This Dallas Department Store Just Landed $11M in New Funding — And Serena Williams Is One of the Investors

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Neighborhood Goods is ramping up its expansion beyond its Legacy West mall outpost in Plano, Texas.

Just months away from the opening of its second location in New York’s highly trafficked Chelsea Market this fall, the Dallas-based department-store startup has revealed plans for another store set to open in early 2020 on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas.

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“It’s an exciting time at Neighborhood Goods,” said co-founder and CEO Matt Alexander. “In Plano, we will soon more than double the number of active brands since launch, whilst continuing to drive an incredibly thoughtful, progressive and exciting mix of events and activations in the store.”

The new Austin store will be part of a new mixed-use development called Music Lane, adjacent to the first Soho House in Texas as well as the first Equinox in Austin. (Other retail tenants in the space include Allbirds, Lululemon and Reformation.)

“We’re thrilled to bring Neighborhood Goods’ unique approach to retail to South Congress,” said Andrew Joblon, founder and managing principal of Music Lane owner Turnbridge Equities. “Our development will be a vibrant reflection of Austin’s creative spirit, and with Neighborhood Goods as one of our largest tenants, we believe it’ll be a great complement to the project.”

Along with the news, the retailer announced that it has raised $11 million in a Series A round, bringing its total funding to $25.5 million.

The financing was made by Global Founders Capital, with participation from Serena Williams’ venture capital fund Serena Ventures as well as investors Forerunner Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Allen Exploration and Capital Factory.

Since introducing its Plano flagship in November, Neighborhood Goods’ portfolio has nearly doubled from 24 brand partners to 42, including Rothy’s, Fossil and Cynthia Rowley as well as long-term mainstays Draper James and Stadium Goods. It will also debut 16 brands in the space over the next six weeks.

Beyond brick and mortar, the department store’s e-commerce site is preparing for an overhaul. Neighborhood Goods is in the midst of providing functionalities that will allow shoppers to look up events, brands and products across its locations as well as enable in-store pickup. For its brand partners, the retailer is working on a digital platform that will provide them access to real-time data and analytics on store activations.

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