Willowbrook Mall is a two-level 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, 2006, and 2015. 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 GGP Inc., the mall's anchors include Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Macy's and Sears. Its restaurants include California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, and Ruby Tuesday.
With blue laws 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.
History
Construction of a 100,000 ft² Ohrbach's 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 anchor stores that were also located in nearby downtown Newark, or within the Wayne city limits (Bamberger's, Ohrbachs, and Sears). The Bamberger's branch 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. These stores were later joined by Stern's, which had a location in downtown Paterson, New Jersey at the time (as well as a store in the Preakness section of Wayne that they operated separately).
In 1993, Willowbrook Mall became one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking on mall grounds.
Sears is the mall's only remaining original anchor store and is one of the chain's top performing stores, while the former Bamberger's store has been open without interruption for the mall's entire existence. Bamberger's 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 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 General Growth Properties (now GGP Inc.) announced that 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 seating in the food court, new flooring throughout the mall, additional seating, and a two-story streetscape theme for the Bloomingdale's wing.
In the fall of 2016 it was announced that Sears will sublease their store in order to allow Dave & Buster's to open in a part of the second level of the store. Construction began in August 2016. Bloomingdale's also underwent an extensive renovation on its first floor level at the same time.
The mall and its surrounding access roads and parking areas are prone to flooding in rainstorms. The Passaic River flows near the mall and one of its tributaries, the Pompton River, runs behind it.
Anchors
Anchors are (listed in descending order by square footage):
- Macy's 369,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened 1967 as Bamberger's; converted to Macy's 1986)
- Bloomingdale's 278,000 square ft (On 3 levels; opened in 1969 as Stern's; converted to Bloomingdale's in 2002)
- Sears 111,000 square ft (On 2 levels; opened 1968, subleased half of building space in 2016)
- Lord & Taylor 98,300 square ft (On 2 levels; opened in 1968 as Ohrbach's; converted to Steinbach in 1987; became Lord & Taylor in 1997)
Public transportation
An NJ Transit park and ride facility, opened in 1974, provides bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.
Local bus service is provided by NJ Transit.
The Willowbrook public transit complex provides service to the following destinations:
Local service
- 11 to Newark (Hill Street, Bloomfield Avenue City Subway, Penn Station)
- 28 to Newark Penn Station
- 704 to Paterson Riverside (via McBride Avenue or Browertown Road)
- 705 to Passaic Bus Terminal
- 712 to Hackensack Bus Terminal, Saddle Brook or Paterson City Hall
- 748 to Paterson
- 871, 874 to Morristown
Interstate service
The following routes all serve Port Authority Bus Terminal:
- 193 to Wayne
- 194 to Butler or Newfoundland
- 197 to Ringwood, West Milford or Warwick, New York
- 198 to William Paterson University
In addition, the 191 and 195 buses terminate here.
In popular culture
Willowbrook Mall was the site of The Adventures of Pete & Pete 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.
References
External links
- Official website
- General Growth: Willowbrook Mall
- Willowbrook mall tenant list
- International Council of Shopping Centers: Willowbrook Mall
