Brunswick Square Mall; East Brunswick, New Jersey
I keep an eye on the comments, and I know there’s been a few stats junkies who’ve been paying attention to the ratio of malls-to-population that we’ve posted. I know there’s also been some (undeniably true) grousing that we haven’t posted anything about New Jersey in ages. Well here you go! The catch is, you get something boring. Sorry.
The Brunswick Square Mall is a really dull one, but I’m tired and I had a bloody mary a little bit ago, so this is what the vodka will let me bang out at this hour. The photoset here is also a bit old–taken November 2006–when I did a swing through New Jersey that got photos for a few other malls on the site, including Monmouth Mall and the Shore Mall.
The Brunswick Square Mall is a Simon-managed, 769,000 square foot enclosed mall located along New Jersey route 18, a little southeast of New Brunswick. The mall is more or less a modified old dumbell, with JCPenney and Macy’s as the primary anchor stores and Barnes & Noble and Old Navy as junior anchor tenants.
Brunswick Square was originally developed by DeBartolo in 1970 with JCPenney and Bamberger’s as anchor stores. There were plans in the late 1980s to turn the relatively undersized mall into a larger destination with a second level, but plans were ultimately scaled back significantly due to concerns over traffic and a poor economy. Instead, there was a much smaller expansion at the end of the 90s that brought Barnes & Noble into the center.
Brunswick Square is one of the smaller and less interesting malls in the glob of Jersey suburbia, but given the traffic-clogged nature of the region’s roads and the high population surrounding the mall, it seems to do okay (more major malls like Freehold Raceway Mall, the Quakerbridge Mall, or the malls in Menlo Park/Woodbridge kind of flank it on all sides but none are especially close). This particular area of Jersey’s suburbia is dense, busy, and overall pretty mid-market, having been developed primarily in the explosion of post-war suburbia around New York. But like most of New Jersey, there are isolated pockets of affluence scattered about, even if Brunswick Square is a defiantly plain-jane, middle of the road kinda place. I saw an old dude sleeping on one of the massage chairs here once, and that pretty much sums the place up. I doubt anyone goes out of their way to swing by this palace of excitement, but it’s close to home for an awful lot of people.
Hey, I said it was boring. But as They Might be Giants once sang:
New York has tall buildings, New Jersey has its malls
Pisa has a leaning tower will it ever fall
The ocean has the fishes
London has a tower
In Holland they have windmills , lots of banks and pretty flowers
But where…?
Where do they make balloons?
And you guys sure DO love them Jersey malls. Fill us in.
AceJay
November 6th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Oh Brunswick Square, ridiculously close to both Menlo and Woodbridge.
You didn’t mention the Mega Movies “Food court” – the theater decided to be smart and add some food to this food-less mall, and they somehow even managed to get a Ben & Jerry’s there.
Weak mall but thanks for covering another Jersey one!
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Caldor Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
@AceJay, yeah, I have a big reserve of “dull” malls, I try and squeeze them out from time to time so I don’t have a huge stock of boring ones. There’s a reason this one sat around for 3 years before it was posted… at least the photos aren’t *new* anymore!
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AceJay Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
@Caldor, Oh don’t worry, nothing’s changed :v
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Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@Caldor, Even though traffic is often slow, I have a small stockpile of articles I’d like to premier. This includes Memorial City Mall, Post Oak Mall, and a few others. All in Texas. It even has a small, practically dead mall in Huntsville, Texas.
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Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D) Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Furthermore, although a few are explored in Southern Retail, I plan to swing through Houston to take pictures.
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Caldor Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D), we can definitely take them though I can’t promise any timeframes for getting content up… I have a lot of stuff in a backlog that I’ve been sitting on awhile. That said, the more bundled up you can make what you send in (edit to send the best 20-30 photos, include as much background information as possible in a similar format to what we usually post), then the quicker and easier it is to post, which means we tend to get to it more quickly. And of course, we do love submissions since we can’t be everywhere at once and it’s kind of fun to see things through someone else’s eyes from time to time. You can mail anything to caldor@labelscar.com.
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DayGlo!
