 First Colony Mall opened on March 14, 1996 as the first regional shopping mall in Fort Bend County, originally developed by First Colony developer Sugarland Properties, a partnership of Hines Interests Limited Partnership (which developed The Galleria) and a pension fund associated with Royal Dutch Shell.The mall was built with a single-level format similar in design to nearby West Oaks Mall that was positioned as being "family-friendly", with carpeted walkways and skylights; original anchors were Foley's, Dillard's, JCPenney and Mervyn's (the latter store of which opened as the first (and only) "Mervyn's California" in Greater Houston), along with over 100 stores and a food court, dubbed the "Sugar Land Cafes".Most notably, First Colony became the second mall in Houston since The Galleria (the first being West Oaks) to open without a Sears store, a fact that was unsurprising as Sears had successful locations at Westwood and West Oaks (whose Sears replaced a former Saks Fifth Avenue in 1990), and would gradually decline in prominence over the years.