Willowbrook Mall (Wayne, New Jersey)
Encyclopedia
Willowbrook Mall is a two-level, major shopping center located in Wayne
, New Jersey
, United States. It is near the intersection of U.S. Route 46
, Route 23 and Interstate 80
. The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, and 2006. The mall has over 200 retail establishments and a gross leasable area
(GLA) of 1,514,000 ft², and is the fourth largest shopping mall in New Jersey (tied with Monmouth Mall
).
Owned by General Growth Properties
, the mall's main stores include Bloomingdale's
, Lord & Taylor
, Macy's
and Sears
. Its restaurants include California Pizza Kitchen
, Cheesecake Factory, and Ruby Tuesday.
With blue law
s in effect in Bergen County
, and nearby shopping haven Paramus
imposing even stricter Sunday-sales restrictions of its own, Willowbrook Mall has benefited from the spillover of shoppers on Sunday.
Macy's
369,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened 1967 as Bamberger's
; Converted to Macy's 1986)
Sears 279,000 sq ft (On 2 levels; opened 1968)
Bloomingdale's
278,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened in 1969 as Stern's
; converted to Bloomingdale's in 2002)
Lord & Taylor
135,000 square ft (On 2 levels; opened in 1968 as Ohrbach's
converted to Steinbach
in 1987; and then became Lord & Taylor in 1997)
store in 1968, joined by a Sears, were the original anchors of what was designed as a two-level, 110 store, indoor shopping mall, encompassing 1,500,000 ft².
The opening of Willowbrook Mall came at a time when many shoppers were avoiding trips to downtown areas to shop over safety concerns. Early radio spots for the mall called it "the new downtown", and it featured anchors stores that were also located in nearby downtown Newark, or within the Wayne city limits. (Bamberger's, Ohrbachs, and Sears). The branch of Bamberger's opened in the fall of 1967 (before the rest of the mall), and with Newark just having dealt with race rioting in the summer of 1967, many shoppers defected to the Willowbrook location.
In 1988, Willowbrook Mall underwent a large renovation project. This renovation made many drastic cosmetic changes throughout the mall. The most dramatic being in center court: new skylights were added, the old fountain was converted into a new waterfall-style fountain (which was removed around 2003 in favor of a new customer service booth and specialty carts), escalators and a new stairway were added, the lowered seating area of center court was raised to the level of the rest of the mall, and the carousel was removed in favor of another fountain which still exists today. Throughout the rest of the mall, new skylights were added, new seating areas added, lights were replaced and added, new flooring was added and ceilings were raised to give the mall the impression of being more open and airy.
In 1993, Willowbrook Mall became one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking on mall grounds. The ban was later reversed.
Sears is the mall's only remaining original anchor store
and is one of the chain's top performing stores. Ohrbach's became Steinbach's in 1987 and then became Lord and Taylor in 1997; Bamberger's became Macy's in 1986; and Stern's became Bloomingdale's in 2002. With the addition of Lord and Taylor and Bloomingdale's in 1997 and 2002, respectively, the tenant mix at the Willowbrook Mall has become more upscale. In 2007, the mall lost one of its well known tenants: the legendary Fun N' Games arcade, which opened in 1974, and was located outside of the mall. The arcade held an auction on November 24, 2007, and rumors had it that the arcade was forced to close due to excessive loitering, and that drug use/deals were happening around the arcade area. The same rumors, and the arcade's (now defunct) website also stated that the arcade would move to a new location, which never occurred.
The mall and its surrounding access roads are sometimes closed due to flooding by the mighty Passaic River; the mall closed for several days in August and September 2011 due to such flooding.
facility, opened in 1974, provides New Jersey Transit
bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
in Midtown Manhattan
.
Local bus service is provided by NJ Transit.
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States. It is near the intersection of U.S. Route 46
U.S. Route 46
U.S. Route 46 is an east–west U.S. Highway, running for , completely within the state of New Jersey. The west end is at an interchange with Interstate 80 and Route 94 in Columbia, Warren County on the Delaware River...
, Route 23 and Interstate 80
Interstate 80 in New Jersey
Interstate 80 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from the New York City Metropolitan Area westward to San Francisco, California...
. The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, and 2006. The mall has over 200 retail establishments and a gross leasable area
Gross leasable area
Gross leasable area in the retail development industry is a term applied to shopping malls, lifestyle centers, outlet malls and other retail centers to indicate the amount of floor space available to be rented...
(GLA) of 1,514,000 ft², and is the fourth largest shopping mall in New Jersey (tied with Monmouth Mall
Monmouth Mall
Monmouth Mall, an enclosed shopping center in Eatontown, New Jersey owned by Vornado Realty Trust, is located on the corner of the intersection of NJ 35, NJ 36, and Wyckoff Road . Currently, the mall has a gross leasable area of , making it the fourth largest shopping mall in New Jersey , boasting...
).
Owned by General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust in the United States. It is based in Chicago, Illinois at 110 North Wacker Drive, a historic building designed by architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White...
, the mall's main stores include Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
, Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor, colloquially known as L&T, or LT, based in New York City, is the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States. Concentrated in the eastern U.S., the retailer operated independently for nearly a century prior to joining American Dry Goods...
, Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
and Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
. Its restaurants include California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen
California Pizza Kitchen , known within the food industry as CPK, is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza...
, Cheesecake Factory, and Ruby Tuesday.