November 6th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I remember Brunswick Square from when I went to Rutgers. It was never a big regional draw, and the only people I knew who didn’t think it was “cheesy” were those who grew up in East Brunswick (which was surprising, since EB is one of the more affluent towns in that area). I certainly felt that way, and it looks like not much has changed. In almost any other metro, this would be the mall that is doomed to die. But if anything, Brunswick Square may be one of the rare malls that actually benefits from overdevelopment. There is so much traffic on all the major highways in the area that 1) any big-box store on one commercial strip is also on all the others, and 2) getting to another, bigger mall takes longer than the maps indicate. Brunswick Square may not be much, but when people are faced with the prospect of sitting on 1, 9, or 287 to go elsewhere, it’s enough.
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Bobby P. (TenPoundHammer)
November 6th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I’m told the theaters used to be McCrory.
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mallguy Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
@Bobby P. (TenPoundHammer), True! And the McCrory’s used to have an outside entrance….when the movie theatre expanded to MegaMovies (they were right next to McCrory’s), they moved into their space and also took over their outside entrance.
They also had a Roy Rogers in Brunswick Square…right up to about 2000!
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mallguy
November 6th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
This was one of the closest malls to me growing up. Back in the day, its interior was hideous-looking: large flourescent lights, bland white and pink tile, fake trees. The renovation about 10 years ago definitely cleaned up the interior. I agree…nothing too exciting here, but the MegaMovies was expanded from a 5 screen movie theater (before that it was a two screen). On any given Friday or Saturday night, one will see loads of local teens here, considering that EB and Spotswood do not have downtowns to speak of.
Their plans to renovate and expand in 1989 (about the same time Menlo expanded, Bridgewater opened and Freehold opened) were very impressive and I think it definitely would have served the area well had they followed through. EB did not want to deal with the extra traffic it would bring and the construction that would have plagued Route 18 and Rues Lane by the mall.
I am surprised that they have Hollister here, but I’m also surprised they don’t have a Gap.
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DayGlo! Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
@mallguy, There was a Gap at Brunswick Square until sometime in the mid-90s: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/nyregion/shopping-around-beginnings-they-re-everywhere-but-they-didn-t-used-to-be.html
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mallguy Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
@DayGlo!,
I remember it…right across the way from Roy Rogers and the movie theatre on the JCPenney wing. It was definitely an “old-school” Gap. They clsoed that location when they decided to move to the 18 Central Plaza a little farther up Route 18. That Gap lasted up until last year.
Surprisingly, Brunswick Square isn’t the only mall without a Gap…Bridgewater Commons also does not have one! Due to space issues they were forced out and reopened 5 years later at the Somerset Shopping Center, a power center 1 mile south of the mall.
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SEAN Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
@mallguy, Ahh! long time no post.
If I remember correctly the theatre was owned by Movie City a locally owned circuit. When this theatre was replaced, the rest of the theatres were baught by Clearview Cinemas AKA Cablevision. The Edison location on Oak Tree Road was sold & regained the Movie City name.
As far as the mall goes it remineds me of the former New Rochele Mall wich was opened in 1967. Both malls had similar architecture, with pink tiled floors & transim windows above the storefronts to bring in more natural light. You saw that in malls of 1960s & early 70s vintage including Walt Witman & Willowbrook in Wayne. I wonder if that feature still exists since the remoddle.
I think it took me only 15 minutes to become board &thaught that the trip was a total waist of time.
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mallguy Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@SEAN, East Brunswick back in the 80s and early 1990s had three movie theatres within its borders. In its early years, the movie theatre in Brunswick Square was a General Cinema. Movie City 5 was in the strip mall on Route 18 and Hillsdale Road just south of Brunswick Square. I’ve seen many a movie there growing up. They had this creepy overflow lot in the back of the building due to its lack of light, and you had to go through a slim alleyway in the mall to get around to the front of the building. It closed a few years after the Brunswick Square movie theater expanded to five screens. The old Movie City 5 is now a furniture store. There was a 3rd movie theatre in East Brunswick, the Loews/Sony Theatre Twin, on Route 18 just north of Tices Lane. That closed when Loews opened their New Brunswick 18 screen theatre on Route 1 on the site of the old US1 Flea Market. The old Movie City 5 in Edison was a second run movie house a few years this decade and then closed…it is now desserted (as is most of Oak Tree Center, sadly).
I am sad they never did the two level expansion. There was talk that they were either going to bring Lord and Taylor in on it, or bring the stand alone Sears on Route 1 down to the mall. If they had replaced the two lights on Route 18 that serve the mall with overpasses and place a median on Rues Lane, traffic would have been fine.
One change they did do recently is they changed the lights in the parking lot, making it a lot brighter at night!
