DALLAS — Read this story and other North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal.
Just two years after launching her luxury handbag company, Deserie Kelly is preparing to open her first brick-and-mortar store.
It will be the first designer handbag store opened by a black woman in the mall’s 42-year history, according to a mall spokeswoman. Deseri, which currently only sells online, will occupy the former Bearfruit Jewelry space on the mall’s ground floor.
Kelly founded her company in 2022. She had hoped to open a brick-and-mortar store, which would be an important step for many small businesses, especially consumer-facing businesses that need to increase overall brand awareness, but the opportunity came sooner than she expected.
“Our goal from the beginning was to open a brick-and-mortar store, but that goal is our long-term [plan],” Kelly said. “I tell my colleagues … just always be prepared for it to happen because you never know when it will happen.”
Kelly said it was sometimes difficult to find a location for the fledgling company — after all, North Texas is full of luxury stores. She first approached the Dallas gallery in 2023. In March, the mall’s leasing agent contacted Kelly via Instagram and approached him about opening a pop-up store.
“They said we could talk about it later,” Kelly said. “First they want to see how well the pop-up works.”
Deseri sells luxury bags and wallets ranging in price from $375 to $915. The bags are made in Ubrique, Spain, where other companies such as Dior, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel produce their luxury goods.
For mall owners, pop-up stores are a useful way to gauge interest in a product before opening a store permanently. Angie Fried, general manager of Galleria Dallas, looks for stores with strong sales, traffic and growing visibility, assessing their potential for long-term success.
Customer reviews, popular brands or products and whether the business is local are also taken into account, Fried said.