Dallas, Texas

A LODGE IN

RANCH COUNTRY

It’s been billed as an art museum with shopping, the NorthPark Centre in Dallas, Texas. Even offered as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Retail World.”

For Rodd & Gunn CEO, Mike Beagley, the August opening of a Rodd & Gunn Lodge in the esteemed complex represents the culmination of two years’ work for the team, one that’s required patience and persistence fuelled by well-qualified promise.

“The team started working on the NorthPark site in 2016 and we are finally opening in August 2018,” says Beagley. “You can put that down to demand. It’s probably the highest performing retail facility in Dallas, if not the whole of Texas.”

Rodd & Gunn has useful data on the area. Its long and valued partnership with Nordstrom, an anchor retailer in the famous premise, delivers R&G’s second best performance in the United States.

“It’s a fantastic mall presenting a retail experience of rarely matched elegance,” says Beagley. “The place is as respected for its artwork, floral arrangements and gardens as it is for the quality of its trade offering.”

Location wise, the NorthPark Centre is equally hard to fault.

An expansive freeway system provides stress-free access to a broad community. For Rodd & Gunn this is a lot of the attraction. It’s the opposite of a hyper-local environment where a retailer may have to cater to a very specific demographic’s taste. Providing the operator maintains a seasonally relevant approach the opportunity to range extensively can be capitalised on with minimal risk.

When an outsider considers Texas, he or she probably thinks of oil country. In reality, the Lone Star State is impressively diverse. Technology is serious business in Texas, as is its fast-growing healthcare industry. Yes, the State is affluent, which is vital to highend retail, yet it still feels grounded with strong family values and a sense of community.