The Shops at Willow Bend

The Shops at Willow Bend

Center court, January 2013
Location	Plano, Texas, United States
Opening date	August 3, 2001;23 years ago (2001-08-03) [1]
Developer	Taubman Centers
Management	Centennial Real Estate [2]
Owner	Centennial Real Estate
Architect	JPRA Architect [3]
No. of stores and services	84
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1,391,000 sq ft (129,200 m2) [4]
No. of floors	2 (3 in Macy's, Dillard's, and Neiman Marcus, 1 in Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware)
Website	www.shopwillowbend.com

The Shops at Willow Bend, sometimes referred to as Willow Bend Mall, is a shopping mall located in Plano, Texas, with 84 stores and three anchor stores. The mall features the traditional retailers Dillard's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Crate and Barrel, in addition to the Crayola Experience and Equinox. It currently features several additional prominent specialty retailers such as Brooks Brothers, J. Jill, Johnston & Murphy and Allen Edmonds. It is located at the intersection of West Park Boulevard (Farm to Market Road 544) and Dallas North Tollway in West Plano.

History

The first Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex shopping mall of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, the Shops at Willow Bend opened on August 3, 2001, with occupancy near 75% and four anchor stores: Foley's, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Dillard's. ^[5] It faced several challenges from the beginning. The mall opened shortly before the September 11 attacks when nationwide retail sales slowed considerably. Stonebriar Centre previously opened less than a year before on August 4, 2000, just a few miles north in nearby Frisco. ^[6] Stonebriar was also considerably larger, offered more amenities and entertainment such as a movie theater and ice rink, and offered a wider selection of shops and restaurants with broad appeal. The collapse of the telecom corridor to the east of the centers trade area further hampered the mall’s performance.

Neiman Marcus Court

The mall was developed and originally managed by Taubman Centers, which was highly selective in accepting tenants. Despite being designed as a regional shopping center with over 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m²) of space, management originally planned to limit the focus of Willow Bend shoppers to upscale stores which would appeal to an affluent clientele. The four original anchor stores were Dillard's, Foley's, Lord & Taylor, and Neiman Marcus. The Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus stores were replacements for those at the since-demolished Prestonwood Town Center in north Dallas.

In 2004, Saks Fifth Avenue was added as a fifth anchor. ^[5] By 2005, Lord & Taylor shuttered entirely.

In 2006, Foley's became Macy's.

In August 2010, Saks Fifth Avenue announced it would be shuttering entirely as part of a strategy implemented to improve profit margins substantially by electing to shutter nearly thirty five percent of its entire base over the course of several years. ^[7] In 2011, a new Crate & Barrel opened in the original Lord & Taylor structure which had been reconstructed.

In 2014, the mall was sold as part of a 7 property package to Starwood Capital Group for approximately $1.4 billion. ^[8]

In 2015, it was announced the mall would undergo a $126 million renovation with the original Saks Fifth Avenue structure being reconstructed with internal and external facing restaurants and entertainment venues. ^[9]

In March 2018, the 60,000-square-foot Crayola Experience opened between Macy's and the food court. ^{[10] [11]}

In April 2023, it was announced the mall would be updated one more time including transforming the northern section of the mall into an open air shopping center featuring additional retail stores, an 18-story hotel, a 7-story office building and three 5-story buildings with 960 apartments. Construction is expected to take place in 2025. ^[12]

On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store will close in March 2025. ^[13]

Current Anchor Tenants ^[14]

• Neiman Marcus (153,300 sq ft., opened 2001)
• Dillard's (249,200 sq ft., opened 2001)
• Macy's (200,000 sq ft., opened as Foley's in 2001, renamed Macy's in 2006)
• Crate & Barrel (29,000 sq ft., opened 2011, built on pad of former Lord & Taylor)

Former Anchor Tenants

• Lord & Taylor (140,000 sq ft., opened 2001, closed 2005, demolished 2010) ^[5]
• Saks Fifth Avenue (122,900 sq ft., opened 2004, closed 2010, demolished 2016)

See also

• List of shopping malls in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
• Stonebriar Mall

References

1. Chapter 3: I Go to the Mall. I Get a Suit. Retrieved Nov 3, 2012.
2. "Shops at Willow Bend - Plano, TX". Spinoso Real Estate Group. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
3. "The Shops At Willow Bend" . Retrieved December 1, 2012.
4. Taubman Centers: Willow Bend Archived 2007-01-01 at the Wayback Machine Leasing Information. Retrieved Feb 15, 2007.
5. Halkias, Maria. "Saks to close Shops at Willow Bend store on Saturday". Dallas Morning News .
6. Halkias, Maria (February 9, 2011). "Frisco's Stonebriar Centre getting a Michael Kors store and more". Dallas Morning News .
7. "Saks Incorporated to Close Its Saks Fifth Avenue Stores in Plano, Texas and Mission Viejo, California" (Press release). Business Wire. August 17, 2010.
8. Carlisle, Candace (June 18, 2014). "The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano sells to Starwood". American City Business Journals .
9. "Plano's Shops at Willow Bend getting a $100 million redo: restaurants, luxury hotel, office tower and entertainment anchor". The Dallas Morning News . October 20, 2015.
10. "New Crayola Experience Coming to Shops at Willow Bend in Plano". NBC News . June 13, 2017.
11. "The Colorful Crayola Experience Opens in Plano". March 15, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
12. "Plano gets details of long-awaited overhaul of Shops at Willow Bend mall". April 10, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
13. Tyko, Kelly (January 9, 2025). "Macy's closing 66 more stores in 2025. See the closure list". Axios. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
14. "Mall Map" . Retrieved November 4, 2012.

External links

• The Shops at Willow Bend home page

33°1′51″N96°49′57″W / 33.03083°N 96.83250°W / 33.03083; -96.83250