Talk about timing. On Sept. 30, Neiman Marcus closed its downtown Dallas flagship after 112 years. But just five days earlier, former Neiman Marcus buyer Kurt Bielawski opened his second KD Biel shop on Knox Street.
One chapter of Dallas retail history ended just as another was getting underway. And the new arrival has more than a little Neiman Marcus in its DNA.
Bielawski, who came to Dallas as a buyer for Neiman Marcus, has assembled a team that includes fellow Neiman veterans Mark Lawson, a longtime fashion buyer, and creative director Tim Flannery. While Bielawski spent the intervening years designing and building homes through MORE Design + Build, retail was always on his radar.
KD Biel’s original Design District store opened just a year ago, offering a highly edited mix of furnishings, accessories, and hard-to-find brands that Bielawski discovered through his travels. But it was the customers who got him thinking about what might come next…