Grapevine Mills first opened October 30, 1997. You can see a map of what the mall looked like in early 1998 here, but to describe it, the mall was arranged in a "racetrack" formation, with six "neighborhoods" and their corresponding distinctive entrances and themes (though there weren't distinctive store groupings per neighborhood). Starting at Neighborhood/Entry 1, with the "Football Entry", there was The Sports Authority. Moving into Neighborhood 2, there was a vacant space (later developed into the large "Casual Corner Annex"), Off 5th, Books-a-Million, the "U.S. Flag & Texas Flag Entry", a huge Rainforest Cafe, Old Navy, Group USA, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Neighborhood 3 (with the "Bluebonnet Entry") had JCPenney Outlet Store and Burlington Coat Factory. Neighborhood 4 (with the "Twister Entry") had Marshalls, Neighborhood 6 featured the "Entertainment Entry", and held American Wilderness Zoo & Aquarium (though I can't find if this actually opened), GameWorks (a new entertainment center chain and a joint venture of Sega, DreamWorks, and Universal Studios), the Stockyards Food Court (featuring, among others, Starbucks, Cinnabon, Burger King, Panda Express, Sbarro, and Kenny Roger's Roasters), along with some other nearby restaurants, including Chili's Too (most commonly seen on airports and college campuses), Corner Bakery, and Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill. Neighborhood 6 ("Wine Barrel Entry") had Western Warehouse.
You could cut through the center of the mall with Off Rodeo Drive, a "mall-within-a-mall" of toney boutiques operated by Bernini, as well as Virgin Megastore. If Off Rodeo Drive at Grapevine Mills was anything like Ontario Mills (Los Angeles area, where Rodeo Drive actually was) the result was a gloomy and claustrophobic mall corridor not unlike the themed "mall-within-a-malls" of the early 1970s. Additionally, across from the Entertainment Entry, was the massive AMC Grapevine Mills 30, which opened December 1997. It wasn't actually connected to the mall, there was an outdoor courtyard between the mall's exit and the entrance to the theater.
In December 1999, Polar Ice opened at Grapevine Mills. This ice rink became a Dr Pepper StarCenter ice rink. From what I can tell, the Dr Pepper StarCenter was part of the NHL team Dallas Stars and sponsored by Dr Pepper (which at that time was owned by Cadbury-Schweppes). By the early 2010s, the rink was disconnected from Dr Pepper StarCenter and reverted to Polar Ice House. I believe it would've been the third mall in the Metroplex with an ice rink at the time, following Dallas Galleria and Prestonwood Town Center, though the mall directories don't make it clear if it actually connected to the mall. Sun & Ski Sports (with another unused space) was added in 2000, as well as Just for Feet that same year next to Western Warehouse. The only other major physical addition was Neiman Marcus Last Call, added in spring 2002 to entry 2. The mall was renovated in 2012 but it was the tenants that went through the most changes.
For some of these it's difficult to tell when one ends and the other begins, but starting with The Sports Authority, by 2007 it had already left the mall and was replaced with Steve & Barry's University Sportswear. This was later divided between Ross Dress for Less and Vanity Fair Outlet by 2017 (the latter is now Macy's Backstage as of 2023). The aforementioned Casual Corner Annex is now smaller stores including Victoria's Secret and a Banana Republic Factory Store. Off 5th is still there. Books-A-Million at some point moved elsewhere in the mall and was replaced by H&M in 2012. At some point in the late 2010s/early 2020s Group USA - The Clothing Company became Camille La Vie and moved to an in-line space while the old space became Arhaus The Loft.
Bed Bath & Beyond closed in fall 2016 and in May 2023 was filled with a permanent Meow Wolf exhibit (The Real Unreal). It was premiered with a commercial that didn't actually show what the exhibit was about, but rather what the sort of surreal stuff Meow Wolf was known for, having made a big splash with Omega Mart, another installation in Las Vegas.
JCPenney Outlet Store was converted to JC's 5 Star Outlets as part of JCPenney divesting their outlet operations in 2011, though it looks like the Grapevine store was never officially rebranded as such before the chain went under in 2013. This was replaced with indoor sports courts (Fieldhouse USA) that opened in 2017 (it appears "Direct Impact Golf" and "Shoot360" are outside the mall and take some leftover space). Burlington Coat Factory is now known simply as Burlington and still there, as is Marshalls. At some point in the 2000s The Children's Place was added to Entry 4. At Entry 5, the ill-fated American Wilderness site (again, if it ever opened) was replaced by Jekyll & Hyde, a huge nightclub/restaurant, though this failed and by fall 2001 it was announced to be ESPN X Games Skateparks. By the late 2000s this would be rebranded as Woodward Skatepark and in 2011 would be Legoland Discovery Center. GameWorks closed in 2010 and was replaced with Sea Life (both of these were operated by Merlin Entertainment). Western Warehouse closed in 2009 and became Off Broadway Shoes. Just for Feet later became a Nike Factory Store. The closure of the ice rink in 2014 gave way to Round One Entertainment (this does connect to the mall). The space adjacent to Sun & Ski Sports became Sears Outlet by 2017 and was rebranded to American Freight in 2020. In the center of the mall, Off Rodeo became Forever 21 by 2005, while Virgin Megastore closed with the chain's bankruptcy and became smaller stores with no cut-through.
I never did visit Grapevine Mills personally but I associate it with a 2004 Dallas trip (where I obtained the map, actually just near the Kennedy assassination site) and of course, the connection via GameWorks to Yoot Tower was a plus.
As part of the same map above, here are the other parts of the map, including advertising for GameWorks:
* GameWorks, The Athlete's Foot, Off 5th
* Cover and information.
Additionally, there is a c. 2004 PDF I had previously uploaded to the site.
