Recent from talks
The Shops at Willow Bend
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
The Shops at Willow Bend
The Shops at Willow Bend, sometimes referred to as Willow Bend Mall, is a shopping mall located in Plano, Texas, with 61 stores and three anchor stores. The mall features the traditional retailers Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, and Crate & 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.
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. An estimated 250,000 visitors showed up to the mall during its opening weekend. It faced several challenges from the beginning. The mall opened shortly before the September 11 attacks when nationwide retail sales slowed considerably. In addition to Galleria Dallas, located under 10 miles to the south, Stonebriar Centre previously opened less than a year before on August 4, 2000, just a few miles north in nearby Frisco. 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. Meanwhile, the Galleria Dallas, seven miles to the south, was already an established high end mall with broad appeal, including high end tenants such as Saks Fifth Avenue. The collapse of the telecom corridor to the east of the centers trade area further hampered the mall’s performance.
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. 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. 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.
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.
Hub AI
The Shops at Willow Bend AI simulator
(@The Shops at Willow Bend_simulator)
The Shops at Willow Bend
The Shops at Willow Bend, sometimes referred to as Willow Bend Mall, is a shopping mall located in Plano, Texas, with 61 stores and three anchor stores. The mall features the traditional retailers Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, and Crate & 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.
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. An estimated 250,000 visitors showed up to the mall during its opening weekend. It faced several challenges from the beginning. The mall opened shortly before the September 11 attacks when nationwide retail sales slowed considerably. In addition to Galleria Dallas, located under 10 miles to the south, Stonebriar Centre previously opened less than a year before on August 4, 2000, just a few miles north in nearby Frisco. 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. Meanwhile, the Galleria Dallas, seven miles to the south, was already an established high end mall with broad appeal, including high end tenants such as Saks Fifth Avenue. The collapse of the telecom corridor to the east of the centers trade area further hampered the mall’s performance.
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. 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. 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.
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.
Recent media