Here’s how the corner of Jefferson and Polk looked in 1980. The corner restaurant still serves Mexican food as La Hechizera Tortas.
Rick Furniture, a company that dated back to 1872 in Dallas, had a storefront on Bishop Avenue starting in 1925 and then moved to Jefferson Boulevard in the ’40s, where it had a presence for decades.
When this store at 1005 W. Jefferson was “modernized” in 1951, its neon sign was touted as “one of the largest of its kind in Oak Cliff.” The building has since been replaced by a four-story office building.
By the late 1970s, the company was being run by a fourth generation of the Rick family and had moved to 611 W. Jefferson, taking over the bygone Sears store where Fiesta Mart is now.
Their 175,000-square-foot store had parking for 500 cars and a play area for kids. Shoppers were offered coffee and soft drinks.
The Rick family closed its Oak Cliff headquarters in 1984 after a dispute with a national computer manufacturer that sold the company an inventory and ordering system that the furniture store’s owners said never worked.
