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77-583: Garden State Plaza (officially Westfield Garden State Plaza ) is a shopping mall located in Paramus , in Bergen County , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . Owned and managed by Paris -based real estate management company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield , the mall is situated at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17 near the Garden State Parkway , about 15 miles (24 km) west of
154-574: A Stern's department store. Upon its opening, Willowbrook Mall became the largest enclosed shopping mall in the world. In 1993, Willowbrook Mall became one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking on mall grounds. The Bamberger's store has been open without interruption for the mall's entire existence, but was rebranded as Macy's in 1986 after its corporate parent decided to rebrand its entire northeastern United States operation under its namesake marque. Ohrbach's came under new ownership and
231-456: A borough where half of the property tax revenue comes from retail properties, Garden State Plaza accounts for 10% of the property taxes collected in Paramus. As of August 2022, its anchors are Macy's , Nordstrom , Neiman Marcus , and AMC Theatres . The site at the southwest corner of Route 4 and Route 17 that would become Garden State Plaza was next to a drive-in theater dating back to
308-426: A 14-screen Cinemark movie theater, which is located in the rear parking lot adjacent to BJ's auto center. With blue laws in effect in neighboring Bergen County and even stricter restrictions in effect in Paramus , Willowbrook Mall has benefited from the spillover of shoppers on Sunday. The mall and its surrounding access roads and parking areas are prone to flooding in rainstorms. The Passaic River flows near
385-670: A direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopper's Find opened in Lord & Taylor's former anchor location in June 2021 and closed in early 2023. JCPenney will be closing its Wayne Towne Center location and moving into the former Lord & Taylor location in March 2024. The mall and its parking lots serve as a transportation hub for the surrounding area. A NJ Transit park and ride facility, opened in 1974, provides bus service to and from
462-492: A few jurisdictions, notably California , have expanded the right of freedom of speech to ensure that speakers will be able to reach consumers who prefer to shop, eat, and socialize within the boundaries of privately owned malls. The Supreme Court decision Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins was issued on 9 June 1980 which affirmed the decision of the California Supreme Court in a case that arose out of
539-446: A former Stern's location. BJ's opened its Willowbrook outpost in late 2022 in a portion of the former Sears anchor, which had been downscaled and reconfigured before it was closed. JCPenney, which had been an anchor at neighboring Wayne Towne Center since that mall's opening, moved to Willowbrook in the spring of 2024 to take over a space previously occupied by Ohrbach's , Steinbach , and Lord & Taylor . The mall also features
616-713: A free speech dispute between the Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell, California, and several local high school students. This is a list of the world's largest shopping malls based on their gross leasable area (GLA), with a GLA of at least 250,000 m (2,700,000 sq ft). Some wholesale market complexes also function as shopping malls in that they contain retail space which operate as stores in normal malls do but also act as producer vendor outlets that can take large orders for export. Willowbrook Mall (New Jersey) Willowbrook Mall
693-570: A hotel, luxury condominiums, and office space and sits atop a block-long base containing an eight-level atrium-style retail mall that fronts on the Magnificent Mile . Vertical malls are common in densely populated conurbations in East and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong in particular has numerous examples such as Times Square , Dragon Centre , Apm , Langham Place , ISQUARE , Hysan Place and The One . A vertical mall may also be built where
770-493: A large number of new malls had been built near major cities, notably the MEGA malls such as Mega Belaya Dacha mall near Moscow . In large part they were financed by international investors and were popular with shoppers from the emerging middle class. A shopping property management firm is a company that specializes in owning and managing shopping malls. Most shopping property management firms own at least 20 malls. Some firms use
847-523: A local eight-year-old who cut a ribbon with one thousand dimes as a fundraiser for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (since renamed as the March of Dimes ), part of an awareness campaign to encourage people to get the polio vaccine . Its original three anchor stores were Bamberger's, Gimbels , and JCPenney , with the rest of the mall consisting of 90 smaller specialty shops. It
