Workplace accolades

6 Dallas retailers and restaurants make Time's best private companies list

Half Price Books presents Dallas Antiquarian Book Fair

Half Price Books appears at No. 127.

Photo courtesy of Half Price Books

Six Dallas-area brands in the retail, restaurant and hotel industries appear in Time magazine’s first-ever ranking of the best privately owned companies in the U.S.

At No. 69, the highest-ranked DFW-based brand among retail, restaurant and hotel companies on the list is Farmers Branch-based eyewear retailer Eyemart Express, which operates more than 270 stores nationwide. VSP Vision acquired Eyemart Express last year. Optometrist Dr. Doug Barnes founded Eyemart Express in 1990.

“Like VSP, Eyemart Express is a doctor-founded organization with similar values and a shared commitment to expanding access to affordable, high-quality eye care and eyewear to as many people as possible,” Michael Guyette, president and CEO of VP Vision, said last year.

Guyette is an alumnus of the University of North Texas in Denton.

Time teamed up with data provider Statista to launch the inaugural ranking of the country’s 500 best private companies. Rankings are based on employee satisfaction surveys along with a company’s impact on society, knowledge, health, and the environment.

Other DFW companies on the list are:

No. 127 Half Price Books, the Dallas-based bookstore chain.
No. 160 The Container Store, based in Coppell. Bed Bath & Beyond recently acquired The Container Store, which sells home organization products, for about $150 million.
No. 162 Uncle Julio’s, the Irving-based Mexican restaurant chain.
No. 377 Mary Kay, an Addison-based seller of cosmetics, skin care products, and body care products.
No. 439 TRT Holdings, the Dallas-based owner of the Omni Hotels & Resorts chain.

While not based in DFW, these businesses on the list should be familiar to Texans:

No. 75 H-E-B, the San Antonio-based grocery chain.
No. 141 Visionworks, the San Antonio-based chain of eyewear stores.
No. 165 Taco Cabana, the San Antonio-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain.
No. 198 Buc-ee’s, the Lake Jackson-based operator of mega-convenience stores.
No. 285 Blue Bell Creameries, the Brenham-based ice cream company.
No. 418 Whataburger, the San Antonio-based fast-food restaurant chain.
No. 447 Joe’s Crab Shack, the Houston-based seafood restaurant chain.
No. 491 Tailored Brands, the Houston-based owner of the Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and K&G Fashion Superstore menswear chains.

New money

Texas Stock Exchange launches trading on 'Y'all Street' in Dallas

Photo by Oren Elbaz on Unsplash

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Two-step aside, New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. The Dallas-based Texas Stock Exchange, nicknamed Y’all Street, just kicked off live trading with five stocks for now — and with lots of Lone Star ambition.

“The Texas Stock Exchange aims to revitalize competition for [stock] issuers, establish the premier venue for listings, and create a world-class trading platform for all market participants,” the exchange says in a fact sheet.

The exchange — whose Texas-influenced nickname is a nod to New York City’s Wall Street — has collected at least $275 million in investments. The roughly 90 financial backers of TXSE include Bank of America, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Dell Family Office, Fortress, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.

Representatives of TXSE couldn’t be reached for comment. On its website, the exchange calls itself “the most well-capitalized equities exchange to ever be approved” by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Not to be outdone, NYSE has launched Dallas-based NYSE Texas and Nasdaq has expanded its presence in Dallas.

Y’all Street adds to Dallas-Fort Worth’s rising status as a major hub for financial services, with The Wall Street Journal naming North Texas the country’s second biggest financial hub after New York City. Among the biggest DFW players in financial services are:

Financial services provider Charles Schwab
Banking company Comerica
Auto lender Santander Consumer USA
Banking company Texas Capital Bancshares
Lender GM Financial
Investment bank Goldman Sachs
Financial services provider Fidelity
Banking conglomerate JPMorgan Chase
Megabank Wells Fargo

“A homegrown national exchange means more jobs, more investment, and more growth opportunities for businesses and communities across the Lone Star State,” Gabriela von zur Muehlen, senior vice president and chief policy officer at the Texas Association of Business, told The Texas Tribune.

In a move that will further elevate DFW’s status as a financial powerhouse, Goldman Sachs is building an 800,000-square-foot corporate campus near the American Airlines Center. The campus, with an initial price tag of $500 million, will be able to accommodate more than 5,000 employees when it opens in 2028; it’ll be Goldman Sachs’ largest office outside New York City.

Driven by DFW, the financial services sector now plays a massive role in Texas’ status as the Financial Capital of America, as declared by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Bulent Temel, an associate professor of practice in economics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told Texas Standard that TXSE “is going to boost the credibility of the Texas economy.”

Texas’ estimated gross domestic product (GDP), a yardstick for the size of an economy, climbed to a record-setting $2.9 trillion in 2025, making it the state with the second highest GDP after California. DFW’s estimated GDP in 2023 stood at $744.6 billion, eclipsing the GDP of many countries.

“The center of gravity for American capitalism is now headquartered in the Boom Belt,” Abbott proclaimed in April, referring to an 11-state region (including Texas) in the South and Southeast that’s seeing tremendous economic and population growth. “The Texas Stock Exchange is the natural extension of that capitalism. It ensures that capital markets will reflect the quadrant that is driving American growth.”

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