With blue law
Blue law
A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...
s in effect in Bergen County
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
, and nearby shopping haven Paramus
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
imposing even stricter Sunday-sales restrictions of its own, Willowbrook Mall has benefited from the spillover of shoppers on Sunday.
Anchors
Anchors are (listed in descending order by square footage)Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
369,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened 1967 as Bamberger's
Bamberger's
Bamberger's was a department store chain with locations primarily in New Jersey, but also Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.-History:Founded in 1893 by Louis Bamberger as L...
; Converted to Macy's 1986)
Sears 279,000 sq ft (On 2 levels; opened 1968)
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
278,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened in 1969 as Stern's
Stern's
Stern's was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The chain was in business for more than 130 years, prior to its 2001 integration into Macy's and Bloomingdale's...
; converted to Bloomingdale's in 2002)
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor, colloquially known as L&T, or LT, based in New York City, is the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States. Concentrated in the eastern U.S., the retailer operated independently for nearly a century prior to joining American Dry Goods...
135,000 square ft (On 2 levels; opened in 1968 as Ohrbach's
Ohrbach's
Ohrbach's was a moderate-priced department store with a merchandising focus primarily on apparel and accessories. From its modest start in 1923 until the chain's demise in 1987, Ohrbach's expanded dramatically after World War II, and opened numerous branch locations in the metro areas of New York,...
converted to Steinbach
Steinbach (store)
Steinbach was a department store chain based in Asbury Park, New Jersey.- History :Steinbach was founded in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and maintained branch stores along the New Jersey shore, and in the central part of New Jersey. The company was at one time affiliated with the Kresge-Newark...
in 1987; and then became Lord & Taylor in 1997)
History
Construction of a 100,000 ft² Ohrbach'sOhrbach's
Ohrbach's was a moderate-priced department store with a merchandising focus primarily on apparel and accessories. From its modest start in 1923 until the chain's demise in 1987, Ohrbach's expanded dramatically after World War II, and opened numerous branch locations in the metro areas of New York,...
store in 1968, joined by a Sears, were the original anchors of what was designed as a two-level, 110 store, indoor shopping mall, encompassing 1,500,000 ft².
The opening of Willowbrook Mall came at a time when many shoppers were avoiding trips to downtown areas to shop over safety concerns. Early radio spots for the mall called it "the new downtown", and it featured anchors stores that were also located in nearby downtown Newark, or within the Wayne city limits. (Bamberger's, Ohrbachs, and Sears). The branch of Bamberger's opened in the fall of 1967 (before the rest of the mall), and with Newark just having dealt with race rioting in the summer of 1967, many shoppers defected to the Willowbrook location.
In 1988, Willowbrook Mall underwent a large renovation project. This renovation made many drastic cosmetic changes throughout the mall. The most dramatic being in center court: new skylights were added, the old fountain was converted into a new waterfall-style fountain (which was removed around 2003 in favor of a new customer service booth and specialty carts), escalators and a new stairway were added, the lowered seating area of center court was raised to the level of the rest of the mall, and the carousel was removed in favor of another fountain which still exists today. Throughout the rest of the mall, new skylights were added, new seating areas added, lights were replaced and added, new flooring was added and ceilings were raised to give the mall the impression of being more open and airy.
In 1993, Willowbrook Mall became one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking on mall grounds. The ban was later reversed.
Sears is the mall's only remaining original anchor store
Anchor store
In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....
and is one of the chain's top performing stores. Ohrbach's became Steinbach's in 1987 and then became Lord and Taylor in 1997; Bamberger's became Macy's in 1986; and Stern's became Bloomingdale's in 2002. With the addition of Lord and Taylor and Bloomingdale's in 1997 and 2002, respectively, the tenant mix at the Willowbrook Mall has become more upscale. In 2007, the mall lost one of its well known tenants: the legendary Fun N' Games arcade, which opened in 1974, and was located outside of the mall. The arcade held an auction on November 24, 2007, and rumors had it that the arcade was forced to close due to excessive loitering, and that drug use/deals were happening around the arcade area. The same rumors, and the arcade's (now defunct) website also stated that the arcade would move to a new location, which never occurred.
The mall and its surrounding access roads are sometimes closed due to flooding by the mighty Passaic River; the mall closed for several days in August and September 2011 due to such flooding.
Transportation
An NJ Transit park and ridePark and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
facility, opened in 1974, provides New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City...
in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
.
Local bus service is provided by NJ Transit.
Willowbrook Mall television airings
- Willowbrook Mall was the site of The Adventures of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & PeteThe Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
special episode, "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation" (May 17, 1992), in which Ellen's photo booth was located in the parking lot of the mall. - Willowbrook Mall is where the characters of How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
go in the episode, "Slap BetSlap Bet"Slap Bet" is the 9th episode in season 2 of the television series How I Met Your Mother. It originally aired on November 20, 2006. This episode was originally titled "Robin Sparkles."- Plot :...
" (November 20, 2006), to attend a Sharper Image opening. - Willowbrook Mall can be seen in HBO's hit series The SopranosThe SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
and is referenced by Janice SopranoJanice SopranoJanice Soprano Baccalieri, played by Aida Turturro, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is Tony Soprano's elder sister. A young Janice has appeared in flashbacks, played by Madeline Blue and Juliet Fox.-Biography:...
in episode 44, "Pie-O-My" (October 13, 2002). - Willowbrook Mall can be seen in the Strangers with CandyStrangers with CandyStrangers with Candy is a television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10 p.m....
episode, "Blank Stare, Part I" (June 19, 2000).