By now, if you’re in the home industry, you’ve probably heard of Coco & Dash and Ciao, Coco!, the award-winning Dallas home furnishings and accents stores run by mother-daughter team Teddie and Courtney Garrigan. The stores have a light and airy sophistication, and Teddie and Courtney become friends from the minute you engage with them in the shops. Who wouldn’t want their advice on home design?
“We opened Coco & Dash because we wanted to share a retail vision and design aesthetic that didn’t exist in Dallas,” says Teddie. While both mother and daughter were ready for a change from their career trajectories in 2013, it was this vision and their unique design aesthetic that gave birth to Coco & Dash in 2014.
What exactly is that aesthetic and vision? According to Teddie and Courtney, it’s lots of color and comfort, a little bit of theater, and plenty of unpretentious luxury. Add to that a healthy dose of Southern hospitality that’s delivered in an approachable setting by people who care about the customer experience and you have Coco & Dash.
A mere five years later, after the debut of the first shop, a move next door to a larger redesigned space prompted the opening of their second home accessories retail concept, Ciao, Coco! And, the mother-daughter duo are evolving the business once again — adding interior design services to their Dallas location, an evolution solidly based on customer requests.
“We really listen to our customers,” Teddie says. “And we use that information, coupled with our own observations and experience, to inform changes to our business model.”
That’s not to say the Garrigans jumped right into design services with the first request. “For several years we stayed exclusively on the retail side because we aren’t classically trained interior designers,” Courtney says, adding that they built a trade program that resulted in a strong following of interior designers from across the United States. However, customers love the Coco & Dash aesthetic and even designers started asking for the Garrigans’ help in finding items that would work in their own projects.
Third time’s the charm
Finally, it was a customer who came back three times asking for their help who convinced the Garrigans to take her on as an interior design client. “It ended up being a really good experience for both parties and we realized this could be the next logical step for us creatively,” says Courtney. “And because we’re process and organization fanatics on the retail side, we knew how to translate that to a design business.”
And while they are just “at the tip of the iceberg,” according to Courtney, those design projects are coming in. In addition to a completed Dallas law firm and several residential projects, an upcoming design project will take the Garrigans out of Texas, to Washington, DC, where they’ll be decorating an entire house in the Chevy Chase neighborhood for a young couple. “Creating a home as the backdrop for building family history is very exciting,” Teddie notes. “It’s a very personal way to touch lives.”
Trading spaces
Now that the Garrigans have decided to offer design services, they’re doing it the way they do everything: all in.
Plans are underway to add a fully functioning Coco & Dash design studio, complete with samples for customers to choose from, keeping in mind that those choices will be curated to mirror the Coco & Dash style. Partnering with exceptional vendors that share the same high standards in quality and service, Coco & Dash will also provide customization for new furniture lines that will be arriving in the store, including upholstery and casegoods.
“We’ve always shopped with a decorating eye,” says Teddie. With that in mind, the Garrigans steer clear of following the trends. “We want people to know they’re getting something special and unique, something they won’t be seeing in their neighbor’s house,” Courtney says.
Wait, there’s more...
If you think adding this new level of service for their customers, reconfiguring their space and branching out once again is all that’s happening for the Garrigans, you’d be incorrect.
Ciao, Coco!, while undergoing floor space changes to allow for the new design studio, will also get a merchandise makeover of sorts, as the Garrigans plan to bring in bedding lines that will help customers create custom bedrooms. “We believe that the bedroom is one of the most important places in our homes,” says Teddie. “Again, listening to our customers and looking at the market, this will be an exciting addition to Ciao, Coco!.”