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#1732780220376924-534: A major competitor to shopping malls. In the United States , online shopping has accounted for an increasing share of total retail sales. In 2013, roughly 200 out of 1,300 malls across the United States were going out of business. To combat this trend, developers have converted malls into other uses including attractions such as parks, movie theaters, gyms, and even fishing lakes. In the United States,
1001-955: A mall the center reverts to its own name and branding, such as the Ashley Centre in Epsom . Similarly, following its rebranding from Capital Shopping Centres, intu Properties renamed many of its centres to "intu (name/location)" (such as intu Lakeside ); again, malls removed from the network revert to their own brand (see for instance The Glades in Bromley ). One controversial aspect of malls has been their effective displacement of traditional main streets or high streets . Some consumers prefer malls, with their parking garages, controlled environments, and private security guards , over central business districts (CBD) or downtowns , which frequently have limited parking, poor maintenance, outdoor weather, and limited police coverage. In response,
1078-583: A new entrance on the lower level, but since the floors were at slightly different elevations, that entrance features the shortest escalator in North America, at a height of six steps. In 1987, Gimbels' parent company, BATUS, which had been selling off its Gimbels' stores, sold its Garden State Plaza location to Associated Dry Goods. Associated reopened the store as the new headquarters for its Hahne's department stores. Hahne's had previously been headquartered at its flagship store in downtown Newark , which
1155-806: A popular way to build retail across the world. Gruen himself came to abhor this effect of his new design; he decried the creation of enormous "land wasting seas of parking" and the spread of suburban sprawl. Even though malls mostly appeared in suburban areas in the U.S., some U.S. cities facilitated the construction of enclosed malls downtown as an effort to revive city centers and allow them to compete effectively with suburban malls. Examples included Main Place Mall in Buffalo (1969) and The Gallery (1977, now Fashion District Philadelphia ) in Philadelphia. Other cities created open-air pedestrian malls . In
1232-466: A second level for the mall, added 150,000 square feet (14,000 m) of retail space. The mall was enclosed between 1981 and 1984 in response to competitive pressure from newer fully enclosed malls such as the Willowbrook Mall in nearby Wayne . Later in the 1980s, a lower level was added by converting a former basement truck tunnel into retail space. The existing JCPenney basement was given
1309-549: A similar naming scheme for most of their malls; for example, Mills Corporation puts "Mills" in most of its mall names and SM Prime Holdings of the Philippines puts "SM" in all of its malls, as well as anchor stores such as The SM Store, SM Appliance Center, SM Hypermarket, SM Cinema, and SM Supermarket. In the UK, The Mall Fund changes the name of any center it buys to "The Mall (location)" , using its pink-M logo; when it sells
1386-784: A single-floor building to be constructed at The Outlets at Bergen Town Center nearby. The store officially moved on April 14, 2018. JCPenney closed in March 2018. Both stores are expected to be redeveloped by Westfield in the future, though as of October 2018, no such development has been announced. Westfield Garden State Plaza announced plans to build a mixed development center in the previous JCPenney outpost. In July 2019, Tru Kids announced that one of two Toys "R" Us stores being opened by that company as part of that toy retailer's recovery from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and its acquisition by Tru Kids, would be at Garden State Plaza. (The other would be opened at The Galleria in Houston.) Eschewing
1463-575: A subsidiary that would own and operate the mall. JC Penney announced in June 1955 that the company would construct an 83,000-square-foot (7,700 m) standalone three-story building as part of the project, with the infrastructure to add a fourth floor, as needs grew. In September 1958, long-time Macy's rival Gimbel's announced that it was acquiring access to a building site in the mall for a facility that would include 240,000 square feet (22,000 m) of retail space on three floors, with completion expected in 1960. Garden State Plaza opened on May 1, 1957, as
1540-512: A warehouse store and gas station where the previous Sears outpost was with the gas station opening north of the mall's parking lot. The store opened in 2023. In August 2018, Macy's added a Macy's Backstage outlet in a portion of its store. A P.F Chang's opened in a small space within the Bloomingdale's store on January 22, 2019. In August 2020, Lord & Taylor announced that it would shutter its traditional brick and mortar format as
1617-624: A year before the Great Recession , no new malls were built in America, for the first time in 50 years. City Creek Center Mall in Salt Lake City , which opened in March 2012, was the first to be built since the recession. Malls began to lose consumers to open-air power centers and lifestyle centers during the 1990s, as consumers preferred to park right in front of and walk directly into big-box stores with lower prices and without
