Fort Worth fans of Neiman Marcus, the wait is nearly over! The luxury department store opens its new location this Friday at 10 a.m. at The Shops at Clearfork.
That's in the old Edwards Ranch area on the Southwest Side, a part of the city that is developing quickly.
The Edwards family-owned company has been developing the old ranchland in stages as more businesses are lured by the potential of a piece of land along the Trinity River.
It wasn't so long ago that cows really had the run of Cowtown, especially in the windswept spaces of the Southwest Side. But herds of shoppers and diners are quickly replacing the old way.
"Within the last five to ten years, it's really grown, not only just for family purposes, but really a social life, after hours, networking events, health, fitness events," said Shemika Russell over lunch at Press Café.
Press Café and Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop staked their claim on the Trinity River a little over a year ago. Then there are the rows of new apartments and a hospital.
"It's really added a lot to this area where there used to just be kind of a ranchland type place," said Steven Howard, a sales associate at Mellow Johnny’s.
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Come Friday, the highest-end neighbor yet will open its doors. Neiman Marcus moved to the area from Ridgmar Mall, where it was located for 40 years.
"I think it's just going to drive even more traffic, especially for shoppers like myself," Russell said.
Neiman's will be the only thing open in The Shops at Clearfork until the Fall.
Mall managers aren't ready to announce what else will fill the open spaces of surrounding storefronts.
It's not quite cornfields around the new location and supporters are buying in to the "build it and they will come" approach.
"In the next decade or so, we should definitely see good development over here on the west side of the Metroplex," Howard said.
