La Madeleine Cafe closes favorite longtime Dallas neighborhood location
Salads and croissants are their bread and butter.
A longtime location of La Madeleine, the Dallas-based French-inspired bakery and cafe, has closed. It's the location at 3906 Lemmon Ave. and it closed on October 6.
The closure, news of which first circulated on Facebook, was originally framed as temporary. The restaurant posted a note on its door stating that it was "temporarily closed," and a representative from the building management said that the restaurant experienced a plumbing leak and that crews were on site making repairs.
But a La Madeleine spokesperson said in a statement that the chain had made "the difficult decision" to close that location for good, thanking customers for their patronage and directing them to nearby cafes on Mockingbird Lane and Park District.
The Lemmon Avenue cafe opened shortly after the 1983 opening of the original location by SMU, and served as a reliable destination for residents in the area and employees at nearby businesses.
Its convenient location and ample parking lot made it a popular meet-up spot. They also had a sizable event room that they made available for free to neighborhood organizations, homeowners association meetings, and the like.
In 2017, the property was acquired by H-E-B Grocery, which at the time provoked a flurry of rumors about a Central Market opening in that space. H-E-B still owns the building, but a spokesperson said that "there are no development plans for the site at this time." Other tenants in the building are also long-timers and include a psychologist's office, a chiropractor, and a voice coach.
La Madeleine has been undergoing some serious changes to get it up to speed with modern times, beginning in early 2020 with a new "petite" format store they debuted in downtown Dallas, tailored to meet the needs of the building and the neighborhood, with a smaller footprint and a sharper focus on convenience and flexibility including an array of to-go foods.
In February 2021, they introduced a new prototype store in Addison with brand-new features that included a scratch-baking process visible to diners as well as the chain's very first drive-thru. In July 2021, they re-opened the original location which had been renovated with more outdoor seating and a bigger grab-and-go area.
The company also partnered with Walmart on a new prototype concept called La Madeleine Express, featuring fan favorites like Chicken Caesar Salad and Tomato Basil Soup, as well as new items including pizzas, created specifically for its Walmart locations.
