(Source: The Dallas Morning News)

By Maria Halkias, The Dallas Morning News
Sep. 8--Trying to attract a younger customer, The Shops at Willow Bend is getting its own wave machine inside extreme-sports equipment and apparel store Adrenalina.
The Miami-based retailer plans to have the 11,500-square-foot store open in time for the holiday shopping season. It will feature a FlowRider wave machine for customers to test their surfing and wakeboarding skills.
Willow Bend general manager Octavio Ortiz said Adrenalina has entertainment value and it will be the first location in the market. The company has two stores open in Florida and several more in the works; a second Texas location, at Houston's Galleria, is set to open next year.
Adrenalina is popular with teens, and "we're trying to get better at attracting that market," Mr. Ortiz said. Next year, the Plano mall is getting a Nike store. Last week, Abercrombie & Fitch's new juniors intimate apparel store Gilly Hicks opened in the mall. It's the first in Dallas-Fort Worth and one of only eight nationwide.
The mall, which is anchored by Dillard's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, had a difficult start when it opened in August 2001. A large anchor space, left vacant when Lord & Taylor left Texas, is still empty. The mall doesn't release occupancy rates, but Mr. Ortiz said recent leasing efforts have paid off and it now has 150 stores and restaurants.
Adrenalina is under construction at the edge of the food court, in a building that had housed a Japanese restaurant. The concept was born out of the success of the Adrenalina TV show, which airs in English and Spanish on networks such as Fox Sports and Fuel TV.
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