Shop for a Cause

Dwell with Dignity Thrift Studio helps bring comforts of home to less fortunate

Dwell with Dignity founder Lisa Robison admits an Oprah Winfrey book inspired her to change her life plan. The big-hearted interior designer had taken 10 years off work to be with her kids, and she was ready to do something creative again.

“[In the book] Oprah said, find what you’re passionate about and what makes your heart beat fast — that’s the secret to happiness,” Robison says. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the people who benefit the most from good design have the least access to it.”

Robison believes an environment can have a huge impact on your daily life. It sets your expectations and affects your dreams. That’s why Dwell with Dignity is so focused on making homes for families — more often, single mothers.

Robison believes an environment can have a huge impact on your daily life. It sets your expectations and affects your dreams.

Robison knew that in order to help people invested in their own self-sufficiency, she needed to team up with agencies. So she went to the Interfaith Housing Coalition and began her first housing project. When her friend Kim Turner came on board as vice president and director, they began reaching out to the design community.

“I credit Kim for the quick growth, because she’s the one who reached out to all the contacts,” Robison says. “We went to showrooms and met with designers. Everyone embraced and supported the idea.”

Today Dwell with Dignity designs an apartment every four weeks, and last month the team worked on their first house. The nonprofit works with empty homes and fills them with furniture and appliances donated by local designers, showrooms, and businesses like the Container Store and Peacock Alley.

If donations are slightly damaged, volunteers will fix them — whether it’s a new paint job or reupholstering. “We would never put anything in a home that we wouldn’t put in our own,” Robison says.

“We always purchase our cribs, Sleep Experts donates mattresses and we buy baby bedding. We spend lots of money at Target to stock their closet with cleaning supplies.”

Dwell with Dignity even prepares the first night’s meal for the family that moves in. There’s not much interaction between the residents and the volunteers, because moving into a home is a very personal and serious experience for someone who might have been homeless a few weeks before.

Although Robison rarely sees the expression on the residents’ faces, there’s no doubt she’s made a huge impact by enabling the less fortunate to “dwell with dignity” and inspiring others to support the cause.

Speaking of support, here’s how you can help. Dwell with Dignity has a pop-up shop concept called Thrift Studio, which Robison says came about organically. An office space was donated in 2011 to house the temporary shop.

Thrift Studio is filled with room vignettes comprising “slightly damaged or slightly too handcrafted” furniture and decor from designers and donors such as Horchow, Studio Ten 25, IBB Design Fine Furnishings, DJ Lucy Wrubel for Peacock Alley, Square Foot Studio and more. All proceeds from the 30-day shop support Dwell With Dignity.

The fourth biannual Dwell with Dignity Thrift Studio is open through May 18 at 1100 Slocum St., Ste. 590. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am-5:30 pm. The nonprofit has also partnered with One Kings Lane for a 72-hour Tastemaker Tag Sale, and all of those proceeds benefit Dwell with Dignity.

The 2013 Dwell with Dignity Thrift Studio boasts vignettes donated by designers such as DJ Lucy Wrubel for Peacock Alley.

Photo by Lance Selgo Unique Exposure Photography

The 2013 Dwell with Dignity Thrift Studio boasts vignettes donated by designers such as DJ Lucy Wrubel for Peacock Alley.

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Closure news

Beloved Dallas retailer Weir’s Furniture to close after 78 years

Facebook/Weir's

Weir's Furniture is closing all locations.

Weir's Furniture, a family-owned company that has sold home furnishings to generations of North Texans since 1948, is closing the doors to all stores for good.

Going-out-of-business sales will begin Thursday, March 26, and the stores will close when all merchandise is sold - likely May or June, a spokesperson says. Weir's currently has four locations in Dallas-Fort Worth: on Travis Street in the Knox-Henderson neighborhood, in Farmers Branch, Plano, and Southlake.

Online retail operations will wind down, as well.

"Founded by J. Ray and Bea Weir with a single storefront on Knox Street in Dallas, Weir’s was built on a simple but enduring philosophy: honor God and serve people," says a release. "What began as a modest neighborhood store has since grown into four locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, grounded in unwavering commitments to courtesy, respect, integrity, and offering high-quality furniture at a fair price."

Al Boulden, Weir’s Chairman of the Board, says the decision to close after nearly eight decades was made only after exploring "all reasonable alternatives. They carefully evaluated the company's long-term financial position, difficult market conditions and operational challenges, he said, but ultimately they determined that Weir's could no longer continue to operate sustainably.

“This was an extremely difficult decision, but closing now enables us to honor J. Ray and Bea’s legacy by finishing well and taking care of our employees,” Boulden says in the release. “From the very beginning, Weir’s mission has been rooted in honoring God and serving our people.

"We are incredibly grateful to our customers, employees, and the broader community who have supported us for so many decades and made Weir’s a beloved retailer throughout North Texas.”

Weir's Furniture Plano The Weir's store in Plano.Photo courtesy of Weir's

Over the decades, Weir’s grew beyond a traditional furniture retailer into a retail institution in Dallas-Fort Worth, with ties to local charities, ministries, and schools. Its in-store “Country Store,” introduced in 1963, became a draw with its old-fashioned candy and inexpensive treats that appealed to generations.

Leadership of the company remained within the founding family for much of its history, passing from founder J. Ray Weir to his son Dan Weir in 1972, and later to nephew Mark Moore, who served as CEO until 2024 as the last family member in the top role.

The company also built a reputation for prioritizing relationships — from paying vendors promptly, even during challenging periods like the COVID-19 pandemic, to maintaining a workforce with unusually long tenures, with some employees staying for more than four decades.

“We’ve built generational relationships with both customers and employees,” Weir family member, current board member and former CEO Mark Moore says in the release. “While your patronage has sustained us, it has been your friendships, encouragement, and faith in our team that truly defined us. We are proud of what we created and thankful for every person who has walked through our doors.”

Closing sales will begin on March 26 and customers are encouraged to visit their local store while merchandise is still available, they say.

furniture closings