The Dallas Market Center has always been different from other wholesale marketplaces around the country. While many of them focus on just one merchandise category – furniture or gifts or apparel – we’ve built a complex that cuts across virtually all of the fashion and home furnishings universe in a way no other market center duplicates.
That was always the plan when my predecessors running DMC first opened our doors more than 50 years ago and it’s continued to today with more than five million square feet of showroom and exhibition space and literally thousands of exhibitors, both permanent and temporary.
So, what does that mean for you, the market attendee or exhibitor? The reality today is that we see buyers shopping multiple categories every day. One of the more prevalent examples is the crossover buying between gift and apparel stores and how many gift companies have migrated into the apparel business. Having the depth of product in both categories has made DMC a must-see destination.
And now, take it a step further with the hottest trend in apparel today – western. Nowhere else in the country can retailers shop western the way they can here in Dallas.
We saw the same cross-shopping trend in the gift and home categories here in September. We have all read about the softness of the home business, but we overlapped our September gift show with Design Days and the Archlight Summit, our contract and specifier lighting show.
Our buildings were truly buzzing: Home builders here to attend Archlight and Designer Days as well as designers here for events focused on tabletop, which is a growing category for them and one they can find in Dallas vs other home furnishings markets. Not to mention, gift retailers here for last minutes fill-in orders.
It's the kind of cross-category, integrated shopping experience that nobody else can come close to duplicating. We’ve got more of the same coming for 2025, just stay tuned to see what we have in store for you next year. They say everything is bigger in Dallas, but I like to think everything is better here too.
Cindy Morris,
CEO, Dallas Market Center