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#17327802203761694-621: Is a one-level shopping center with a partial second floor located in Wayne , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . It is near the intersection of New Jersey Route 23 , U.S. Route 46 , and Interstate 80 in the New York metropolitan area and is situated close to both Essex and Morris counties near the Passaic River . The mall features more than 165 retail establishments and a leasable area of 1,518,006 square feet (141,027.4 m ). It
1771-400: Is the fifth-largest shopping mall in New Jersey . The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, 2006, and 2015. As of July 2024, the mall's four anchor spaces are occupied by Macy's , Bloomingdale's , BJ's Wholesale Club , and JCPenney . Macy's is the longest tenured anchor, having opened with Willowbrook as a Bamberger's in 1969. Bloomingdale's opened in 2002 in
1848-485: The New Jersey Supreme Court to review a decision by borough's Planning Board, asking it to review the plans to construct a 163,000-square-foot (15,100 m) "entertainment lifestyle precinct" at the mall that included a 16-screen AMC movie theater and 10 specialty retail stores, along with a 158,000-square-foot (14,700 m) parking lot below the new wing, known as "Parking Garage C". The petition
1925-592: The New York City borough of Manhattan . Opened in 1957 as the first suburban shopping mall in New Jersey, it has 300 stores and 2,118,718 sq ft (196,835.3 m) of leasable space, ranked in 2022 as the 16th-largest shopping mall in United States and qualifying it as a super-regional mall according to the standards of the International Council of Shopping Centers . The mall had sales of $ 775 per square foot in 2013, almost 75% above
2002-612: The Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan . The 11 , 28 , 191 , 193 , 194 , 195 , 197 , 198 , 324 , 704 , 705 , 712 , 748 , 871 and 874 buses serve the mall. Willowbrook Mall was the site of the Nickelodeon comedy The Adventures of Pete & Pete special episode " What We Did on Our Summer Vacation ", in which Ellen's photo booth was located in the parking lot of
2079-524: The overhead of traditional malls (i.e., long enclosed corridors). Another issue was that the growth-crazed American commercial real estate industry had simply built too many nice places to shop—far more than could be reasonably justified by the actual growth of the American population, retail sales, or any other economic indicator. The number of American shopping centers exploded from 4,500 in 1960 to 70,000 by 1986 to just under 108,000 by 2010. Thus,
2156-408: The "warehouse" arrangement of previous stores, Toys "R" Us stores, these revamped versions were much smaller, and centered around open play areas, interactive displays and areas for special events and birthday parties. It opened on November 27, 2019. However it closed on January 28, 2021. In September 2019, the mall announced that it would developing mixed-use projects with dining and other retail on
2233-654: The 1930s. Allied Stores and Macy's had discussed a shared project at the site that was abandoned in August 1953, after which Allied Stores pursued development of the Bergen Mall (since renamed as Bergen Town Center ), that would be located a mile away on Route 4 and which was scheduled to open in September 1957 with Stern's as its anchor store. R.H. Macy announced the creation of Garden State Plaza in May 1954, establishing
2310-610: The 600,000 square foot Highland Mall will be a campus for Austin Community College . In France , the So Ouest mall outside of Paris was designed to resemble elegant, Louis XV -style apartments and includes 17,000 square metres (180,000 sq ft) of green space. The Australian mall company Westfield launched an online mall (and later a mobile app) with 150 stores, 3,000 brands and over 1 million products. The COVID-19 pandemic also significantly impacted
2387-647: The American market in 2022, the United States had an average of 24.5 square feet of retail space per capita (in contrast to 4.5 square feet per capita in Europe). In 2019, The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards opened as an upscale mall in New York City with "a ' Fifth Avenue ' mix of shops", such as H&M , Zara , and Sephora below them. This is one of the first two malls built recently, along with American Dream in which both opened in 2019 since City Creek Center . Online shopping has also emerged as
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2464-677: The Gruen-designed Southdale Center , which opened in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, Minnesota , United States in October 1956. For pioneering the soon-to-be enormously popular mall concept in this form, Gruen has been called the "most influential architect of the twentieth century" by Malcolm Gladwell . The first retail complex to be promoted as a "mall" was Paramus, New Jersey 's Bergen Mall , which opened with an open-air format on November 14, 1957, and
