The 80-year-old Maddox Shop, which sold custom bras and upscale lingerie long before Victoria’s Secret, has closed because of increasing rental rates.
The store’s website has been taken down, and a status posted Thursday on its Facebook page said the business had closed. The post received more than 200 reactions, 100 comments and 30 shares from distraught women who must now look elsewhere for specialty bras.
The Maddox Shop has supplied women with custom-fit bras for more than 80 years, beginning in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Founder Peggy Maddox ran the business from her home and fitted polio victims with back braces and undergarments.
It later became known for offering extended bra sizes and fitting bras for double mastectomy patients — before newspapers would even print the words “breast cancer.” It still received recommendations from businesses and doctors all over the city.
In 1934, Maddox moved into the Medical Arts Building downtown and eventually to Casa Linda Plaza, where it has operated since 1961. It was the oldest continuously operating tenant in the shopping center at the time of its closing.
Owner Mark Snyder, who bought the business in 1987, told the Dallas Morning News the shop is closing because the plaza’s owner is charging rental rates that are too high.
Snyder considered moving to another shopping center but couldn’t find the right space. His lease at the Casa Linda Plaza — which is also home to Petco, Natural Grocer’s and Starbucks — was to end Dec. 31.
Potential buyers looked at the store but wanted to stay in the same location, the Morning News reported. Snyder told the newspaper that they walked away after not being able to make the numbers work either.
