University Park

Any time you visit Pokey O’s, it’s likely to be crowded with SMU students vying for a place in line—but don’t let that deter you. They’re famous for made-on-the-spot ice cream sandwiches, which they make with chewy chocolate chip cookies and Texas Blue Bell ice cream.

Katherine Mathes is a Dallas favorite because of her turnkey approach to event planning—she handles everything from event design, to marketing and invitations, to coordination, to flowers for everything from dinner parties to huge corporate galas. She’s got a big team backing her up, too, so she’s a great resource when you’re trying to pull off something particularly ambitious.

Cebolla Fine Flowers is owned by couple and business partners Luit and Jamie Huizenga, who have been running the business since shortly after Luit emigrated from Holland in the '80s. Their state-of-the-art warehouse (where they also live with their daughter) is equipped with geothermal heating, which keeps the countless orchid plants healthy year-round. In the summer months, they actually offer monarch butterfly chrysalises, which eventually hatch and fly away. If you can't make it to their shop on Lover's Lane, they deliver to almost every neighborhood in the city.

Cebolla Fine Flowers is owned by couple and business partners Luit and Jamie Huizenga, who have been running the business since shortly after Luit emigrated from Holland in the '80s. Their state-of-the-art warehouse (where they also live with their daughter) is equipped with geothermal heating, which keeps the countless orchid plants healthy year-round. In the summer months, they actually offer monarch butterfly chrysalises, which eventually hatch and fly away. If you can't make it to their shop on Lover's Lane, they deliver to almost every neighborhood in the city.

Merry Vose’s Cabana is a siren song in Dallas for all the women who love pretty, easily wearable labels, and so in response, she opened up Canary—a bigger, splashier store just down the street. The space is equally homey and filled with a mix of lesser-known finds like Christian Wijnants, SEA New York, and Each x Other.

This store was once literally housed in a cabana on owner Merry Vose's property. However, when her covert, by-appointment operation was shut down by the city, she took her fan base to Lovers Lane. It's equally easy to miss there, which only adds to the allure and sense of discovery upon spotting the unmarked lavender door. The same mix of pretty, affordable labels—MiH, Monrow, Steven Alan, Nili Lotan—abounds. Vose has since opened a bigger sister store, Canary.

Operating out of the same airy corner space since 2000 (the business dates back to 1997), husband and wife Sebastian and Kobie Ahmadi have been showing prominent international designers from Tom Ford to Matthew Williamson in their beautifully appointed, whitewashed showroom. They are often the first to get new and interesting labels (particularly since Barneys shuttered its doors in Dallas), including Paul Andrews.

Neiman’s was born in Dallas, and no trip to Texas is complete without a visit to the mother ship (there’s the original downtown and a bigger outpost in Northpark). Here, you’ll experience the sort of service that Stanley Marcus described in his epic book, Minding the Store, which is a must-read for anyone who loves retail. But we digress: The shoe department here is particularly epic, and dressed models still roam the floors, making it a wonderfully old-world experience.

Ylang 23 offers an encyclopedia’s worth of jewelry designers (its website is one of the better sources online). Whether it’s tiny stack rings from Jennifer Meyer or opal-bedecked earrings from Nak Armstrong, there is something for every price point.

At first glance, this looks like it’s solely devoted to eveningwear—and eveningwear is its mainstay. But these aren’t your average cocktail dresses: Mary Katrantzou, Chloé, and Balenciaga all line the racks, along with Pierre Hardy shoes and a smattering of jewels.