2541-670: The International Council of Shopping Centers, is a shopping mall with over 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m ) of gross leasable area, three or more anchors, mass merchant, more variety, fashion apparel , and serves as the dominant shopping venue for the region (25 miles or 40 km) in which it is located. Not classified as malls are smaller formats such as strip malls and neighborhood shopping centers , and specialized formats such as power centers , festival marketplaces , and outlet centers . Shopping centers in general may have their origins in public markets and, in
2618-779: The Middle East, covered bazaars . In 1798, the first covered shopping passage was built in Paris, the Passage du Caire . The Burlington Arcade in London was opened in 1819. The Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island , built in 1828, claims to be the first shopping arcade in the United States. Western European cities in particular built many arcade-style shopping centers. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, which opened in 1877,
2695-467: The Route 4 and Route 17 access points. Gates are down so that the access roads from the secondary streets are blocked. The Paramus Borough Code forbids the performance of any "worldly employment" on Sunday, with very limited exceptions. These laws were enacted shortly after Garden State Plaza opened, out of fear that the mall would cause high levels of traffic congestion on the highways in the borough. During
2772-471: The Sears Auto Center for a Cinemark movie theater, becoming the second movie theater within the mall area limits (after a 14-screen AMC Theatres , formerly Loews Theatres ). On July 15, 2019, Sears announced that it would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate their traditional brick-and-mortar format. In October 2020, it was announced that BJ's Wholesale Club would plan to open
2849-464: The United States after World War II , with larger open-air shopping centers anchored by major department stores, such as the 550,000-square-foot (51,000 m ) Broadway-Crenshaw Center in Los Angeles , built in 1947 and anchored by a five-story Broadway and a May Company California . In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the term "shopping mall" was first used, but in the original sense of
2926-406: The United States were considered to be "dying" (40% or higher vacancy rates) and nearly one-fifth of all malls had vacancy rates considered "troubling" (10% or higher). Some real estate experts say the "fundamental problem" is a glut of malls in many parts of the country creating a market that is "extremely over-retailed". By the time shopping mall operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield decided to exit
3003-432: The United States, Persian Gulf countries , and India, the term shopping mall is usually applied to enclosed retail structures (and is generally abbreviated to simply mall ), while shopping center usually refers to open-air retail complexes; both types of facilities usually have large parking lots , face major traffic arterials , and have few pedestrian connections to surrounding neighborhoods. Outside of North America,
3080-508: The United States, developers such as A. Alfred Taubman of Taubman Centers extended the concept further in 1980, with terrazzo tiles at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey , indoor fountains, and two levels allowing a shopper to make a circuit of all the stores. Taubman believed carpeting increased friction, slowing down customers, so it was removed. Fading daylight through glass panels
3157-443: The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy , Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie issued an executive order that suspended the state's blue laws, allowing stores to be open on Sunday, November 4, 2012, for the benefit of those severely affected by flooding and/or power outages caused by the hurricane. A week later, after public outcry that included the mayor of Paramus announcing that the borough would continue to enforce its own restrictions,
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3234-424: The basement dining rooms. A common feature of shopping malls is a food court: this typically consists of a number of fast food vendors of various types, surrounding a shared seating area. When the shopping mall format was developed by Victor Gruen in the mid-1950s, signing larger department stores was necessary for the financial stability of the projects, and to draw retail traffic that would result in visits to
3311-475: The company wanted to close. In the mid-1990s, a Nobody Beats the Wiz store was added as an out-parcel to the mall site; it later became a Best Buy store that closed in 2018. The site was then occupied by a toy store called Toy City, owned by Party City. On September 7, 1990, Nordstrom opened its first New Jersey location, a $ 37 million, 272,000 sq ft (25,300 m), three-level store constructed on
3388-474: The construction of any more. Out-of-town shopping developments in the UK are now focused on retail parks , which consist of groups of warehouse style shops with individual entrances from outdoors. Planning policy prioritizes the development of existing town centres, although with patchy success. Westfield London ( White City ) is the largest shopping centre in Europe. In Russia , on the other hand, as of 2013
