The Shops at Willow Bend — Attraction in Plano

I’ve lived 20 years in Plano and have gone to Willow through the years. It started out as a high end mall with St. John’s, Lord & Taylor, Saks etc. and admittedly they were not going to survive if they didn’t bring in more economically accessible stores. In the past 3 years my husband and I have frequented the restaurants on property, but since the closing of the Apple Store and then covid we never really went into the mall staying mostly in the anchor properties. We actually went into the mall to take a spin this past week and I was shocked. The vacancy rate was around 45% on the second floor and 30% on the first floor. Notably gone were national store chains: NY & Co, Anthropologie, Bose, Ann Taylor, Forever 21, Banana Republic, Talbot’s, Teavana, Starbucks to name only a few. What’s there now are lower end mom and pop stores that close for long lunches, way to many art galleries (usually don’t occupy malls unless they’re getting cheap rent), cheap clothes, a DJ and Karaoke supply store and a 3D printing venue (the latter two usually can’t afford mall rent), and a smattering of furniture stores that again are atypical for a mall that used to bill itself as a fashion mall. There was even a lash application school. Also there were at least 3 shops with city signage indicating they were evicted, but hadn’t yet cleared out their merchandise. It was a sorry sight to see, downright depressing. This used to be my favorite mall to shop at along with Watters Creek and I favored it over Galleria and Stonebriar. I really don’t see how the new owners are going to turn this around. The current tenant list isn’t going to promote a good future image if this continues to degrade. I can hardly believe that Brooks Brothers, Vineyard Vines, Brighton and L’Occitane are still there. I likely won’t shop there again unless there’s a turnaround. When I go to a mall it’s usually for a fashion purchase otherwise I just go to specialty stand alone stores for furniture, housewares, decor,...

'The Shops at Willow Bend' is the weirdest mall in the DFW area for us; especially since they've made a recent (and expensive) addition to it.

The best way I can explain it is, take a zombie and buy/dress it up in fashionable clothes; that's 'The Shops at Willow Bend'.

This mall is beautiful inside and there are a lot of customers hanging around (especially around the children's play area), but it's been slowly dying (retail-wise) for years. My guess is that the management thought that if they added some exciting fine dining, a fitness studio, and a Crate & Barrel then that'll turn things around.

Well, it hasn't seemed to work so far, because when we got there on a Saturday (around 2pm); a lot of these fine dining places were not open, the food court is just... sad, and over a quarter of the spaces in the mall are vacant or closed.

Like I stated before, there are lots of people hanging around so it would seem that this would draw retailers to this mall, but some parts just look like a ghost town (maybe they're asking too much for leases? IDK?)

Anyhow, as of 2023, they do have a pretty big toy store that mostly focuses on Star Wars merch and a Squishable store; both things that my wife is interested in, so it's not like there's nothing to see/shop for us.

For everyone else, if you're interested in fashionable stuff, there's Neiman Marcus and a handful of boutique stores. And if you're a parent of small children, you can find Crayola-land (an indoor theme park), a busy free indoor play area, and a really neat photo studio that makes your kids look...

I was Shocked when spoke to an employee at a major store at the Mall. He said and I quote There are malls 5 miles away on either side of us! Shameful! Car dealers deliberately zone next to each other in every state ll! We all know what a difficult year it's been . But the employee continued to tell me some businesses gave up refusing to open! Omg Florida has NEVER closed for business. Of course some stores closed but what I saw was a sin. If I owned this mall it would be thriving! There were shoppers . Poor attitude and terrible management. So everyone's leases are forgiven? California Puzza Kitchen was busy. The best burgers in the world never opened . Dillard's really White Black ? Where am I ? Good marketing and careful planning as a united force would reignite this mall. 😀 Failure is no excuse. THE employee not at California Puzza Kitchen by the way a clothing major chain said our online sales are skyrocketing! Sure We are Americans we fight for business no matter what. Get my favorite dream team there Dalkas Cowboys 🤠💙 Do event The roads are jammed . Where are they going ? Clearly to the other malls with better ideas 💡 for getting people there. Turn off TV put on your mask get vacinbated and help these...