A new tenant selling flip flops, sandals, and warm-weather footwear has planted its flag inside Grapevine Mills, opening its doors last Thursday at Suite 303 along Grapevine Mills Parkway. Flip Flop Shops, a California-based chain known for casual and comfort-focused footwear, marks its second Texas storefront with the Grapevine debut.
According to Community Impact, the shop carries a lineup of brands including OluKai, Cobian, Crocs, Havaianas, and Birkenstock, alongside waterproof options built for the region's hot, humid summers. Owner Fakhri Ghali told the outlet he is happy to bring the brand's beach lifestyle to Grapevine Mills, calling it a very nice mall.
Ghali also pointed to the mall's family-friendly atmosphere and its activities for children as reasons the location made sense, along with its proximity to the airport, per the same report. That airport connection is no small detail: Grapevine Mills sits about two miles north of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, a location that has historically funneled steady out-of-town foot traffic to the center alongside regular Metroplex shoppers, according to Choose Grapevine.
A Franchise Chain Built on Bearpaw's Backing
Flip Flop Shops isn't a scrappy startup betting it all on one storefront. The chain has operated under the ownership of Bearpaw Holdings LLC, the parent company behind the winter footwear brand Bearpaw, since it acquired the franchise from Cherokee Global Brands back in June 2018, as reported by SGB Media. The pairing gave Bearpaw a year-round seasonal balance — heavy boots for winter, sandals for summer — under one corporate roof.
Founded in 2004 and franchising since 2008, Flip Flop Shops runs its headquarters out of Fullerton, California, and now operates somewhere between 50 and 60 franchise locations spread across North America and the Caribbean, per Franchise Gator. The compact mall-store format has become the chain's signature approach to retail. Its earlier Texas expansion included a location inside La Plaza Mall in McAllen, which opened in 2017, according to Texas Border Business.
Grapevine Mills Keeps Drawing Retail Bets
The mall itself is no minor stop on the map. Grapevine Mills spans 1.78 million square feet and stands as the largest enclosed shopping center in Tarrant County, majority-owned at 59.3% and operated by Simon Property Group, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It opened in October 1997 along State Highway 121.
In recent years, the center has leaned into experiential entertainment to keep shoppers coming through the doors, adding attractions like LEGOLAND Discovery Center, SEA LIFE Aquarium, Meow Wolf's The Real Unreal, and Bubble Planet in place of traditional retail spaces, Community Impact reported separately. The strategy appears to be paying off in raw visitor counts: the mall drew 821,299 visitors in November 2025, a 4.9% jump from the 782,946 visitors counted in November 2024, per the same outlet's analysis of Placer.ai mobile location data.
Footwear Retailers Keep Piling In
Flip Flop Shops isn't the only shoe brand betting on the mall this season. Outdoor footwear brand Timberland opened a new storefront at Grapevine Mills in September, landing at Suite 416 in the same complex, Hoodline reported at the time. The back-to-back footwear openings suggest retailers see continued confidence in the mall's shoe category even as e-commerce reshapes brick-and-mortar shopping nationwide.
The broader footwear market backs up that confidence with real numbers. The global flip-flops and sandals market was valued at $22.03 billion in 2025 and is projected to climb to $33.05 billion by 2035, growing at a compound annual rate of 4.2%, with North America leading total consumption, according to Market Research Future. In the United States alone, the casual sandals segment generated roughly $3.2 billion in revenue in 2024, fueled by strong demand for comfort-focused and ergonomic footwear brands, per Market Growth Reports.
The new Flip Flop Shops location is open now at 3000 Grapevine Mills Parkway, Suite 303, with more information available at www.flipflopshops.com.
