Adrian Wright knows the power of the “the bricks” that remain a signature element of Camp Bowie Boulevard.
Wright, owner of home goods store Wright At Home at 4003 Camp Bowie Blvd., originally opened his design store “on the bricks,” as the locals say, in 2002. After a short move to nearby The Shops at Clearfork retail development, he returned last year.
“There are just customers that like to pull in off the bricks, park and shop right out front,” he said. “It’s a different experience from Clearfork.”
The Camp Bowie District includes more than 700 mostly locally owned businesses ranging from bakeries to restaurants to boutique retailers and serves the 11 surrounding neighborhoods that span the brick-paved 6 miles from Montgomery Street to Irene Street.
Wright’s customers are hardly the only ones who view a visit to the bricks as a chance to sample the numerous restaurants and boutiques along the boulevard.
A 2025 study showed the district draws nearly 2 million visits annually, a 5% increase over 2024.
What are the top issues on the bricks?
- Panhandling
- Insufficient parking
- Homelessness or housing insecurity
- Lack of businesses to household
- Lack of green space
Source: Main Street America’s Camp Bowie District study.
The large number of visitors to the area was a surprise to Lydia Guajardo Rickard, executive director of Camp Bowie District, the nonprofit that manages the public improvement district for the area.
“That number really caught my attention, because that’s a significant number,” she said. “When you realize we’re not trying to be a tourist destination, that’s a lot of visits.”
The Camp Bowie District commissioned the study from Main Street America, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that supports preservation-based economic development in historic commercial districts. The district will use the data to create a master plan to support additional development.
The Polytechnic Heights and Historic Northside neighborhoods have partnered with Main Street America to work on revitalization plans for those areas.
A map of “the bricks,” the area covered by the Camp Bowie District. (Courtesy | Camp Bowie District)
Not only was Rickard surprised by the number of visits, she also did not expect that the majority of visitors lived outside the district.
“When you think about the Stockyards getting 9 (million) or 10 million visitors and they’re trying to be a tourist destination, well, we obviously have become a bit of a lifestyle destination,” she said. “People from other areas, whether they’re visiting or they live in Fort Worth, are really saying this is a place where I want to shop.”
While there are plenty of shoppers, the study also shows many of those visitors don’t stay to dine in the district.
“That jumped off the page to me,” she said. “We are losing traction in dining because we don’t offer enough dining options.”
Restaurants, in fact, topped the list of businesses more area residents desired for Camp Bowie.
“It seems like we have a lot of restaurants, but they may not be the type people are looking for,” Rickard said.
Luxury and rock ‘n’ roll
A recent shift in the district has been the opening of two high-profile luxury hotels in the area and the impact of Dickies Arena, Rickard said.
Auberge Collection opened the Bowie House hotel at the end of 2023 and it rapidly became one of the largest drivers of traffic for the area, according to Main Street America’s study.
Just further east on Camp Bowie, Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate also built a luxury hotel, The Crescent Fort Worth.
Both of those hotels have had an impact, according to the study. Even Wright noticed that, despite his establishment being located several blocks east of the hotels.
“We’ve had people come into the shop who have walked down from the hotels,” he said. “I think that just shows how inviting this area is.”
The opening of Dickies Arena also generated a lot of business for the district as attendees stay in the area to shop and dine.
“Even though it’s outside the district, it’s had a big impact,” said Rickard.
The Camp Bowie District is currently conducting meetings with its members and the community on how to craft a plan for the area.
As the meetings and brainstorming continues, some changes will be made soon.
“The survey showed that people didn’t know which subdistrict of Camp Bowie they were in,” she said. “We’ll start putting up some banners soon to reflect that.”
The district continues to grow, with over 30 locally owned businesses opening their doors in the last year alone, Rickard said. The demand is real, she said.
But survey respondents also identified what they see as the most important issues facing the area: Panhandling, housing insecurity and limited parking.
“I think the panhandling issue is actually more just outside the district, but it is perceived as an issue here and housing insecurity is a citywide issue,” said Rickard.
Parking is an issue they are working on, Rickard noted, but it is difficult in an urban area where “one size doesn’t fit all” to solve the problem.
“That’s something that we’ll be really focusing on,” she said. “We have a committee dedicated to that.”
The key will be maintaining the neighborhood commercial while creating opportunities for the area’s larger anchors to prosper, said C.B. Team, chairman of the district’s economic development and design review committee.
“We are able to take the best parts of Camp Bowie and preserve them while looking to bring a renaissance of sorts to the areas that need it,” Team said. “We are committed to our future while protecting the integrity of the corridor.”
The area is one where local businesses have thrived for more than a century, he said.
“That has not changed; we just need to be positioned to meet the needs of today’s consumers in a rapidly growing urban center,” Team said.
Bob Francis is business editor at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Lydia Guajardo Rickard is a member of the Fort Worth Report’s board of advisors.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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