Brittany Cobb, one of Dallas’ rising merchants, is taking her Flea Style store into the mall.
Cobb is opening a store in Galleria Dallas this summer in a 3,150-square-foot space on the first level near Sephora, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. She’s also taking her hat bar to remote corporate events and will launch personalized vintage boots at the Galleria store.
Going into a mall is a departure for Cobb. Her other locations are in gathering places that are known for entertainment — Deep Ellum in Dallas, The Star in Frisco and The Stockyards in Fort Worth.
“I’m not a big mall shopper. I’m always looking for real estate with a story,” Cobb said. “What I liked about the Galleria is that they are bringing local boutiques into the mall and they’re looking for experiential retail.”
Flea Style fits both.
Her hat bar experience will be in the Galleria store, and her newest hands-on experience idea, accessorizing boots, will launch at the Galleria, her fifth Flea Style. The Galleria space, which was built out originally for men’s shirt brand Thomas Pink, has floor-to-ceiling woodwork that attracted Cobb. She’s adding an 18-foot antique bar she found in East Texas for the hat bar.
Cobb opened her first Flea Style in 2018 in Deep Ellum, and she just completed a new headquarters next to that store. Cobb filled out Flea Style with vintage finds and work from local artists.
She added a restaurant called Heirloom Haul to her store in Frisco. Then she turned hats into an experience last year, opening the first hat bar in Frisco and then at her new stores in the Fort Worth Stockyards and in the Hotel Drover. Customers personalize their hats with vintage scarves, jewelry, dried flowers and feathers.
The hat business now accounts for just over half her revenue, not only from bookings for groups in the stores but also from the party circuit.
Flea Style was recently hired by NBC Universal and World Wrestling Entertainment to put on hat parties for their employees. The hat bar was part of the scene at an April 7 charity event in Fort Worth featuring Grammy winner Leon Bridges and will be set up for the crew backstage for a Miranda Lambert concert in Dallas next month.
Her wide-brim hats, fedoras and fascinators are going to be seen at the Kentucky Derby next month. Flea Style is the official hat maker for the Derby’s “preferred wine” maker, La Crema. The winemaker’s executives will be wearing Flea Style hats at Churchill Downs on race day.
The Galleria store is another way of branching out. The Westin Hotel and the three office towers were a big draw, Cobb said. She thinks Flea Style will capture a very different customer who doesn’t go to Deep Ellum “but may stop in after running into Macy’s to buy sheets.”
“About 5,000 to 7,000 people work in the three towers, and if 20% of them on any given day come into the mall for lunch or an errand. That makes for nice built-in traffic for us,” said Angie Freed, the Galleria’s general manager.
Then there’s the Westin, which is a destination for business travelers, social events and family staycations and is known for its kosher kitchen, Freed said. “Our average dwell time is longer than the average mall because of the Westin and the ice rink.”
The Galleria has attracted local retailers for pop-up stores in the past couple of years. Now, after adding Flea Style, the mall will have eight local retailers, including Gregory’s, which just moved back from NorthPark, and Lizzie Lu Luxury Treats from Las Colinas.
The conscious effort to recruit local retailers is “to separate ourselves from the sameness of a regional mall mix,” Freed said. “You’re buying from your neighbors, and it gives us different merchandise.”
Cobb gets calls weekly from mall leasing agents around the country.
It’s hard to find specialty retail in historic buildings, and it’s expensive, she said. She has a 12-month lease at the Galleria. If it works out, she said, “I can rinse and repeat and take it to other malls.
“Malls are hurting and they need involved ownership that cares about their brand, and I’m up for the challenge,” Cobb said. “I’m really excited about it.”
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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