The 24 Most Beautiful Independent Stores in Dallas
Small Business, Big Style
BY Caitlin Clark // 07.26.24In terms of retail, if you dream it, Dallas probably has it. But despite the city’s prowess for attracting big brands, small businesses have long been instrumental in shaping the culture and DNA of our many neighborhoods. Whether they serve up rare labels, exquisite home décor, or thoughtful gifts, these passion projects are crafted with care that’s reflected across their inventories and interiors. To enter one of Dallas’ most beautiful shops is to experience everything it stands for.
The Dallas shopping scene is always evolving, but we’ve done our best to narrow down the 23 most stunning independent shopping destinations in Dallas.
(Note: to keep the focus on small, boutique-y, and more under-the-radar shops, we’ve left out Dallas heavy hitters, like Forty Five Ten, as well as department stores such as Stanley Korshak, Neiman Marcus, and Tootsies.)
1. Blue Print Store
Uptown
2707 Fairmount Street
Dallas, TX 75201 | Map
We’ve been Blue Print die-hards since 2010, when five interior designers and friends renovated a 1925 home to open the shop of our home decor dreams on a quiet street in Uptown. Beyond its topiary-flanked blue front doors, the store serves as a showcase for Blue Print’s English and French antiques, midcentury modern furnishings, custom upholstery, gifts, and jewelry.
After the owners’ acumen for curating modern art became clear, they opened Blue Print Gallery next door (in another renovated charmer) to house even more of it.
In fall 2022, Dallas retail veteran Merry Vose added a third boutique, Clover, to her West Lovers Lane empire of sunny shops that start with “C.” First, there was Cabana, which opened its lavender doors on West Lovers Lane in 2008 after operating out of Vose’s Devonshire pool house, followed shortly by Canary, the sophisticated elder sister. Clover caters to the teen and young adult set with its well-edited selection of contemporary brands.
Vose’s eye for emerging and under-the-radar designers remains a unique draw (in a city like Dallas, you can get your label fix elsewhere), but it’s each shop’s distinct aesthetic that makes them so fun to visit.
Every location of Centre, Dallas’ answer to New York City’s Kith, has its own vibe. There’s the clean-lined original on Mockingbird Station, which helped bring streetwear culture to the city when it opened in 2007, and the Jordans-filled jewel box along Fort Worth’s funky Magnolia Avenue. Centre’s third — and its largest — store Bishop Arts was designed to evoke a clubhouse feel, offering an airy spot to shop Nike, Saucony, Cotton Citizen, and Les Tien as well as Centre’s own growing line of sportwear.
4. Coco & Dash
Knox-Henderson
2819 N Henderson Avenue
Dallas, TX 75206 | Map
Mother-daughter design duo Teddie and Courtney Garrigan opened their den of chic in 2014, offering a thoughtful mix of classic, modern, and quirky furnishings. Only at Coco & Dash can you find French and Italian antiques alongside clean-lined custom lamps in every color of the Benjamin Moore rainbow.
5. The Conservatory
Park Cities
100 Highland Park Village, Suite 205
Dallas, TX 75205 | Map
If something cool is what you seek, you can almost always find it at The Conservatory. With well-defined sections for wellness, beauty, home, fashion, and men, Brian Bolke’s lofted store in Highland Park Village is as gorgeous to visit as it is easy to shop. To help fuel your retail endeavors, sure to grab a bite at the in-store Teak Room café (we recommend the off-menu “Brian Bowl” chopped salad).
6. Commerce Goods + Supply
Downtown
1321 Commerce Street
Dallas, TX 75202 | Map
It is a downtown Dallas hotel shop, so there’s a smattering of bath products and travel essentials (albeit very chic versions of those things), but locals can appreciate Commerce’s selection of hard-to-find brands, delicate jewelry, Stetson hats, and effortlessly giftable goodness wrapped up in a Swoon, The Studio’s modern western interiors.
7. DLM Supply Co.
Oak Cliff
837 W Davis Street
Dallas, TX 75208 | Map
Opened in 2017 by former Nordstrom menswear buyer Deavon Moore, DLM Supply initially began as a men’s store but evolved to become a destination for gifts, home accessories, shoes, and clothing for all genders and ages (even pets). The Oak Cliff shop may not be as easily defined these days, but simply put: if it’s a great brand, you can probably find it at DLM.
8. Elements
Park Cities
4400 Lovers Lane
Dallas, TX 75225 | Map
A Dallas retail institution since 1999, Elements has long put the spotlight on emerging designers. (There’s a reason so many international brands host Dallas pop-ups exclusively at Elements.) An expert mix of apparel, shoes, handbags, jewelry, and home decor means there’s always something new to discover.
9. Ellis Hill
Park Cities
5029 W Lovers Lane
Dallas, TX 75209 | Map
The preeminent monogram shop of Dallas (and in Texas, that’s saying something), Ellis Hill stocks a stylish assortment of gifts, home goods, stationery, and party-ready accessories all primed for a personal touch by co-owners Margretta Wikert and Kerri Davis.
10. Favor the Kind
Lower Greenville
024 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, TX 75206 | Map
The gifting demographics are vast at Favor the Kind. You can shop whimsical party goods, find a chic housewarming gift, and leave with something cool for your boyfriend. Also, the baby/kid section has an unparalleled level of cuteness. After 17 years, owner Carley Seale’s trendy mix of apparel and homewares headed to Lower Greenville (in the former San Francisco Rose) with double the space but the same impeccable vibes.
Though Flea Style, Brittany Cobb’s artisan market turned lifestyle empire, now has four locations across North Texas (and a specialty shop in Hotel Drover), the original Deep Ellum compound is the polished, bohemian brand at its grandest. It’s all the maximalist perfection of a Texas-ified Anthropologie, with a thoughtful small business bent.
