DALLAS RETAIL UPDATE
Byline: RUSTY WILLIAMSON / HOLLY HABER
The New Del-Ann’s
Big changes are in store at Del-Ann’s.
The women’s specialty store, in business 49 years, has a new owner, a new look and a new location.
Phyllis Walker, who bought the venerable store last summer from Idelle Rabin, moved operations to Snider Plaza in November.
Snider Plaza, a charming open-air center in University Park near Southern Methodist University, is just up the road from the store’s original locale on Hillcrest Avenue.
Not only is the new site about 25 percent bigger, at 4,500 square feet, it has an expanded focus on classic-styled suits and dresses, the store’s forte.
Walker isn’t limiting her vision, though, as the new Del-Ann’s also is courting a new generation of customers with more contemporary lines aimed at younger shoppers.
“We will certainly step up our efforts to appeal to forward and youthful customers,” said Walker. “But we’re carrying on what Idelle has done all along. Idelle has cultivated a great customer base.”
Lines currently appealing to the younger set include Chris Kole, a clean-lined social occasion label, and Gerard, a denim-flavored Southwestern collection.
Walker projects first-year sales will hit $2 million, a 25 percent gain since she bought the business last July.
Walker claimed monthly sales are up 40 percent on average, and top vendors are Travilla, William Pearson, Christian A., Basler, Steve Fabrikant, Chris Kole and Gerard.
The store has a mostly new sales staff, which Walker has instructed to aggressively court new business and fine-tune relationships with established customers.
Rabin, who founded the store with her late husband Leon, isn’t forsaking retail and will remain a buyer and sales consultant.
“The time had come when the business side of the store was more than I wanted to handle,” explained Rabin. “With Phyllis’s expertise, I felt so relaxed about the deal.”
The change will allow Rabin to devote more time to promoting the arts, her great passion. Texas Governor George Bush Jr. recently appointed Rabin to the State Commission on the Arts.
A gala to launch the new Del-Ann’s is planned Jan. 11. Proceeds will benefit a local charity.
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Vass Unveiled
The first Joan Vass store in Texas opened in Dallas last October and is projected to do $650,000 in first-year sales.
The 1,900-square-foot unit is independently owned and operated by Louella Hundt under a licensing agreement with Joan Vass.
It carries the Joan Vass N.Y. signature collection, Joan Vass USA knitwear and Vass Ludacer, a sterling and semiprecious jewelry collection. Hundt plans to add Joan Vass Shoes and Vass Ludacer belts for spring.
The other 14 Joan Vass stores nationwide also are independently owned and operated under licensing agreements.
Until this point, Hundt’s retail career has been spent in chain stores. She worked for 15 years at The Broadway Southern California, rising to the position of vice president and divisional merchandise manager of women’s sportswear. Hundt was vice president of merchandising for A Pea in the Pod maternity stores, a position she held for 3 1/2 years, until last April.
Upon deciding to open her own store, Hundt selected Joan Vass as the best opportunity for an independent licensing agreement.
“Her clothes are very contemporary, clean, uncluttered and easy to wear, and that fits into today’s lifestyle,” Hundt explained. “Also, the line isn’t oversaturated in Dallas or Texas.”
Hundt said she’s considering opening units in other Texas cities, but that depends on the performance of the first store and available locations.
Brilliant Baubles
Is there opportunity for one more fine jewelry store in Dallas? Carter Malouf thinks so.
The son of sterling jewelry designer Dian Malouf opened a gallery for imaginative jewelry in Preston Center last fall.
“I’ve always wanted to have a store of uniqueness, and one area I saw lacking was artistic jewelry,” Carter Malouf explained. “Some stores touch on it, but won’t carry a whole line.”
Malouf, naturally, will stock his mother’s line of chunky sterling jewelry, which portrays themes and incorporates crystals, minerals, fossils and a variety of objects, like antique tin toys.
He’ll also represent eight other jewelers: Mignon Faget’s latest Meridian 2 collection of minimalist sterling semiprecious pieces; belts with silver and gold ranger buckle sets by Doug Magmus; Victoria Maase’s dramatic bracelets with large rough minerals and fossils; contemporary styles with inlay work by Raoul Sosa; Stephen Paul Adler’s modern interpretations of ancient designs in gold and semiprecious stones; gold with semiprecious stones with natural themes by Evaly, and the work of Richard and Rozz Roney-Dougal, who do gold overlay in unusual patterns, like petroglyphs.
Malouf hopes to do $300,000 in first-year sales at Carter Malouf Collections, which opened in November.
It occupies 550 square feet of sublet space in Richard Yerxa’s diamond and accessories store. Malouf’s prices run from $120 to $15,000, but he figures he’ll do the most business in the $1,800 to $3,500 range.
Though his bachelor’s degree is in resort management, Malouf became familiar with the jewelry business when he ran his mother’s wholesale enterprise in 1987 and 1988. After that he gained retail sales experience at the Sharper Image.
Says Malouf, “I let people have fun when they shop with me. It’s like my theater, and the items I’m selling are props.”