Category: New Jersey

No trip to New Jersey would be complete without at least a few stops in the jungle of freeways and dense suburbia that forms Northern New Jersey. A sprawling, faux-city stretching 50 miles east to west and twice as long north to south, the area is one of the most massive swaths of American suburbia, complete with many large, vintage shopping malls.

We’ve discussed a few of the malls in Paramus–New Jersey’s undisputed shopping hub–before. Not far to the west, however, lies Wayne, a major retail center of its own. Wayne is home to three enclosed shopping centers, the largest of which is the super-regional Willowbrook Mall, a General Growth Property located at the intersection of US 46, route 23, and interstate 80, just west of Paterson. The mall is the lynchpin of a major retail district that includes, among other things, a lawn ornament store made famous when a power-pop band–Fountains of Wayne–decided to name themselves after it. The 1.5 million square-foot Willowbrook, which is the second-largest mall in New Jersey, is so large that it even spawned its own mini-me in the Wayne Towne Center, a smaller enclosed mall located in its parking lot. Weird!

Willowbrook opened as a smaller mall anchored by Ohrbach’s and Sears in 1969, and was renovated and expanded in 1970 and 1988. The massive, grand Macy’s store seen here–which was originally constructed as a Bamberger’s–is an especially fine example of 1970s mall architecture, with its dramatic stone-walled facade (it’s too bad I had to photograph it at night). The 200+ store mall is a “T”-shaped, primarily one-level center, but one wing of the “T” (stretching between the center court and Bloomingdale’s) is two levels, and the mall’s grand center court, expansive fountain, and outdoor plazas are gorgeous remnants of another era. For some photos of what the Willowbrook Mall used to look like, check out these great shots (especially this one) at Malls of America.

The Willowbrook Mall today is anchored by Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Sears, and Lord & Taylor. Some of the mall’s extreme success hinges off of blue laws in neighboring Bergen County (home of Paramus) that prohibit retail stores from opening on Sundays.

We’ll post about Wayne Towne Center, Willowbrook’s struggling mini-me, shortly Sunday, December 3. These photos were all taken last Monday.

This past weekend, I accomplished something semi-remarkable: With a swing through Southern New Jersey, I visited every mall in New Jersey–a state known for its malls, and a project that took six years to complete. Of course, I’m not kidding myself: New Jersey is truly the land of malls, and given how densely populated and suburban the state is, there has got to be some small enclosed malls hidden amongst the state’s thick nest of freeways. If you know of some particularly obscure malls anywhere in the state, then let me know.

On Sunday night, I spent the night on the boardwalk in exciting Atlantic City, New Jersey, meaning that I got an early Monday morning jump on the southernmost part of the state, including the Shore Mall, located in Egg Harbor Township just on the mainland side of Atlantic City. Unlike most malls in New Jersey, Shore Mall is worn out and showing its age. I was unable to find a concrete date for when the mall opened, but judging by the architecture I would lean towards the early 1970s (or possibly the late 1960s), and it clearly hasn’t received any major upgrades since. It was visibly built to serve the then-already-poor Atlantic City area, and in the intervening years has been bypassed by the middle class who has moved further out from the blighted, high-crime inner city in favor of suburbs like Hamilton, home of the larger and more modern Hamilton Mall. The Shore Mall’s current anchor stores are Boscov’s (purportedly the highest-grossing outlet in the chain!), Value City, and Burlington Coat Factory, the latter two of which tend to be signs of a dying mall. The Value City store was originally one of many locations of Asbury Park-based department store chain Steinbach (who has long fascinated me–I’d love to know more about them) and the Burlington Coat Factory was, until 2000 or so, a Clover location. There was also a KG Mens Wearhouse store attached to the outside of the Burlington Coat Factory, but their building was clearly a former Circuit City.

Architecturally, the building isn’t terribly distinct: there are three anchor stores lined up along the side closest to the Black Horse Turnpike, with a long, straight hallway leading back from between the Burlington Coat Factory and Boscov’s stores to the Value City store in the rear. The massive parking lot is pock-marked and trash-strewn. Large swaths of the space seem disused.

Steinbach, 1994:

The same space, occupied in 2006 by Value City:

The Shore Mall was sold in January of 2006–I’m not able to find who sold it to whom, strangely–and the new owners announced that their plan was to disenclose the mall within three years. Given the nearby, prosperous Hamilton Mall–located in a safer area and in far better physical condition–this may be an unavoidable conclusion. The demographics of the immediate surrounding area are not strong, and many have concerns about safety in the area. We may be saying goodbye to this graying, crumbling relic before long, so if you find that you’re in the area, take the time to spin by.