3465-482: The effectiveness of the policy). Due to New Jersey state blue laws that only apply in Bergen County and more restrictive limitations in place in Paramus restricting business on Sunday, Garden State Plaza is almost completely closed on Sundays, except for some of the restaurants and the movie theater, all of which have special Sunday entrances. On Sundays, Garden State Plaza's parking lot is accessible only from
3542-652: The equivalent of a U.S. mall, are located in city centres, usually found in old and historic shopping districts and surrounded by subsidiary open air shopping streets. Large examples include Westquay in Southampton ; Manchester Arndale ; Bullring Birmingham ; Liverpool One ; Trinity Leeds ; Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow ; St James Quarter in Edinburgh ; and Eldon Square in Newcastle upon Tyne . In addition to
3619-430: The first suburban mall in New Jersey, with plans to be "the largest in the state". On opening day, Garden State Plaza had 75,000 shoppers at a mall that was anchored by a 340,000-square-foot (32,000 m) Bamberger's store on three floors and included 60 retail stores and 5,500 parking spaces on a site that covered 110 acres (45 ha). The formal ribbon cutting ceremony included the mayor of Paramus Fred C. Galda and
3696-500: The former Hahne's site. In 1996, the luxury department store chain Lord & Taylor opened a store in the mall, which was its seventh in the state at the time. In 1996, Garden State Plaza completed a $ 200 million expansion and major remodeling project that added more than 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m) of retail space and a pair of four-level parking structures, Parking Garage A, and Parking Garage B. The downstairs food court
3773-815: The geography prevents building outward or there are other restrictions on construction, such as historic buildings or significant archeology . The Darwin Shopping Centre and associated malls in Shrewsbury , UK, are built on the side of a steep hill, around the former town walls; consequently the shopping center is split over seven floors vertically – two locations horizontally – connected by elevators, escalators and bridge walkways. Some establishments incorporate such designs into their layout, such as Shrewsbury's former McDonald's , split into four stories with multiple mezzanines which featured medieval castle vaults – complete with arrowslits – in
3850-507: The ground floors of the buildings and housing on the upper floors, which would be constructed in areas now covered by parking lots on the periphery of the mall. Construction of this housing would count towards the borough's affordable housing obligations and would serve as a downtown "town square" for Paramus. In August 2020, Lord & Taylor announced that its location in Garden State Plaza would be one of six remaining stores in
3927-851: The inner city shopping centres, large UK conurbations will also have large out-of-town "regional malls" such as the Metrocentre in Gateshead ; Meadowhall Centre , Sheffield serving South Yorkshire ; the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester ; White Rose Centre in Leeds ; the Merry Hill Centre near Dudley ; and Bluewater in Kent . These centres were built in the 1980s and 1990s, but planning regulations prohibit
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#17327802203764004-995: The late 1960s, it began to be used as a generic term for the large enclosed shopping centers that were becoming increasingly commonplace. In the United Kingdom and other countries, shopping malls may be called shopping centres . In recent decades, malls have declined considerably in North America , particularly in subprime locations, and some have closed and become so-called " dead malls ". Successful exceptions have added entertainment and experiential features, added big-box stores as anchors, or converted to other specialized shopping center formats such as power centers , lifestyle centers , factory outlet centers, and festival marketplaces . In Canada, shopping centres have frequently been replaced with mixed-use high-rise communities. In many European countries and Asian countries , shopping malls continue to grow and thrive. In
4081-594: The late 1960s. The enclosed shopping center, which would eventually be known as the shopping mall, did not appear in mainstream until the mid-1950s. One of the earliest examples was the Valley Fair Shopping Center in Appleton, Wisconsin , which opened on March 10, 1955. Valley Fair featured a number of modern features including central heating and cooling, a large outdoor parking area, semi-detached anchor stores, and restaurants. Later that year
4158-561: The mall and one of its tributaries, and the Pompton River , runs behind it. Construction of Willowbrook Mall began in 1966 with the groundbreaking of a Bamberger's store. and by 1968 the construction included an Ohrbach's and a Sears . The mall was originally planned as a 110-store indoor shopping mall, encompassing 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m ). It opened on September 24, 1969. A second phase opened on August 12, 1970, consisting of 47 specialty stores on two floors, and
