Today we’d like to introduce you to Mac Hoak.
Mac moved to New York City in 1984 after growing up in North Carolina. With an undergraduate degree in economics from The University of North Carolina and an MBA from The University of Virginia, the obvious path was a career in banking. After ten years in finance, Mr. Hoak decided to follow his passion for antiques, design and fine furniture. He opened the first flagship Mecox Gardens in 1996 in Southampton, New York. Slowly, over several years, Mecox expanded, reaching out to new customers in Palm Beach, New York City, East Hampton (closed 2017), Los Angeles, Chicago (closed 2015), Dallas, Houston and Pittsburgh.
Each Mecox location is stylistically united by a foundational “Mecox look”. However, every local store team adds their own personal design style and local flavor.
Our locations:
Southampton – Opening in 1996, Southampton is the founding location of Mecox Gardens which house our corporate offices. Situated on two acres of a former garden center, the expansive grounds and charming rural architecture, help guide the Mecox philosophy of taking inspiration from both exterior and interior. Attracting Hamptons and New York City based interior designers, our original location has evolved over the years and now includes our largest display of outdoor garden vignettes, showcasing outdoor furniture, garden ornaments and planters, and some select boxwoods. Mecox Southampton’s unique interior space houses our signature home furnishings, complemented by a wide selection of decorative accessories and local fine art. In the spring and summer seasons, Mecox Southampton’s retail floor extends to the great outdoors. Beautiful landscaping provides the perfect backdrop to showcase new product for outdoor living. This, in combination with the ever-rotating interior offerings, provides a special visual experience for customers and visitors.
New York City – Opening during our second holiday season, in what was supposed to be a “temporary” Upper East Side location. The relatively small 1,000 square feet of floor space proved to be just the right size to setup permanent residence. Mecox NYC has been changing its floor merchandise weekly, every Wednesday, since 1998. In 2008, we expanded upstairs and even currently have a small but beautiful outdoor terrace – the perfect New York pied-a-terre environment!
Palm Beach – In 2000, Mecox decided to follow our many New York based customers to Palm Beach for the winter. Once again, a small “temporary” space – this time on Worth Avenue proved a perfect chance to showcase the Mecox look. Within a year a permanent space anchored the western end of the avenue. After 10 years on Worth, the need for more space prompted a move “across the bridge” to West Palm and the antique row of South Dixie Highway. This tripled our floor space and allowed us to better showcase our ever changing and eclectic mix of antiques and new home furnishings.
Los Angeles – The allure of the west coast and the incredible design corridor along La Cienega Blvd in west Los Angles proved too much for Mecox to resist. In 2003 Mecox LA opened in a free standing, 1920’s building with one of the few grass “front yards” along La Cienega Blvd. Since opening, the entire five block area has become a destination for the interior design trade for the entire west coast. With a beautiful mix of antique and eclectic home design stores, it has been the perfect fit for Mecox. As our lone outpost on the west coast, Mecox Los Angeles has reached out beyond the City of Angels to San Francisco, San Diego and beyond.
Dallas – The need to fill a regional void in the booming Southwest prompted our entry into Texas – and admittedly to satisfy our desire for great Mexican food! Finding the perfect and largest location yet, the Knox Henderson design district was the perfect solution. Mecox Dallas opened its doors in 2007. Boasting over 6,000 square feet of interior space, Mecox successfully introduced our look, in a big way, to the sophisticated interior design community of Dallas.
Houston – Everything is bigger in Texas and Houston provided Mecox its largest emporium yet when we opened in late 2008 in arguably the finest large outdoor retail center in the city – Highland Village. This location was a new test for Mecox, by locating our rather unique mix of home and garden furnishings in a more traditional retail shopping environment, many of our neighbors are national retailers. The experiment has been fantastic as Houston, Texas has embraced the largest Mecox store of over 8,000 square feet with open arms.
Pittsburgh – Opening its 8th location on Ellsworth Avenue in the historic district of Shadyside located in the heart of Pittsburgh in the fall of 2016 also marked 20 years since the opening of the very first Mecox Gardens location in Southampton in 1996. The 1,800 square foot shop, located in a two- story townhouse is part of a restored promenade in the historic Shadyside neighborhood that is experiencing somewhat of a retail renaissance. This area offers a variety of stores, boutiques and restaurants and only a few blocks away are Victorian mansions and charming Georgian style homes, many of which were once owned by some of the founding US industrialist families.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Probably like every small business, every day is a challenge! There have been so many ups and downs, so definitely has not been a smooth road! But all of the challenges that have occurred have been positive in that you either learn, adapt and face the challenges, or you disappear. The evolution in our design world over the last twenty years has been amazing, forcing adaptation and change by retailers and design showrooms. The biggest challenges have included growing from one to seven stores in the first half of our history, the devastating impact of the 2008-2009 financial crisis on small businesses and the consumer, and the impact of the internet and the transparency of all aspects of the design world,
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Mecox – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
At Mecox we are dedicated to achieving an overall balance between the indoor and outdoor living environment. At any one of the seven Mecox emporiums, one can always expect a fine selection of home and garden furnishings, united by an unwavering insistence to quality, texture and form. Whether it’s spectacular one of a kind antiques, unusual re-editions or our own classic Mecox designs, assuredly it’s of the very best the world has to offer. As previously mentioned, the reaction to a struggle can lead you in an entirely new direction. We recently launched our own collection of furniture that is sold exclusively at Mecox emporiums. More new merchandise is debuting in early 2018, but our current collection can be found here: . The line features luxurious faux shagreen and faux raffia case goods, a dining and living collection of rattan, rope and raffia forms and ivory parchment case goods and tables.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are excited to launch several new Mecox exclusive collections in 2018. We are constantly inspired by vintage and antique finds and various travels all over the world, that it seemed like a natural evolution to use this design knowledge and form a line of our own creation.
Pricing:
- X Rope Chair $1340
- Reedition Mid-Century Dining Chair $1565
- Alden Pristine White Faux Shagreen Nightstand $2350
Contact Info:
- Address: 4532 Cole Avenue
Dallas, TX 75205 - Website: www.mecox.com
- Phone: 214-580-3800
- Email: dsneed@mecoxgardens.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mecoxgardens/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mecoxgardens/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/mecoxgardens/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mecox-dallas-dallas-3
- Other: http://mecox.com/mecoxcollection
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