12. Go Easy Shop
Bishop Arts
250 N Bishop Ave #150
Dallas, TX 75208 | Map
Bold, vibrant, and unabashedly girly, Go Easy’s interiors are a reflection of founder Molly Mathias’ retail focus: CBD joints, pipes, sex toys, and more culled with women’s mental health in mind.
13. Grange Hall
Knox-Henderson
4445 Travis Street
Dallas, TX 75205 | Map
Equal parts flower shop, boutique, and very good café, Grange Hall is a jack and master of all trades with magnificent floral arrangements, beautiful (if unusual) discoveries, intoxicating incense, and a caviar-topped “Snob Sandwich” that’s as hoity-toity as it is divine.
14. Hadleigh’s
Park Cities
74 Highland Park Village Dallas, Texas
Dallas, TX 75205 | Map
In 2009, Gable and Ed Shaikh moved the business out of their Kessler Park home and into a second-floor atelier of Highland Park Village. Over the years, that space has expanded to the street level to showcase its bespoke men’s and women’s apparel and Hadleigh’s iconic Italian smoking slipper. Inside, cool Terrazzo cobalt floors and blue cashmere chairs evoke the brand’s signature azure.
15. Hey Koneko
Downtown
3901 Main St #140
Dallas, TX 75226 | Map
The retail offshoot of Konēko’s piercing and tattoo shop is a wealth of vintage treasures (for the home or closet) and a perfect place to while away the hours among good vibes and plenty of house plants.
16. Kat + Noelle
Park Cities
5710 W Lovers Ln Suite 102
Dallas, TX 75209 | Map
Named in honor of the owner Shannon Jud’s two daughters, Kat + Noelle carries a thoughtfully curated selection of apparel, shoes, and home goods by brands you won’t often see in Dallas, like cowboy boots by Toral and Columbian womenswear label Atelier 1756. To sweeten the pot, the Lovers Lane boutique is as chic as its elevated collection.
17. The Koch House
Uptown
2600 Fairmount Street
Dallas, TX 75201 | Map
Founder Nicole Musselman projects a sunshiny sentiment that informs not only Koch’s block-printed T-shirts and flirty smocked skorts (easily identifiable among the Park Cities set as “The Erica”), but every square inch of the light-filled 1920s bungalow-turned-storefront reimagined by Dallas interior designer Jean Liu.
18. Madison 214
Park Cities
114 Express Street
Dallas, TX 75207 | Map
Once packed to the gills with baubles and gifts, Madison 214 moved from a tiny jewel box of a store in Highland Park Village to a sprawling new Design District space in the summer of 2024. Opened in 2003 by sisters Kelli Ford and Kirsten Fitzgibbons, the Dallas store has been a stalwart local source for high-end gifts and elegant home decor. At the new freshly painted 8,000-square-foot location, their expansive selection of luxury goods is able to stretch its legs.
The fashionable Highland Park Village boutique, owned by the shopping center’s co-owner Elisa Summers, doubles as an incubator for emerging brands and a closet away from home for smart Dallas dressers. A subdued but elegant interior led by Welch Hall architects allows Market to be transformed by its ever-evolving, cutting-edge merchandise.
Designer Nicole Kwon has an eye for what works and a knack for bringing in under-the-radar, cool girl brands like Paloma Wool and R.G. Kane (along with her own private label made in Korea). In 2019, Kwon upgraded from a thimble-sized spot in West Village to a spacious corner in the same Uptown development.
This year, Kwon introduced a menswear companion next door to her West Village flagship, operating both boutiques under “The NKC Store” umbrella.
“I’ve had a lot of existing clients searching for menswear over the years,” Kwon shares with PaperCity. “Some of our in-house pieces are unisex and we’ve had male shoppers because of this, but a lot of men in recent years have been requesting that we carry more menswear, and specifically cool streetwear and workwear for men.”
21. Society by Jackson Vaughn
Bishop Arts Park Cities
403 N Bishop Avenue
Dallas, TX 75208 | Map
Finding your next great Society candle could take some time — husband-and-wife design team Pamela Jackson and Jeremiah V. Headrick currently stock 40 distinctive scents. Fortunately, they’ve also crafted moody, inspiring storefronts that are perfect for luxuriating (and sniffing) in.
22. SOHO McKinney
McKinney
115 E Virginia Street
McKinney, TX 75069 | Map
Designer Robin Cook‘s subterranean atelier in McKinney’s historic downtown square is an ode to Paris and effortless French girl dressing. Beyond her meticulously crafted clothing line of homespun linen, hand-knit cotton, and Japanese selvedge denim, SOHO McKinney is stocked to the brim with exquisite vintage finds and distinctive gifts.
23. Sneaker Politics
Deep Ellum
2822 Main Street
Dallas, TX 75226 | Map
Though the brand launched in Lafayette back in 2006, Sneaker Politics founder Derek Curry now calls the location of its Dallas storefront, Deep Ellum, home. Inside the small but well-stocked space, nothing draws your eye away from the merchandise, but what is there — rustic wooden beams and a tiered glass chandelier — sets just the right luxe, laidback tone for sneakerheads adding to their collection.
24. Ylang 23
Oak Lawn
4252 Oak Lawn Avenue
Dallas, TX 75219 | Map
The airy, 3,200-square-foot flagship in The Shops of Highland Park is nearly twice the size of Ylang 23’s former Plaza at Preston Center outpost, allowing the Teichman family to reimagine the flow and feel of the store. They assembled a team included MAOarch Architecture, B. Russo Designs, and the case design expertise of Wield Creative. “We wanted to let the jewelry breathe,” says vice president of business development Alysa Teichman.