4235-447: The mall premises shortly after the shots were fired and the mall was on lockdown for hours. The mall remained closed the following day. No one was injured or killed, other than Shoop himself, who committed suicide. Shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall ) is a large indoor shopping center , usually anchored by department stores . The term mall originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in
4312-500: The mall would undergo a two-year, $ 23 million renovation. The renovation entailed new ceilings in the Sears & Macy's wings, an overhaul of the food court, new flooring throughout the mall, additional seating, and a two-story streetscape theme for the Bloomingdale's wing. In 2017, Sears opened an updated store format and subleased an unused space to Dave & Buster's , which opened on Valentine's Day 2018. Seritage shuttered and razed
4389-571: The mall. The challenge of this type of mall is to overcome the natural tendency of shoppers to move horizontally and encourage shoppers to move upwards and downwards. The concept of a vertical mall was originally conceived in the late 1960s by the Mafco Company, former shopping center development division of Marshall Field & Co. The Water Tower Place skyscraper in Chicago , Illinois was built in 1975 by Urban Retail Properties. It contains
4466-556: The name of the complex (such as Toronto Eaton Centre ). The term mall is less-commonly a part of the name of the complex. The International Council of Shopping Centers , based in New York City , classifies two types of shopping centers as malls: regional malls and superregional malls. A regional mall, per the International Council of Shopping Centers, is a shopping mall with 400,000 sq ft (37,000 m ) to 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m ) gross leasable area with at least two anchor stores . A super-regional mall, per
4543-446: The national average. In a study of malls in the United States performed on behalf of CNBC , published in 2018, Garden State Plaza ranked ninth in the nation, based on sales of $ 950 per square foot. Most of the mall, especially retail outlets, is closed on Sunday in accordance with state and local blue laws . Since April 2023, minors under the age of 18 are required to have an adult over 21 supervise them on Friday and Saturday nights. In
4620-499: The number of dead malls increased significantly in the early 21st century. The economic health of malls across the United States has been in decline, as revealed by high vacancy rates. From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of malls that are considered to be "dying" by real estate experts (have a vacancy rate of at least 40%), unhealthy (20–40%), or in trouble (10–20%) all increased greatly, and these high vacancy rates only partially decreased from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, nearly 3% of all malls in
4697-432: The prior year. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, both open-air and enclosed centers are commonly referred to as shopping centres . Mall primarily refers to either a shopping mall – a place where a collection of shops all adjoin a pedestrian area – or an exclusively pedestrianized street that allows shoppers to walk without interference from vehicle traffic. The majority of British enclosed shopping centres,
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#17327802203764774-403: The retail industry. Government regulations temporarily closed malls, increased entrance controls, and imposed strict public sanitation requirements. High land prices in populous cities have led to the concept of the "vertical mall", in which space allocated to retail is configured over a number of stories accessible by elevators and/or escalators (usually both) linking the different levels of
4851-417: The smaller stores in the mall as well. These larger stores are termed anchor stores or draw tenants. In physical configuration, anchor stores are normally located as far from each other as possible to maximize the amount of traffic from one anchor to another. There are a reported 222 malls in Europe. In 2014, these malls had combined sales of US$ 12.47 billion. This represented a 10% bump in revenues from
4928-429: The state that would be closed, as part of an overall shutdown of the chain's retail operations. In April 2023, the mall announced it would closely align with similar policies adopted by many other malls nationally, banning visitors under 18 without a parent or guardian from the building on weekends, effective the end of that month (except for its AMC location and onsite restaurants, leading some local residents to question
5005-414: The state's blue laws were put back into effect. Westfield Garden State Plaza serves as a local transportation hub. The mall is served by NJ Transit bus lines routes 163 , 171 , 175 , 707 , 709 , 756 , 758 and 770 . On November 4, 2013, 20-year-old Richard Shoop, armed with a SIG 556R semi-automatic rifle, fired multiple shots in the mall. Customers and employees were evacuated immediately from
5082-544: The terms shopping precinct and shopping arcade are also used. In the UK, such complexes are considered shopping centres though shopping centre covers many more sizes and types of centers than the North American mall . Other countries follow UK usage. In Canadian English , and often in Australia and New Zealand, the term mall may be used informally but shopping center or merely center will feature in