Brunswick Square was always kind of dark on the inside (and they never had fountains either)…the renovation did a better job of bringing in more natural light, but it still could use more. At least those God-awful florescent lights are gone.
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SEAN Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
@mallguy, I also stopped over at Mid-State Mall on that same trip. Holy crap what a mistake! That was one of the creapyist strip centers I’ve ever sene!
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mallguy Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
@SEAN, When was your trip? I ask because MidState Mall has been fixed up a lot. The ShopRite there is one of the best in the areas, Best Buy and Staples have huge locations, New York Sports Club opened where the old bowling alley and the parking lot, thank goodness, has been redesigned and been given better lighting. There is also a stand alone Starbucks. The only problem is they haven’t found a tennant for the Borders (which was never renovated) that closed in 2007.
Talk about Dead Strip Malls on the Route 18 Corridor, that goes to 18 Central. Used to have Kids R Us, The Wiz, Office Max, The Gap that left Brunswick Square and a really old-school Barnes and Noble. Office Depot later opened there and closed.
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Bobby P. (TenPoundHammer) Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
@mallguy, here’s a 2001 page on Mid State: http://www.siteride.com/srpl/p_snapshot.pl?subNum=10215000464
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SEAN Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 10:24 am
@mallguy, It’s been well over a decade since I’ve gone to Mid-State Mall.
Thanks for the update. Glad to see that center get the TLC it needed & did it ever need work. Kind of reminded me of a Wess Craven movie set. LOL
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mallguy
November 6th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
It is also very nice to see that Macy’s had been renovated and modernized to look like the rest of them in the area. I remember back in the 1980s when a car crashed into one of the entrances in that Macy’s!!!
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mallguy
November 6th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I also remember that up until the mid 1980s, they had some of the most awesome Christmas decorations around! They set up Center Court to look like an oversized Christmas village…at one end was Santa in a sleigh and at the other end was ‘Rudolph’s House” where a talking Rudolph animatronic would “Sit at his window and talk to the kids and everyone passing by.
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Steven Swain
November 6th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I like the JCPenney. That’s about it.
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Rich
November 6th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
The JC Penney somehow looks better than the usual brutalist stores of the 70s, despite the bulky proportions–the brick may be part of it. The mall sounds like it started out with the usual cheapness and lack of imagination that DeBartolo put into most of their malls, and had what little character stripped out by Simon, which seems to be their usual pattern.
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mallguy Reply:
November 6th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
@Rich, That JCPenney has not been renovated EVER! It still looks like it did when it opened.
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PaulC
November 7th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
The picture – funny enough, the Wakefield Mall (RI) Waldenbooks ISN’T on the list, the one at the Warwick Mall is. I’ve been to both, but as a kid I got a lot of books at the one in the Warwick Mall, especially once one of the independent pharmacy/convenience stores in my town shut down its basement-level book department and moved it to a much smaller space upstairs, cutting the selection. Also remember the Jordan Marsh bakery in that mall. Mmmm. Blueberry muffins.
Haven’t shopped in a Waldenbooks in years, though. And I pretty much only shop at Borders with coupons or sale items. Or to pick up a hard-to-find magazine. Pretty much the same with Barnes and Noble. Still go to independent bookshops, though.
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Caldor Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
@PaulC, haha, yeah, I actually wrote this article before I saw the list itself. I picked the Wakefield Mall shot more because it was one of the clearer shots I could find with a Waldenbooks logo in it, but… oops! It makes sense they’d keep that one since there’s no big box book stores in south county RI yet, and there’s a population there that probably still buys books (given proximity to URI etc.).
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mallguy Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
@PaulC, Speaking of Waldenbooks, there used to be one in Brunswick Square that had the lime green interior until about 2 years before Barnes and Noble opened. Once B&N opened, Waldenbooks lasted for about another year and then closed.
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Max
November 7th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
It’s so nice to see a New Jersey mall profiled on Labelscar again. (It has been over two years since the last New Jersey mall was profiled on this site.)
While Brunswick Square Mall may be relatively tiny, its anchors are quite large: according to Wikipedia, JCPenney is 223,626 square feet, while Macy’s is even bigger at 244,000 square feet.
To Mallguy, it appears that you have actually made a mistake. (This is hard to believe since you are correct almost 100% of the time.) Specifically, this mistake refers to JCPenney: it does not look exactly like it did when it opened, since the hardware, appliance, electronics, sporting goods, and automotive departments no longer exist. (The entire chain dropped those departments in the 1980’s.)
