The Bombay Shop

The Bombay Shop at NorthPark featured gifts from around the world, with an emphasis on engraved brassware from India. The cozy, kiosk-style store featured handmade items from diverse destinations such as Africa, Mexico, the Philippines and Italy. Owner George Peters described his shop as “a passport to good gift-giving.”

 

Canterbury Shop

Canterbury Shop was the go-to destination for stylish boys clothing. Offering a complete line of apparel for ages 4-19, the shop featured a wide variety of items from Levis to dress suits and even had its own alteration department. There was no better place to find James Bond jackets or Beatles-inspired suits.

 

The Carriage Shop

The NorthPark location of The Carriage Shop was the largest of three stores in Dallas. It specialized in women’s clothing and was designed to look like a converted carriage house with a beamed ceiling and areas made to look like stalls. The store had a distinctly early American feel, complete with antique tables, chairs and cabinets. It closed in 1991.

 

Doubleday

Before there was Barnes & Noble, Walden Books, or Amazon, there were Doubleday bookstores for discerning bibliophiles. The NorthPark location carried books by all publishers with a large selection of paperbacks displayed face out. Special to this location was an expanded young adult section to take advantage of the teen crowds at the shopping center. It closed in 1990.

 

Dreyfuss & Son

The first Dreyfuss & Son opened in downtown Dallas at the corner of Main and Murphy streets in 1911. The first suburban location was at NorthPark and, like the downtown location, catered to the “well-dressed conservative” man and woman. This store was notable for carrying the same inventory as the downtown store, a rarity for other suburban stores that were much smaller.

 

Linz

Linz, open from 1966-1999, featured a wide variety of the finest jewelry, china and silver.  Shoppers could view Lalique art glass or try on the finest watches by Rolex, Patek-Philipe and Girard Perregaux.  A notable feature of this elegant shop was an entrance gallery featuring a raised clock adorned with 24 carat gold and hands made of bronze.

 

Margo’s la Mode

Specializing in full fashion lines for women and children, Margo’s la Mode emphasized personal attention and building lasting relationships with customers.  The NorthPark store interior had a Mediterranean décor and included antiques such as jeweled majolica pedestals, Florentine candelabras, and hand wrought iron chandeliers from Spain. It closed in 1991.

 

Milton’s Clothing Cupboard

Milton’s started in 1948 as a men’s clothier in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  The store’s innovative and charismatic founder Milton Julian gave the many students in the area “insight on how to dress like a man and helped men dress with more style.”  The NorthPark store had a Spanish Colonial décor and featured the chain’s signature wooden cupboard display areas.  Unique to NorthPark was an expanded women’s clothing department occupying a third of the store. Julian had a flair for marketing: he once hid turtles on the campus at Chapel Hill and gave away free ties for their safe return. For the opening at NorthPark, one could have their picture taken with March 1964 Playboy Playmate Nancy Scott with the purchase of three pairs of Adler socks. 

 

Spencer Gifts

Many may know Spencer Gifts as the strange shop that sells music posters, T-shirts and bizarre novelties and was popular in the 1980s and 90s. However, Spencer’s started in 1947 as a mail-order company, not opening its first brick-and-mortar store until 1963. Spencer Gifts arrived at NorthPark around the 1966 holiday season and sold an impressive assortment of “gifts, gadgets, gags and novelties,” including rubber chickens and electric back stratchers. It closed in 1981.

 

The Swiss Colony

The Swiss Colony opened its first store in Dallas at NorthPark. Shoppers could choose from over 100 varieties of cheese and sausages, Swiss pastries, gourmet food items and candy, all in a delicatessen setting. It closed in 1982. No more retail locations remain, but the company focused its efforts instead on mail order and e-commerce. It is now known as The Colony Brands, Inc., one of the largest direct marketers in the nation.

 

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