5159-681: The word "mall", meaning a pedestrian promenade in the U.S., or in U.K. usage, a "shopping precinct". Early downtown pedestrianized malls included the Kalamazoo Mall (the first, in 1959), "Shoppers' See-Way" in Toledo , Lincoln Road Mall in Miami Beach , Santa Monica Mall (1965). Although Bergen Mall opened in 1957 using the name "mall" and inspired other suburban shopping centers to rebrand themselves as malls, these types of properties were still referred to as "shopping centers" until
5236-554: The world's first fully enclosed shopping mall was opened in Luleå , in northern Sweden (architect: Ralph Erskine ) and was named Shopping ; the region now claims the highest shopping center density in Europe. The idea of a regionally-sized, fully enclosed shopping complex was pioneered in 1956 by the Austrian-born architect and American immigrant Victor Gruen . This new generation of regional-size shopping centers began with
5313-413: Was also added at that time of the expansion and remodeling and was located in front of Macy's. The carousel closed in 2016, and was removed so that the mall could use that space for performances by the Bergen Performing Arts Center . Westfield acquired the mall in 1986 from Macy's in a deal that also included New Jersey's Brunswick Square Mall and Quaker Bridge Mall . The Borough of Paramus petitioned
5390-523: Was called "the largest shopping center in the world." Constructed by the Muscarelle Construction Company for owner/developer R.H. Macy & Co. as an open-air shopping "plaza", total construction costs for the mall were $ 26 million (equivalent to $ 282,000,000 in 2023). Garden State Plaza drew much business from nearby New York towns and cities, whose shoppers wandered across state lines to take advantage of New Jersey's lower sales taxes and its policy that exempted clothing purchases from sales tax. By 1961, it
5467-399: Was connected to the lower level from the previous expansion. JCPenney grew by 62,000 to 150,000 sq ft (5,800 to 13,900 m), and two new anchors were added, a 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m) Neiman Marcus on three levels and a 135,000 sq ft (12,500 m) Lord & Taylor on two levels, both targeted at the upscale fashion-conscious shopper. A Venetian carousel
5544-518: Was larger than its predecessors, and inspired the use of the term "galleria" for many other shopping arcades and malls. In the mid-20th century, with the rise of the suburb and automobile culture in the United States, a new style of shopping center was created away from downtowns . Early shopping centers designed for the automobile include Market Square , Lake Forest, Illinois (1916), and Country Club Plaza , Kansas City, Missouri (1924). The suburban shopping center concept evolved further in
5621-768: Was later enclosed in 1973. Aside from Southdale Center , significant early enclosed shopping malls were Harundale Mall (1958) in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Big Town Mall (1959) in Mesquite, Texas, Chris-Town Mall (1961) in Phoenix, Arizona, and Randhurst Center (1962) in Mount Prospect, Illinois. Other early malls moved retailing away from the dense, commercial downtowns into the largely residential suburbs. This formula (enclosed space with stores attached, away from downtown, and accessible only by automobile) became
5698-471: Was rebranded as part of the Steinbach chain, which went out of business in 1996. The building was gutted and expanded for its new tenant Lord & Taylor , which opened in 1997. Stern's closed its doors in 2001 after its parent company, Federated Department Stores , retired the brand; the store was converted to its sister brand, Bloomingdale's , which opened in late 2002. In 2015, it was announced that
5775-426: Was supplemented by gradually increased electric lighting, making it seem like the afternoon was lasting longer, which encouraged shoppers to linger. In the United States, in the mid-1990s, malls were still being constructed at a rate of 140 a year. But in 2001, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that underperforming and vacant malls, known as "greyfield" and "dead mall" estates, were an emerging problem. In 2007,
5852-432: Was the world's largest mall. In 1975, the mall began a multi-phased, years-long project that would fully enclose the mall, converting exterior passageways into covered spaces. The project, budgeted at $ 20 million, would add 400,000 square feet (37,000 m) of retail space, bringing the total to 1,757,000 square feet (163,200 m) upon completion. A $ 21 million construction project in 1981 converted access tunnels into
5929-590: Was turned down, and the mall celebrated its 50th anniversary with the new expansion and stores opened on May 25, 2007. In 2013, the mall rebuilt Parking Garage B, expanding it to five levels and 1,800 parking spaces. Adjacent were built a new guest services office and a valet lounge. A year later, the mall added a 55,000 square feet (5,100 m) wing at a cost of $ 160 million known as the "Fashion District" that has 22 stores and restaurants. In January 2018, Best Buy announced that they would be shuttering their two-level store at Garden State Plaza and would be relocating to
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