Please forgive me for my rudeness, but it would be most appreciated if Labelscar could profile another New Jersey Mall in the near future. In fact, there are so many really fascinating malls (not yet profiled here) from which to choose, including Bridgewater Commons, Garden State Plaza, The Mall at Short Hills, Menlo Park Mall, and The Shops at Riverside.
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mallguy Reply:
November 7th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
@Max,
Sorry you took me literally, lol. If you look at other JCPenneys in NJ, they have been renovated at least twice, now many of them have the white marble-like tiling in the store (and green in the mens department in some stores). Brunswick Square still has the ugly white flooring, nearly the same lighting it has had since its opening. Even the Burlington Center JCP is more modern-looking than Brunswick Square’s! The only other JCP that seems to have not been noticeably renovated is Quaker Bridge.
Mind you, I haven’t been in the store in about a year, so I’ll stand corrected if they have renovated.
I do agree with you and will second your request for Labelscar to profile additional NJ Malls! You covered most of the good ones, but Livingston Mall, Rockaway Townsquare and Quakerbridge would work as well.
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SEAN Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 9:39 am
@mallguy, Bring on the New Jersey Malls! They are winners just like the 27-time world champion New York Yankees!
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AceJay Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Cherry Hill’s JC Penney is incredible. Worth a visit if you haven’t seen a fancy one yet. Hell, CHM is worth a visit by itself.
And QB’s JCP hasn’t been renovated because they were SUPPOSEDLY going to do that whole expansion which involved tearing that JCP down and building a brand new LEED-certified one, lol.
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mallguy Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
@AceJay, Funny you say that…I went to Cherry Hill Mall yesterday since their amazing expansion. I wrote about it on the CHM thread.
If Brunswick Square were to ever expand, I have a feeling that all the local malls (Woodbridge, Menlo mostly) would expand, renovate or remerchandise in response so they don’t lose those Southern Middlesex shoppers.
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JT
November 8th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Honestly most malls are pretty boring, which is why you see so many die. What makes some tick that are (like this one) and others get euthanized and eradicated…including some that seem pretty cool. I’ve had my share of boring malls in my portfolio. Malls in most of the south are were overall plain, simple and dumpy. I think the thrill for me is to find one that has held onto its 70’s/early 80’s vintage, which tends to be difficult to find but surfaces from time to time.
I just try to cover what I can and let the architecture and design (or lack of) speak for itself. I just wish that the more interesting malls had held on longer. The most fascinating mall projects of the 70’s either got drastically modified into something generic or died off because they were too awkwardly laid out, small or dated when a standard, but more contemporary mall opened nearby. It seems to me the most interesting malls are found in one of two circumstances: mountainous terrain or limited land to build on, both with an inspired architect. Think Cinderella City (lack of land) and Asheville Mall (steep terrain).
This is just a classic example of a plain, simple mall with a few interesting brutalist trappings on the outside. The Penney’s reminded me of a cross between the demolished Cumberland Mall store of one of my posts and the bulky mother ship appearance of the alive and well Northgate Mall store I covered on a more recent one.
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mallguy Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 10:59 am
@JT,
Retail competition is so intense in NJ that it seems everyone is updating something. This is why very few NJ malls become Dead Malls. During this decade alone, at least 18 of NJ’s almost 30 indoor malls have been expanded, remerchandised or renovated. Everyone benefits from the result.
Brunswick Square may be small, but it has tried to keep its store selection as updated as possible, considering its size, and they did another great thing by renovating the interior. (I wish somebody had pictures of the hideous interior…the only old Brusnwick Square pics I have are of its impressive Christmas sets in the early 1980s) It serves the locals’ purpose of having the basics and being convenient.
There’s always my hope that Simon decides to expand Brunswick Square to having a 2nd floor and a 3rd anchor (this will also lower the vacany rate along route 18…currently the corridor with the 3rd highest retail rents in the state), but I don’t think EB wants it and with the economy the way it is, Simon’s not jumping either.
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SEAN Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
@mallguy, Simon put all of it’s projects on hold at least for now. I agree an expantion is in order, but what should be added that is destenational & doesn’t already exist there or even in the metro area at large.
The questions I posted above are challenging, but if anyone can answer them you can.
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JT Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 4:24 am
@mallguy, I disagree on having a third anchor. Mall anchors as a whole are really struggling, and with so few to choose from any restructuring or bankruptcy would hurt a mall if it loses one of three anchors. In fact, I feel that no department store anchors are safe. I’m of the opinion right now that only 1-2 department stores should anchor a mall like they did originally. Junior non-department store anchors are okay, but they should be planned carefully.