Historic 1986 shots of former Sears and JCPenney stores, currently occupied by Boscov’s and Burlington Coat Factory/KG Men’s Wearhouse:

November 2006:

Paramus, New Jersey is one of the nation’s biggest retail towns, boasting over six million square feet of retail space racking up some of the largest sales of any town in America. The area around routes 4 and 17 has been home (at one point or another) to no less than six enclosed shopping malls, including the legendary (and previously-blogged-about) Bergen Mall.

Paramus Park Mall is one of the newer of the area’s enclosed malls, opening in 1974. Strangely, this large, twisty, mostly one-level mall with two anchors (Sears and Macy’s) seems largely redundant given the large malls nearby, in particular the Garden State Shopping Center, since it has an almost total tenant overlap with that mall. While in most markets, Paramus Park would probably be long dead, Paramus isn’t like most markets. Perhaps the size of the the GS Shopping Center makes it a pain for residents to deal with for every mall trip, so they have Paramus Park as an alternative.

Either way, Paramus Park is really an unexpectedly cool mall, due to its sloping glass ceilings (which best nearly every other skylight-based ceiling configuration that I’ve seen) and great court areas, especially in front of the anchor stores. The Macy’s court especially made me want to sit down and spend the entire day (though it was much cooler when it had a fountain, as opposed to that massage table)… but that’s just me, and I’ve established that I’m weird. A 2001 renovation sapped Paramus Park of a little bit of its character, but the basic idea is preserved. What’s cool is that we have two photo sets for this mall, one taken by Prangeway in 2001 and another by me in 2006, and the older set was taken while the renovations were still underway. You’ll also notice that the exterior of the mall was made over sometime after the interior, and the 2001 set has some intact shots of that rather ugly old exterior. Note the difference, in (I think) the same place:

Sorry there, innocent bystander. You’ve been Labelscarred. (Oh, he knows, he knows. We think.)

2001:

2006:

Paramus, New Jersey boasts one of the largest concentrations of retail space in the United States, with over 6 million square feet of retail clustered around the junctions of routes 4 and 17. At one time or another, there have been no less than six enclosed shopping malls within a few miles of this junction, all in Paramus or nearby Hackensack.

The true behemoths of this area are the Garden State Shopping Center and Paramus Park. The former is a 2 million square foot superregional mall, the latter is half its size but no less successful, offering top-tier tenants without the hassles associated with the GS Shopping Center. There’s also another, more upscale mall that offers top-tier tenants like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.

Where does that leave Bergen Mall, the true black sheep of this flock? Close to death. See for yourself.

The Bergen Mall opened in 1957 as an outdoor shopping center, and one of the first malls in the region. Anchored by Stern’s and Orbach’s, the mall opened to much fanfare and included many community-oriented spaces, such as a live theatre, an ice skating rink, and a bowling alley. Located at the junction of Route 4 and Forest Ave., the mall actually included a separate strip area on the east side of Forest Ave. that was (and still is) connected to the remainder of the property with an outdoor pedestrian bridge.

The mall was enclosed in 1973, and despite many changes through the years, looks mostly as it always has. Orbach’s gave way to Steinbach, who later gave way to Value City. Stern’s was acquired by Macy’s, and their store here became a (very redundant, frankly) short-lived Macy’s store before shutting. During the 1990s, the mall also positioned itself as a value-oriented center compared to its swankier brothers and sisters, and courted tenants like Saks Off Fifth Avenue, Marshalls, Gap Outlet, and the aforementioned Value City.

Simon sold the Bergen Mall to Vornado in 2003, and plans are underway to drastically convert the property. I haven’t been able to find a firm plan, but the mall was plastered with renderings of its transition that appear to suggest the mall will be converted to an open-air format, with large-profile stores (such as the Century 21 Department Store that’s already under construction, and a Target store) and architecture that recalls mid-town Manhattan. This is an interesting twist, and one that’s cognizant of the mall’s geographic location, on the new lifestyle center format so it’ll be interesting to see. Unfortunately, the Bergen Mall’s interior is such an amazingly-well preserved example of 1970s shopping mall architecture that it’s pretty hard to see it go. Let’s take a tour starting with the exterior:

That last photo is of the strip center, on the far side of Forest Street. It clearly once housed a supermarket (one of the A&P banners perhaps? It reminds me of the old Kohl’s Supermarkets in Wisconsin). Now that we’re inside, let’s take a look at the floorplan to orient ourselves:

Pay close attention to the “lower level” there. It’s one of the things that makes this mall so unique.

The following photos were taken strolling around the main part of the mall. The former Value City space is at the mall’s westernmost end, the former Macy’s (which is in the process of being converted to the Century 21 Department Store) is at the center court, and the eastern end of the mall houses Marshalls, Saks Off Fifth, and the bridge to the strip center.

