Bachendorf’s is giving Galleria Dallas a big shot of confidence.
Dallas’ largest fine jeweler is back in its prime space overlooking the ice rink, at the Westin Hotel’s interior mall entrance and across from the Apple store.
The newly remodeled and expanded Bachendorf’s at 7,000 square feet is almost twice as big and makes an authoritative statement in watches with branded sections for Breitling, Cartier, Omega, Tag Heuer, Tudor, Zenith. It has an 1,800-square-foot Rolex boutique with a private room and a window with a view of the highest Rolex-certified watchmakers on staff making adjustments and repairs. The average jewelry store is about 1,000 to 2,000 square feet.
“We’ve been in a temporary spot since Valentine’s Day and our sales were up from the previous year in a tough spot,” said Lawrence Bock, CEO of Bachendorf’s and grandson of the founder.
“I could have moved out of the mall,” Bock said. “We’ve been there so long that we’ve developed such a great relationship business. We’re in that center core with Tiffany’s, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and that ice rink is really galvanizing.”
He listed traffic from the Westin and the office towers as advantages as well as being convenient for customers in the northern suburbs and for visitors to Dallas.
“When you came into DFW (Airport), you go north to meetings or you go south to meetings, but you end up at this intersection” of LBJ Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway.
But when the Galleria opened in 1982 Bachendorf’s couldn’t get in.
The three-level enclosed mall with its vaulted glass ceiling had attracted Saks Fifth Avenue from New York and Marshall Field’s from Chicago. “It was the place to be and it had things other malls didn’t have — an ice rink, the University Club and the Westin.”
At that time, developer Hines wasn’t so interested in local retailers.
Read more with The Dallas Morning News.