The malls today in the greatest danger of failure are ones that put a high emphasis on their department stores…typically, these are the ones with 3-6 department store anchors built before consolidation fever in the mid-00’s aside from a few superregionals. The lucky ones were the ones that got those anchors knocked down in the bubble. The ones who waited too long got stuck, and it is a worrisome scenario. I say that as I am watching a mall with 4 of 6 anchors actually open with apparently no plans to deal with the vacancies.
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mallguy Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
@JT, I can see your argument in this economic time, but what happens in the rest of the country isn’t always the case in NJ. In Brunswick Square’s case, there is a stand alone Sears in New Brunswick….the mall would offer more if that Sears were to move to Brunswick Square…Lord and Taylor would be nice too, but with their status now, I don’t think that’s realistic.
Speaking of vacancies, on the other end of Middlesex Co, the former Fortunoff in Woodbridge Center is still vacant and they have a big banner facing route 9 advertising the number to call to lease it.
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SEAN Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
@mallguy, What about Willowbrook. If the zoning allows, a hiper-market or similar consept could solve the vacancy. After all that is quite a large store.
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mallguy Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
@SEAN, I assume you mean the Fortunoff vacancy? Haven’t heard anything and “the new” WTC looks like it’s in trouble…they tore the mall down and Dick’s I think pulled out.
Believe it or not, back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, after the rejection of the Brunswick Square expansion, there were some that worried Brunswick Square was going to turn into a Dead Mall. A lot of stores were closing and about the same time, Bridgewater Commons, the new Menlo Park and Freehold Raceway Mall all opened. The 1st movie theater expansion and the eventual renovation and expansion w/ B&N and MegaMovies saved it.
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SEAN Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
@mallguy, Yes I ment Fortunoff.
I assume WTC=World Trade Center?
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AceJay Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
@SEAN, lol no Wayne Town Center :v
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SEAN Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
@AceJay, My bad. It’s been a while since I’ve been on that thred, I was brainlocked.
I don’t remember where I read it, however I saw an article reguarding Route 18 & it’s traffic issues a few days ago. I think NJDOT wants to widen the road from Route 1 through EB for aditional public Transit service & mixed use development in the mall area as well as the EB Transportation Center.
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mallguy Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
@SEAN, Really? NJDOT just finished a massive widening project, C/D addition and overpass construction (aka New Brunswick kickback) on Route 18 in New Brunswick. The Route 1/Route 18 intersection rehab is down the road, but I haven’t heard about changes further into EB. Two years ago, they finished a project reconfiguring the jughandles and lights on Route 18 between Tices Lane and Highland Drive. I would be surpised if Route 18 is futher widened in that area…as it is now, it has no shoulders and getting the land for the project may take a while. If anything should be done on Route 18, the Naricon Place/Tower Center Blvd, Edgeboro Rd/Old Bridge Turnpike and Rues Lane intersections should be changed to overpasses/grade separated interchanges…and if Brunswick Square is ever expanded, the current Route 18 light should be made into an overpass.
On the EB Transporation Center (aka “Golden Triangle”) they built a large (and needed) parking deck and moved the transporation center. They were planning on a transit village on the site, but the developers who wanted to build apartments/condos there pulled out with the economy. I think further plans with the Golden Triangle are on hold.
I can’t believe I forgot about this one, but about 2-3 years ago, Simon planned a “Bistro Row” at Brunswick Square, facing Route 18, to compete against the upcoming Summerhill Square lifestyle center (which is still not finished), further up Route 18.
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SEAN Reply:
November 12th, 2009 at 9:45 am
@mallguy, Perhaps the widening that was already done on 18 was part of that project? I’ll bet anything the state is waiting until ecconomics improve to start building again. After all it wouldn’t be NJ without some developer getting paid off. Meanwhile the state is trying to expand it’s transit village program, why not EB do to it’s central location & large transit center.
mallguy Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 12:26 am
@SEAN, Here is a link about the legal wrangling going on with the Golden Triangle in EB . Things are messy there between the developers and the township and I do believe that site is underutilized.
If it ever will be developed, it will definitely give Brunswick Square a run for their money and I hope Simon continues to keep watching.
