of inspiration.
With that in mind, we're continuing our series of yearly CHECK OUT retail guides for IRDC attendees. The goal is to point out a few stores, malls and shopping districts that are (a) reasonably close to the conference hotel and (b) worthy of your conference downtime.
We'll add a new hotspot or two each month between now and September, and post a printer-friendly PDF of the complete guide just prior to the conference. (If you’re an IRDC Insider, you’ll see ’em first in the E-Newsbrief.) Ready, idea-shoppers? Let’s start at the mall.
CHECK OUT Dallas Retail: A Guide for IRDC Attendees
There are many malls in Dallas, but only NorthPark Center boasts a world-class art collection, a ground-breaking children’s library (a gift of the mall’s owners and other donors), a 1.4-acre garden in its center, and celebrity-attended spring and fall runway shows. And a compluvium, an open-to-the-sky, glass-enclosed outdoor space near the food court. Oh, and five department stores anchoring 35+ eateries and more than 230 specialty stores.
Another must-see is Highland Park Village, acclaimed for its Spanish Mediterranean-inspired architecture and carefully edited mix of luxury brands, upscale independents and neighborhood amenities.
Like most other cities, Dallas has welcomed its share of mixed-use developments over the last decade—some more warmly than others.
While ultra-modern Victory Park, which includes a W hotel and an impressive public space at the entrance to American Airlines Center (home to the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars) struggles to fill both retail and residential units, the more approachable West Village development a mile north of downtown Dallas is thriving.
In a previous Hotspot segment, we looked at mixed-use development West Village and mentioned a fun and free way to get there—the McKinney Avenue Trolley system. These vintage streetcars make numerous stops along the route from the Dallas Arts District to West Village and back, and the area (known as Uptown) is populated with upscale independents worth a look.
In early May, we kicked off this year’s Retail Hotspot series with a look at NorthPark Center, the Dallas mega-mall designed in the 1960s to showcase developer and art enthusiast Raymond D. Nasher’s collection of 20th Century art.