Flower news

Cute shop selling flowers and coffee will open in Dallas' Oak Lawn

Floral arrangement from Le Bloom

Photo courtesy of Le Bloom

A pop-up flower cart is about to blossom into a brick-and-mortar shop that doubles as a grab-and-go coffee spot: Le Bloom is sprouting its first physical store in Dallas’ Oak Lawn at 4152 Travis St., taking over the space from local pizzeria Brothers New York Pizza and Pasta.

The concept is from Layne Tenenbaum, a California transplant who created Le Bloom because she missed the local farmers markets and open-air floral markets popular along the west coast. Tenenbaum started the company in May 2023 as a floral cart in the Knox-Henderson area of Dallas.

In just a year since springing up, the cart has been met with warm success, and the physical shop was designed to meet customer demand.

“We came up with the cart to test the waters, and now it’s kind of evolved,” Tenenbaum says. “The natural trajectory was to open a store. A lot of people come to the cart asking if we have a store, so that’s just how that next step came about.”

Le Bloom pop-up cart Le CartPhoto courtesy of Le Bloom

Tenenbaum grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Dallas to attend SMU, where she graduated in 2021. After college, she went into the marketing field but felt like she needed a more creative outlet.

Although she has no previous floral experience, Tenenbaum has dabbled in the interior design field, and felt like this pursuit paired that experience with the creativity she was looking for. At the same time, it brings some of that west coast vibe she was missing right to Dallas.

“I just felt like the florals in Dallas aren’t what they are in California,” Tenenbaum says. “The open air markets bring a lot of joy and excitement. It’s kind of a romantic, European experience of walking in the streets and getting a nice bouquet of flowers and a coffee on a Saturday or Sunday morning.”

At less than 900 square feet, the store will be fairly intimate. Most of the space will be used as a fully functioning floral studio, where customers can design their own bouquets and arrangements. She plans to also host floral arranging classes and tutorials on the weekends.

The front of the store will be used as a coffee bar. Tenenbaum doesn’t have a set drink menu yet, but she promises there will be a selection of standard coffee drinks like lattes, but with some cute, floral twists.

Le Bloom hasn't scheduled an opening date, but Tenenbaum plans to have it open in the fall.

Swedish Meatball News

Sleek furniture store IKEA to open first location in Dallas

IKEA

IKEA's signature Billy cabinet

Dallas finally gets its own IKEA store. According to a release, the Swedish-born furniture company is opening a new location — the first in Dallas proper — to debut in late 2025.

Called IKEA Dallas - University Park, the store will be located at The Shops at Park Lane, the center at US-75 and Park Lane that's home to stores such as Whole Foods Market, American Girl, Saks Off 5th, and Home Goods.

The address is 8080 Park Ln., and they're not specifying exactly which storefront it will occupy, but it will be a smaller-format store at 63,000 square feet than its suburban siblings such as Frisco where the square footage is 310,000 square feet.

IKEA is on a journey to become more accessible, affordable, and convenient, with smaller "urban" stores that have a limited inventory of items sold on site: 3,200 articles.

IKEA's entire range will not be available for immediate takeaway; big furniture items like beds and couches, for example, can only be ordered online, with options for store pick-up or home delivery at a minimal fee.

Nonetheless, the Park Lane will be two levels and will be the 11th store in Texas: Currently, there are five full-sized IKEA stores, three "Plan and Order Points with pick up, and two smaller-format stores opening in San Marcos and Rockwall.

IKEA Rockwall, which just celebrated its groundbreaking, will comprise 108,875 square feet and the store be built from the ground up. IKEA Dallas-University Park will be built in an existing building at The Shops at Park Lane, which building it is, they do not say.

The Rockwall store will have a new Swedish Deli cafe where they'll serve meals onsite, as well as their Swedish Bistro takeout concept, serving their signature Swedish meatballs which they also offer in a delectable plant-based version as well, you should totally try it if you have not already.

Park Lane will have food, as well, although no word on whether there'll be a cafe.

"At IKEA, we want to create a better everyday life for the many people and one way we can do that is by bringing IKEA close to where people live, work, socialize and shop, says IKEA US CEO Javier Quiñones in a statement. :The opening of IKEA Dallas - University Park is a perfect example of our strategy to develop smaller, more accessible urban store formats, bringing a more connected and accessible IKEA experience to everyone."

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