Why So Many of Knox Street's New Stores Started Out at Highland Park Village

Several stores now arriving on Knox Street already had a Highland Park Village address. Cult Gaia spent a year in a pop-up at MARKET in the Village before announcing a standalone boutique on Knox. Staud did the same. TWP had a space in the Village before taking a permanent one a few blocks east. The route follows the ownership, because the owners of Highland Park Village are partners in the Knox redevelopment.

For anyone living inside the Town of Highland Park, that makes the Knox walk easier to read. The street just across the Town line in Dallas is filling with brands you may have already shopped on Mockingbird and Preston. The Village has become a reasonable preview of what Knox will lease next.

The Same Owners on Both Ends of the Walk

The Knox Street developer's own December 2025 announcement describes the new development as a joint venture among BDT & MSD, Trammell Crow Company, "the owners of Highland Park Village," and The Retail Connection. The release adds that the project will bring more than 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurants to the neighborhood. In the same release, Stephen Summers is named as head of retail leasing for Knox Street.

D Magazine's October 15 Knox tracker fills in the history. MSD Capital, now BDT & MSD Partners, began buying Knox-area buildings in 2018 and became the neighborhood's biggest landlord. Soon after, The Summers Group and Gillon Property Group took over leasing and property management. D Magazine describes both firms as "heavily connected to Highland Park Village."

When the people who choose tenants for one center are also choosing them for the other, a brand that does well in a short Village residency has an obvious next lease waiting nearby. The street's recent departures show how much room that next lease now has.

Knox Is Trading Its Furniture Row Past for Fashion

Knox was known as "Furniture Row" in the 1990s, and D Magazine's list of recent exits reads like that era winding down. Pottery Barn, a Knox fixture since the '90s, moved to NorthPark in 2026. Chuy's moved to Greenville Avenue in 2025 after 32 years on Knox. Anthropologie came to Knox from Highland Park Village in 2022, then moved a couple of blocks in May 2025 to the former Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams space, freeing its old spot for Kith. Mar y Sol served its last dinner in mid-August.

The Anthropologie move is the same Village-to-Knox route running a few years early. Crate & Barrel is still there from the Furniture Row years, along with the Apple Store that opened in 2003. Most of what is filling the gaps, though, is women's fashion and accessories, and much of it comes from the Village.

Brands That Had a Village Address First

PaperCity said it plainly when it reported the Cult Gaia lease in August. It noted the year-long MARKET pop-up and declared, "consider Cult Gaia incubated!" The same studio, T__M, designed both the pop-up and the Knox boutique. PaperCity reported a November opening. The developer's own Cult Gaia post says fall 2027, so the date is still unsettled.

The Conservatory shows the route can also run from a long-established Village store. Bolke has had the original in Highland Park Village since 2019. According to D Magazine, the Knox version adds an outdoor deck and a bar and restaurant concept, just steps from his first Forty Five Ten location. The Dallas Morning News, in its October 13 report on El Camino Royale, says the store will have a cafe upstairs, above SunLife Organics.

What's Already Open on Knox

The newest openings are mostly in one building. 3212 Knox Street has filled suite by suite since August:

• HART, the Charleston jewelry brand founded by Hart Hagerty, opened August 15 at Suite 103. D Magazine reports it is the brand's first Texas shop and that Dallas-based Burkle Creative designed the space.
• Addison Bay, a Philadelphia-founded activewear label, was set to open September 2 at Suite 104. It is the brand's fourth store and its first in Texas.
• KD Biel, the Design District home decor shop, opened its second location September 25 at Suite 102.
• ME+EM, the London womenswear label with a NorthPark boutique, lists 3212 Knox, Suite 101, with store hours on its store locator.

Nearby, Visual Comfort opened in August in the former Origin Kitchen + Bar space. D Magazine calls it the lighting brand's first Dallas store outside the Market Center. Caffè Lucca, Julian Barsotti's Sicilian-inspired restaurant, has been open since March.

None of the open-now group came through the Village, and that fits the pattern. Brands making their Texas debut on Knox, such as HART and Addison Bay, arrive from outside the region. The Village pipeline shows up in the next round.

The Calendar From Now Through 2027

Here is how the announced openings line up by season, according to D Magazine's October tracker and the reporting cited below:

1. Fall 2026: TWP and Toteme. D Magazine lists both for this fall. Julia Amory, the Palm Beach brand, is also due. Mark D. Sikes is designing its first Texas store, and PaperCity's August Cult Gaia report said it will open in mid-November, in time for holiday shopping.
2. By the end of 2026: Alo's third Dallas store, Staud, The Conservatory and SunLife Organics, the Malibu superfood cafe.
3. Winter: Bachendorf's, the family-owned jeweler, in a space designed by Droese Raney Architecture with a full-service bar. Dôen, the Los Angeles label, will open its first Texas store.
4. 2027: Sant Ambroeus, the Milan cafe founded in 1936, in its first Texas location; The Main House, from the il Bracco team, in the former Mashburn space; and Théa Mediterranean Rooftop. The Dallas Morning News reported on October 13 that Katz Bros. Hospitality's El Camino Royale, a casual Tex-Mex spot, will open at 3333 Knox St.

The anchor of the whole project has moved back a season. The developer's December 2025 release said the new retail would follow The Knox Hotel's opening in fall 2026. D Magazine now reports an official opening date of January 29, 2027, for The Knox, Auberge Collection. That will be Auberge's first Dallas property, with 140 rooms starting at $1,100 a night and interiors by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio. For people who live nearby, the most useful part of the hotel project may be outside the building. The plans include a pedestrian passage and a half-acre park designed to connect the Katy Trail directly to Knox.

The Village End of the Walk This Week

If MARKET's pop-ups are where Knox finds future tenants, the Village is also where the next names will show up first. This week brings another reason to stop by. Highland Park Village's Partners Card began October 23. The $100 card gives 20% off at participating retailers, and proceeds benefit The Family Place. The event page gives both November 1 and November 2 as the final day, so plan your last stop for the weekend.

Any short-term residency at MARKET this season fits a pattern that has already produced a Knox lease three times: Cult Gaia, Staud and TWP.

If you'd like to talk about what the Village-to-Knox pipeline could mean for a property in the Park Cities or along the Katy Trail, Modern Living Group is happy to walk it with you. Let's Start a Conversation.