Dallas Market Center

Dallas Market Center, located in Dallas, Texas (USA), is a 5,000,000 square foot (460,000 m²) wholesale trade center housing showrooms selling consumer products including gifts, lighting, home décor, apparel, fashion accessories, shoes, tabletop/housewares, gourmet, floral, holiday, and more. The marketplace is closed to the public but open to qualified retail buyers and interior designers, manufacturers, and industry professionals. Market events throughout the year attract more than 200,000 buyers and sellers from all 50 states and more than 80 countries.

The four-building campus includes the World Trade Center, Trade Mart, International Trade Plaza (The Plaza), and Market Hall. Inside these buildings, nearly 2,300 permanent showrooms offer more than 35,000 product lines from manufacturers around the world.

The largest building is the World Trade Center, a 3 million-square-foot (914,400 m²) building standing 15 stories. Inside the World Trade Center are showrooms including gifts, home accessories, lighting, floral, holiday, jewelry, rugs, toys, gourmet foods, furniture, and linens.

The two-story International Trade Plaza is the original building at Dallas Market Center.

Dallas Market Center was founded in 1957 by real estate developer Trammell Crow. The first building was the Dallas Homefurnishings Mart, designed by Donald H. Speck. The 434,000-square-foot (40,300 m²) building was reborn in 1999 as the International Floral & Gift Center and is now known as The International Trade Plaza.

The first trade event at Dallas Market Center was held in July 1957 and was attended by 1,850 visitors. Today, the largest markets attract more than 50,000 attendees from all 50 states and 84 countries.

The Dallas Trade Mart, the second Dallas Market Center building, was designed by Harold Berry, Donald Speck, and Harwell Hamilton Harris and opened its doors in 1958. The project provided 980,000 square feet (91,000 m²) at a cost of $12,640,000.

The Trade Mart was the destination of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade on November 22, 1963 when he was assassinated in Dealey Plaza. He was scheduled to give a speech to 2,600 people at a sold-out luncheon in the Grand Courtyard.

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