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Shopping For many people, ‘Dallas’ means ‘shopping’. The city’s motto, after all, is ‘if it can’t be found in Dallas, it can’t be found anywhere’. This is where Nieman Marcus, 1618 Main Street, began its fashion business in 1907, as an ‘exclusive woman’s ready-to-wear store’. Today, all manner of big names have gravitated around it, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Rodier Paris, Tiffany & Co and Lord & Taylor. The huge department store chain, JC Penney, also originated in Dallas. Not content with numerous huge malls and shopping centres containing all kinds of individual and chain shops, there is now the Dallas Market Center, just to the northwest of the Downtown area, either side of the Stemmons Freeway (I-35). On completion, it was the biggest wholesale trade complex in the world, with its eight different buildings turning over US$7.5 billion in annual retail sales. Other malls to spend some ‘retail-therapy’ time in are Galleria, modelled on Milan’s Vittorio Emanuelle and even housing an ice rink, at the north side crossroads of the Dallas North Tollway and the beltway I-635, and Highland Park Village, with its Spanish-inspired design. Others to look out for near the Downtown area are Crescent, Inwood Village and Snyder Plaza. At DFW airport, there is the enormous Grapevine Mills. The malls are usually open daily, around 1000-2100, although shorter Sunday hours (1200-1800) can apply. These huge malls are, of course, packed full of restaurants, fast food outlets, entertainments and coffee shops. On a more human-scale approach to shopping, there are antiques and crafts shops scattered throughout the Downtown, as well as specifically along McKinney Avenue and the West End Market Place, which are also good places for general browsing. There is a large Farmer’s Market, just west of Downtown, at South Harwood Street and Marilla Street, which is open daily 0700-1800. Given Texas’ ‘Wild West’ image, anything to do with cowboys, rodeos and cattle ranching is a typical local gift. Otherwise, the latter day image of the town is big business, especially oil. The two come together in the abiding icon of South Forks Ranch and its infamous resident, JR. Sales tax is 8.24% and Texas Tax Back, 326 North Park Center (tel: (214) 361 5877; fax: (214) 361 7422), provides information on how tourists can claim tax back. |
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