If you saw a headline about Dillard’s closing and assumed the entire chain was shutting down, you’re not alone. That kind of news travels fast — and usually loses important details along the way. The real situation is more specific, and worth understanding clearly before you panic or assume your local store is gone.
This article covers what’s actually confirmed: which store is closing, why it’s closing, how employees are affected, and what the broader pattern looks like for Dillard’s as a company.
Dillard’s Is Not Going Out of Business — But Some Stores Are Closing
Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first. Dillard’s as a company is not shutting down, filing for bankruptcy, or liquidating. No credible source supports that claim.
As of the mid-2020s, Dillard’s still operates around 270+ locations across the United States. What’s happening is a slow, selective reduction in its store count — a few closures at a time, not a mass shutdown.
This kind of gradual contraction is common in retail. Companies regularly close underperforming or strategically misaligned locations while keeping the rest of their stores open. Dillard’s closing a store in one city doesn’t mean the store in your city is next.
The Plano, Texas Store Is the Confirmed Closure to Know About
The closure getting the most attention right now is the Dillard’s clearance store at The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas. This location is scheduled to close between January 12 and January 25, 2026.
A Texas WARN notice confirmed that approximately 93 employees will be laid off in connection with this closure. Layoffs are expected on or shortly after January 12, 2026.
If you’re not familiar with a WARN notice — it stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. It’s a legal requirement. When a company plans large-scale layoffs, they must give advance notice to both the affected workers and the state. It exists so employees have time to prepare, look for new jobs, or access support services before their last day.
This store had a long-standing presence at the Willow Bend mall and operated as a clearance-format location, which is a slightly different setup from a standard Dillard’s department store. It sold discounted and clearance merchandise rather than full-price inventory.
Why This Location Is Closing — It’s Not Just About Sales
It would be easy to assume Dillard’s closed this store because it was struggling. But the fuller picture points to something bigger: the mall itself is being torn down and rebuilt.
The Shops at Willow Bend is being redeveloped into a mixed-use project. That means apartments, townhomes, and single-family homes are planned to replace much of what was once a traditional enclosed shopping mall. City leaders approved this redevelopment, and it’s expected to result in more than 60 store closures across the property as the transformation moves forward.
Dillard’s isn’t the only major name leaving. Neiman Marcus has also announced its departure from Willow Bend, with its planned exit in January 2027. Before that, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor had already left the mall. Dillard’s is essentially the latest in a line of anchor stores that have exited as the property shifts away from traditional retail.
So this closure isn’t simply a case of a Dillard’s store failing on its own. It’s part of a mall-level change — a whole property transitioning from a shopping center into something different. That context matters when you’re trying to understand what this says about Dillard’s overall health.
How Many Dillard’s Stores Have Actually Closed Recently
According to reporting from MassLive, Dillard’s closed at least one location in 2024, another in 2025, and has at least one more — the Plano store — confirmed for early 2026. That’s a handful of closures over a couple of years, not a wave.
MassLive described this as Dillard’s “quietly shrinking its footprint” — which is a fair way to put it. The company isn’t making dramatic announcements. It’s making calculated adjustments, closing specific stores while continuing to operate the majority of its locations.
This pattern isn’t unique to Dillard’s. Macy’s has been closing stores in phases for years. JCPenney went through bankruptcy and came out the other side with a smaller store count. These aren’t signs of companies in freefall — they’re examples of legacy retailers trimming locations that no longer make sense, whether because of mall deterioration, changing shopping habits, or lease economics.
Reading a few closures as proof that hundreds more are coming isn’t supported by the available evidence. That kind of assumption tends to spread faster than the actual facts.
What This Means for Employees and Local Shoppers
For Employees
The 93 workers at the Plano Willow Bend location face layoffs starting around January 12, 2026. The WARN notice gives them some time to prepare — that’s the whole point of the requirement. If you’re one of those workers, it’s worth connecting with Texas Workforce Commission resources sooner rather than later.
For employees at other Dillard’s locations, there’s no current evidence suggesting additional large-scale layoffs tied to upcoming closures beyond what’s already been confirmed.
For Shoppers
If you shopped at the Willow Bend Dillard’s, the store is running storewide discounts as it winds down — at least 20% off, based on reports from shoppers who visited during the clearance period. If you’re in the area and looking for deals before it closes, that’s worth knowing.
For shoppers who want to continue shopping at Dillard’s in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, other locations remain open. According to Yahoo News, stores in Fort Worth, Dallas, Irving, Garland, Frisco, Lewisville, and Hurst were still operating as alternatives. The most reliable way to confirm whether a specific location is open is to use the Dillard’s store locator on their website, which reflects current store status.
The Bigger Picture: Malls Are Changing, Not Just Dillard’s
What’s happening at Willow Bend is a good example of a broader shift in how retail space is being used. Traditional enclosed malls — the kind that were anchored by department stores — have been losing foot traffic for years. Landlords and city planners are increasingly converting those spaces into mixed-use developments that combine housing, restaurants, entertainment, and smaller retail.
Department stores like Dillard’s, Macy’s, and JCPenney were built for a retail model that worked well for decades but has become harder to sustain. That doesn’t mean these companies are doomed — it means they’re adjusting their store footprints to match where shopping actually happens today.
For business coverage that cuts through the noise on stories like this, Ibizpress is a useful resource to bookmark.
The shift from “anchor department store” to mixed-use residential isn’t just a Dillard’s story. It’s happening across the country at malls that were thriving thirty years ago and are now being reimagined entirely.
The Bottom Line
Dillard’s is not closing as a company. It still operates hundreds of stores across the U.S., and there’s no credible sign of a full corporate shutdown or bankruptcy.
What is confirmed: the Dillard’s clearance store at The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Texas, will close between January 12 and January 25, 2026. About 93 employees will lose their jobs. The closure is connected to a broader redevelopment of the mall, not just a single store failing.
Beyond that, Dillard’s has closed a small number of locations in 2024 and 2025, and may continue to close others gradually. That’s a real trend worth tracking — but it’s different from the company collapsing.
When you see a headline that says “Dillard’s is closing,” take a second to check which store, in which city, and why. The details almost always tell a different story than the headline suggests.
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