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Rich Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@JT, malls and even large strips came later to the South than the rest of the country, which may explain the blah-ness. Even by the late 60s, the template was in place and developers with a national scope (and no imagination) like DeBartolo were inascendence. The same retailers turned up in very mall and often, only the largest super-regionals had anything interesting. Over time, it’s just gotten worse, with the exception of some upscale malls.
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mandy_Reeves
November 8th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
my husband lived less than a mile from Brunswick square when he was a kid. He went on his first date at Movie City, and used to go to Farrels Ice cream at the mall.
He said Farrels was awesome, and they would sing and perform for birthdays….also if you ate a whole gallon of ice cream they sounded a bell or whatever.
Also this mall looks eerily like the other 70’s developed Debartolo mall…Ocean County Mall in Toms river NJ…another one level mall…I love that mall! Its a weird shape. Used to be a Dumbell til like 92 when they made the food court area.
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mallguy Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
@mandy_Reeves,
Yes, Ocean County Mall was a DeBartolo mall…and it had an almost identical interior to Brunswick Square (and they used to have 2 fountains, albeit small), prior to the 2003-04 renovation…now OCM is a lot nicer.
Farrell’s was awesome…I’ve been to many a birthday party there during my childhood.
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mallguy
November 9th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Brunswick Square back in its day also had the distinction of having some unique eateries…next to JCPenney facing route 18 used to be Farrell’s (also was in Paramus Park)…an “All-American” resaturant/ice cream shop with decor that looks like it would fit in perfectly at Disney’s Main Street USA…I went to many a birthday party there back in the day. They also had chains of the York Steakhouse (also was in Monmouth Mall), which was a Ponderosa-like cafeteria style steakhouse which had an interior that looked like something out of the mead hall depicted in Beowulf.
Brunswick Square also had Bun N Burger (a short order hamburger place with a very large counter) and on the downside, they had “Hot Dogs N More” which was known for offering some of the craziest hot dog toppings around (I still remember some awful smells coming out of the place).
Where Olive Garden is today was Victoria Station, a steakhouse resaurant that had a very distinct design. Diners ate in boxcars and traincars that were attached to the main building of the restaurant.
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James
November 9th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I don’t know the Brunswick Square mall. But, I like the exterior design of the JC Penney store, based on the photograph. I know it is big and rectangular, like the typical mall anchor store, but there’s something more going on in that design. Kind of an international style vibe, warmed up with some brick.
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mallguy Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
@James, It’s a much better design than Macy’s there. I always found Macy’s in Brunswick Square to have one of the ugliest exteriors going!
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James Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
@mallguy, I agree. The Macy’s is very ho-hum (based on the photo), but the Penney’s design seems to suggest the use of an actual architect. Like someone actually cared what the building would look like.
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mallguy Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 12:18 am
@James, It’s sad that JCPenney doesn’ t look as cool on the inside as it does on the outside…and up until last year, the inside of Macy’s was just as ugly as the outside.
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newbrunswick
November 10th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Great post!!! Thanks for covering a NJ mall. I suspect there are a lot of mall fans in NJ. The Farrell’s was classic. I thought the “Hot Dogs N More” was called a “Hot Sam” at one point. Roy Rogers had their fixins’ bar, and at one time there was a ‘The Children’s Place’ which had a play area, slides and things. Great memories.
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mallguy Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
@newbrunswick,
Hot Sam was just off center court on the Macy’s wing…it was a small pretzel place. I remember the Children’s Place too!
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mallguy
November 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
50 comments in under a week….I guess we all like our Jersey Malls, lol! Let’s see more!!!
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Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D)
November 10th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
More New Jersey malls? I need to submit more Texas malls, to balance things out!
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mike
November 10th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
This entry has special resonance for me, as Brunswick Square was my local mall growing up. I spent many Saturday afternoons going to York Steak House or Farrell’s with my family, followed perhaps by a movie or some pinball at Fun-N-Games. I bought many of my early favorite records at Harmony Hut – and later, when I discovered new wave, made the trek across the street to Record Setter, which was located inside a tiny house and had a decent selection. Oh, sure, I knew that Brunswick Square was an underdog; that point was more than clear when we’d visit Woodbridge Center or Quakerbridge. But I loved it anyway.
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mallguy Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 12:28 am
@mike, Yes! Fun-N-Games…that lasted well into the 90s. Funny how times have changed…now Woodbridge is the underdog to Menlo Park and Quakerbridge is the underdog to Oxford Valley.
It’s nice to see Brunswick Square had held its own over the years and found its niche.
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