In that last photo, we were strolling down one of the two side hallways branching off of the mall’s center court. At the end of that hallway, we saw this:

The escalators lead to the basement. There’s one long corridor in the basement, that provides access to a local museum, the performing arts center, and the 34-year-old Carmelite Chapel of St. Therese, which due to Bergen County’s blue laws, is–like the rest of the mall–ironically closed on Sundays.

Most interesting, however, is the “Village Mall,” a drab collection of very small stores tucked into a space near the bottom of the stairs. Made to look like a wild west village–but clearly untouched since the 1970s–this eerily quiet space hosts only a few active tenants (including a psychic, a hobby shop, and a few other businesses) but otherwise feels as though it has been abandoned for decades. There are several “streets” in this area, forming a pattern not unlike an “8,” and room for maybe 20 or 30 different stores, though each individual store space is probably only about 500 square feet. Note the dreadful carpeting:

Now that is a treat. It may not be very successful, but I’d like to see a lifestyle center try something this unique. Also, if you want just a little bit more, check out this short documentary on the Bergen Mall by filmmaker Robin Groves. It was clearly filmed a few years ago now (Stern’s was still present), and it gives a good impression of what made (and makes, for now) the Bergen Mall so strange.

ADDED 9/29/06: Someone even set up a MySpace page on the Bergen Mall! Check it out; there are some photos from when Stern’s and Value City were at the mall, amongst a ton of other great stuff. People seriously love this mall. Why can’t we clean it up and save it?

When malls first became big, one of their major selling points was that they offered shopping in a “climate-controlled” environment. Strangely, as they now pass out of favor, we’re confused by how often they’re replaced by centers that do the exact opposite, turning the common areas back to the elements and (often quite literally) ripping the roof right off the building. I guess it’s all that “new authenticity” we keep hearing about, but I’ll take the air conditioning, thanks.

While this makes sense in nicer climates, I’ve never really understood why developers want to try this in places like the Northeast. While we have our nice days, we have plenty of a) snow b) cold c) rain or d) humidity that, on most days when I want to be shopping, it’s probably due in part to the fact that one of the above describes the weather. I mean, geez, just look at the clouds in the above picture! Who wants to strut around in capri pants, swinging a Chico’s bag in that? Still, when done right, I much prefer these lifestyle centers to big box centers because they at least attempt to create dense, pedestrian-friendly development that fosters a sense of community, albeit a somewhat sterile, pre-fabricated community. Whether or not they become the band-aid-du-jour (much like neon accent lighting in the Saved By the Bell era) for retail centers of the mid-auts remains to be seen.
Needless to say, the somewhat unfortunately-named Echelon Mall, which sits buried deep in the Jersey-side suburbs of Philadelphia, is slated to be one of the next malls in the northeast to have its skin peeled back to expose it to the elements. The plan is actually to keep about half of this large, flagging mall–everything in the two level space between Boscov’s and the Strawbridge’s (now Macy’s) featured in these pictures–while tearing down the long wing at the other end of the building that extends to defunct Sears and JCPenney spaces. That area will be replaced by an outdoor, Main Street-styled promenade with shops, restaurants, and housing. Could be cool, I suppose, especially since they’re (somewhat improbably) saving about half of the mall. Here’s what they’re going to do to it (Note the presence of half of the existing mall, towards the far side of this view):

I visited Echelon Mall in October of 2005, and could definitely note some signs of a struggle. While it may be a stretch to call it a dead mall, Echelon seems to be losing its battle against larger nearby competitors like the Cherry Hill, Deptford, and Moorestown Malls. For one, the location is horrendous. It’s located miles off of major highways, tucked away on Somerdale Road, near the intersection of Camden County highways 673 and 561. Despite being the second largest mall in the Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia–trailing only the gargantuan, impressive Cherry Hill–it is suffering from a swath of vacancies. This large, two level mall appears to have been built at two drastically different times. The southwestern, more successful end of the mall (between Boscov’s and Strawbridge’s) sports a distinctly 70s/early 80s decor with that era’s ubiquitous track-lightbulb fixtures. While that end is is reasonably well-tenanted, the long, northeastern end of the mall (which is full of filtered sunlight thanks to a skylight, and has palms and other flora that date this expansion to the later 80s to mid 90s) is a veritable ghost town, with very few tenants and almost no foot traffic. Despite being the newer and nicer end of the mall, it’s little wonder the plans call for it to be demolished. Per usual (and I’m already tired of saying it, but…) Dead Malls has some good historic info up.

The Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) Website includes some cool information, including a site plan that gives a good idea of the layout, but doesn’t mention much about the planned redevelopment. We also found a cool picture of the mall at sunset, and this neat painting of the mall’s escalators by artist William Mammarella, who must share our appreciation of the artistry inherent in such spaces. Lastly, SaveVoorhees.org includes a huge cache of articles about the mall’s redevelopment plans.