Eleven months ago, Forever 21 announced it would close all of its locations, including its 25,000-square-foot location that had been at Grapevine Mills mall since 2009.
On Sept. 8, the city of Grapevine and the mall announced that Bubble Planet, an interactive installation with 12 immersive, multisensory rooms, would fill that anchor spot.
Bubble Planet opened Oct. 23, becoming the seventh entertainment concept that has backfilled a retail vacancy since 2019.
In November 2025, there were 821,299 visitors to the mall, compared to 782,946 in 2024, according to data from Placer AI, a firm that utilizes location data from mobile devices. The new attraction and holiday shopping mix contributed to an increase of 38,353 visitors, 4.9%, in foot traffic in year-over-year data.
This spring, Dig World will be the first attraction added to a previously vacant spot since the mall opened in 1997.
“[The mall] used to be about getting a deal, but now it’s about an experience and something memorable and worth sharing on social media, like Bubble Planet,” said Garin Giacomarro, Grapevine’s economic development director.
What you need to know
Dig World, a construction-themed attraction, debuted at Katy Mills mall in 2022. In late 2024, officials began scouting a second location.
Grapevine Mills and Katy Mills are owned by Simon Property Group. Joe Szymaszek, Grapevine Mills general manager, got in touch with Dig World co-founder Alex Carroll, who grew up in Dallas, through the Simon connection.
“I said, ‘We’ve got a site we’ve been saving for the right use,’” Szymaszek said. “When you get a chance to bring in something unique, that quickly escalates the process.”
A 2.8-acre tract by Homewood Suites has remained empty since 1997. Szymaszek said the land had received inquiries for years.
“We could’ve done a lot of things on this parcel, but it didn’t make sense for what we were trying to do at the mall,” he said.
In early 2025, mall officials announced Dig World would open in Grapevine. It is the third immersive destination, joining Meow Wolf and Bubble Planet, to open in the past four years.
What they’re saying
Giacomarro said the partnership between Merlin Entertainment, which operates half of the immersive experiences at the mall, and Simon has been transformative.
Carroll said when Dig World was searching for a new location, one of the first targets was Frisco. He said the work of Simon, the city of Grapevine and Grapevine Economic Development helped seal the deal.
“People think malls are dead; we walked in here on a Saturday, and you’re shoulder-to-shoulder, and you have a two-hour wait for Rainforest Cafe,” Carroll said.
According to city data, the mall averaged 707,726 visitors a month in 2025 and peaked with 1.15 million visitors in December.
“We continue to look for ways to keep us on the cutting edge of adding entertainment that you can’t find elsewhere in the metroplex or really in a multistate radius,” Szymaszek said.
The impact
The Texas General Store moved from Main Street in Grapevine to the mall in March to gain more consistent foot traffic, owner Jessica Cruz said.
“While the festivals and holiday season were great revenue generators for our business, the times between were very slow compared to the business volume at Grapevine Mills,” Cruz said in an email.
Though the transition into the mall was a struggle with moving expenses, Cruz reported that the consistent traffic throughout the year in Grapevine Mills made it worthwhile.
“Our previous location was in an outdoor foot traffic area,” Cruz said. “We’ve had a tornado warning during a festival and ice storm on a Saturday in December. These are times we had hoped for the highest sales, but customer volume was non-existent.”
According to data from Placer AI, Main Street in Grapevine received 44,000 visits in December while Grapevine Mills received 1.4 million.
“Grapevine is all about tourism,” Giacomarro said. “[Grapevine Mills is] a microcosm for what the city is set up for. We have the hotel rooms, we have the atmosphere that we’ve created. Having that partnership [with the mall] is a game changer.”
What’s next
The development is not limited to just the mall. Across FM 2499, Floor & Decor will open a new location this spring at 3200 Grapevine Mills Parkway.
“Grapevine Mills has been a long-standing economic development partner for the city of Grapevine and the Grapevine Chamber,” said RaDonna Hessel, CEO of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce. “Historically, [malls] provided an exceptional tax base for the community.”
