The Shops at Willow Bend

The Shops at Willow Bend (also called Willow Bend Mall)

Center court, January 2013
Location	Plano, TX in Collin County, Texas,  United States
Opening date	August 3, 2001
Developer	Taubman Centers
Owner	Starwood Capital Group
Architect	JPRA Architect
No. of stores and services	125
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1,391,000 sq ft (129,200 m2) (129,228 m²)
No. of floors	(Macy's, Dillard's, and Neiman-Marcus are 3 levels, Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware are one level, the rest of the mall is 2 floors)
Website	http://www.shopwillowbend.com/

The Shops at Willow Bend is a shopping mall located in Plano, Texas, with over 125 stores and three anchor stores. The mall is located at the intersection of West Park Boulevard (FM 544) and Dallas North Tollway in West Plano.

The Shops at Willow Bend opened on August 3, 2001, with about 75% occupancy and four anchor stores. The upscale mall faced several challenges from the beginning. The luxury mall opened shortly before the September 11, 2001 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. Stonebriar was also considerably larger than Willow Bend, offered more amenities and entertainment such as a movie theater and ice skating 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 malls performance.

The upscale 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 luxury fashion that would appeal to an affluent female 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 Mall in north Dallas. Original tenants included several luxury shops such as Escada, Bruno Magli, Burberry, Armani Collezioni, Montblanc, Nicole Miller, Diesel, D&G, and Loro Piana among others, all of which were eventually closed and replaced with chain stores of somewhat broader appeal, including the Apple Store.