The mall first opened on August 3, 2001, with about 75% occupancy and four anchor stores. It 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, 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 malls 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 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 Town Center 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. In 2004, Saks Fifth Avenue was added as a fifth anchor. Later that year the total number of anchor stores dropped to four as Lord & Taylor closed their location, citing a weak and competitive regional marketplace. In 2006, Foley's was changed to Macy's. In 2010, the total number of anchor stores dropped to three with the closing of Saks Fifth Avenue. In 2011, a Crate & Barrel opened in the vacant Lord & Taylor. 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 makeover and renovation with the former Saks Fifth Avenue building being repurposed with internal and external facing restaurants and entertainment venues. This makeover has not worked out well as since 2015, traffic had dropped significantly. This failure to stimulate traffic led to Starwood defaulting on the $137.5Million owed when the loan matured Nov 8 2019.. Current management has since focused on attracting more well-known retail chain stores after the failure of prior management to limit most tenant leases to upscale luxury women's apparel shops. In March 2018, the 60,000-square-foot Crayola Experience opened between Macy's and the food court. In April 2019, Apple Store closed and relocated to Galleria Dallas to help protect Apple from excessive patent litigation in the Eastern District of Texas.
