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The sad hour has come for this sunny Bishop Arts Dallas boutique to close

Magic Hour has been in Bishop Arts since November 2019 and tried to open a location at Grandscape last year.

Photo by Emilee Prado

After almost two years in business, the sun is setting on Magic Hour, a unique vintage and handmade goods shop in Dallas' Bishop Arts shopping district.

Owner Molly Mathias says she simply couldn't make the brick-and-mortar work after the pandemic and will transition to be an online-only boutique. The final day will come sometime in late August, she says.

Her second Bishop Arts retail concept, Go Easy, will remain open.

“We are thankful for our time in Oak Cliff and the community that has supported us and the artists we have brought to Dallas," Mathias says through a spokeswoman. "This past 18 months, living in a global pandemic, has been hard for us like so many other small businesses. We made this hard decision so we can focus on our personal lives and have more time to focus on our other concept, Go Easy."

Molly Mathias and her mother and co-owner, Mary Ann Mathias, opened the Magic Hour flagship, 250 N. Bishop Ave. #130, in November 2019, after owning a storefront on Tyler Street in Oak Cliff for a year-and-a-half.

The name, “Magic Hour,” nods to the hours after sunrise and before sunset, when lighting is considered ideal for photography.

The owners carefully source and select the boutique's art and home decor, jewelry, pantry items, and more.

“I travel all over the globe looking for inspiration,” Molly Mathias, the store's creative director and buyer, told CultureMap last year. “It’s a constant process. I love finding a new maker or artist and cultivating a relationship with them. It’s all worth it when I see a customer fall in love with a beautiful handmade piece.”

After finding success in Bishop Arts, they expanded with a second location at the bustling new Grandscape complex in The Colony in March 2020. But COVID-19 hit at the exact same time, and that location closed a few months after opening.

Mathias is still very much in the retail game. She opened Go Easy, a unique shop selling feelgood items for women, at 250 N. Bishop Ave., #150, in November 2020. She opened a Houston location of Go Easy on June 11 in the buzzy M-K-T development in The Heights.

And she teases that Magic Hour might just be closing for the time being, saying, "This isn't a goodbye forever, just a goodbye for now."

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Swedish Fish News

Popular Ikea furniture chain to open 4th Dallas store in Rockwall

IKEA

Ikea sign - instantly recognizable

Dallas-Fort Worth is getting a new Ikea store in Rockwall. Located at Stodghill Road and I-30, it'll be the third Ikea in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and is due to open in December 2025.

Ikea is the world's largest furniture retailer, founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, and known for its simple, modern approach to interior design at an affordable price, its ready-to-assemble furniture, and its amusement-park-like stores.

Ikea will be the anchor in a 65-plus acre mixed-use development with a location chosen for its accessibility not only to the east side of DFW but also to major highways that connect to faraway towns like Texarkana and Little Rock. Rockwall to Texarkana is 155 miles or a 2-hour-and-22-minute drive — surely doable if you're hot to get a great quality mattress at a good price or stock up on Swedish gummy red fish.

According to a release, the store represents Ikea's intention to become more accessible, affordable, and convenient for the many here in the U.S., even those who live in places like Casa View and Mesquite, and the store will offer a new way of reaching customers both in-store and digitally.

The store's footprint is 108,000 square feet — almost a third smaller than the existing locations in Frisco and Grand Prairie, which both span 293,000-plus square feet (although Grand Prairie is one story while Frisco is two-story). There's also a pickup-style store in Southlake that's 10,809 square feet.

“Our expansion goal is simple. We will be where people are, whenever and however they want to experience Ikea," says Ikea U.S. Ceo and Chief Sustainability Officer Javier Quiñones. “We have been testing different store formats to increase customer convenience, make home delivery more cost-efficient, and reach our customers where they live, work, and socialize. IKEA Rockwall represents a key milestone in this ongoing journey.”

Though smaller than the other area behemoths, Rockwall will nonetheless be serving Ikea's trademark meatballs at a new Swedish Deli concept, a Swedish cafe to enjoy meals onsite, and a Swedish Bistro for quick takeaway items that can be enjoyed in the outdoor seating area or at home.

The space will include multiple fully furnished room settings that showcase “local living” solutions reflecting the unique needs of the residents of the local community. Rockwall embroidered pillows, maybe?

Additionally, Ikea Rockwall’s design will include features for improved sustainability, specifically solar power, LEED certified construction, EV chargers, onsite recycling and native plant materials to reduce water consumption.

“We are strongly committed to the communities in which we operate. IKEA Rockwall provides an even more seamless omnichannel shopping experience throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, and we look forward to welcoming residents and surrounding neighbors to this new Ikea experience,” says Ikea U.S. Area Market Manager Rob Parsons.

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