Rockaway Townsquare facts for kids
Mall Entrance between Lord & Taylor and JCPenney
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| Location | Rockaway, New Jersey |
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| Coordinates | 40°54′25″N 74°33′14″W / 40.907°N 74.554°W |
| Address | 301 Mount Hope Avenue |
| Opening date | September 1977 |
| Developer | Copaken, White & Blitt |
| Management | Simon Property Group |
| Owner | Simon Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 152 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 (2 open, 2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,245,741 sq ft (115,733.1 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Parking | Parking lot |
| Public transit access |   NJ Transit bus: 880 Lakeland Bus Lines: 46, 80 |
Rockaway Townsquare is a large, two-story shopping mall located in Rockaway Township, New Jersey. You can find it right off Exit 35 of Interstate 80. This mall is owned by the Simon Property Group.
It's one of the biggest shopping malls in New Jersey, with over 1.2 million square feet of space! That's a lot of room for stores. The main stores, called anchor stores, are JCPenney and Macy's. There are also two big empty spots where Lord & Taylor and Sears used to be.
Rockaway Townsquare is a popular spot for shoppers from Morris, Sussex, and Warren counties. It's also less than an hour away from New York City.
Contents
A Look Back: Mall History
The Rockaway Townsquare mall first opened its doors on Labor Day Weekend in 1977. It was built on land that used to be a wetland and a landfill. At that time, wetlands in New Jersey were not protected by law.
When the mall opened, it had five large sculptures by an artist named Rita Blitt. Most of these artworks were on the first floor and reached up to the second floor. One special sculpture was a 20-foot American flag made of stainless steel and brass, hanging from the ceiling.
The shape of one of these sculptures, a yellow one called Stablitt 55, became the mall's first logo. While most of the other sculptures have been moved, Stablitt 55 can still be seen outside the mall today.
Changing Stores Over Time
Many stores have come and gone since the mall first opened. For example, Bamberger's used to be where Macy's is now. Hahne's became Lord & Taylor.
Other stores that have changed include Child World, which later became Kids "R" Us, and then Office Depot. Now, that space is home to DSW. An old Acme Markets grocery store is now Nordstrom Rack. Also, Party Fair moved and its old spot is now Orange Theory Fitness.
Movie Theaters and Other Events
The mall once had AMC Theatres movie screens inside. Screens 1-6 were where Forever 21 is now. Screens 7-12 were in a separate building, now occupied by Best Buy. The mall's theaters were quite famous. In 1981, when they expanded to 12 screens, it became the first 12-screen movie complex in America!
In 2009, a small plane made an emergency landing in the mall's parking lot. Luckily, only the pilot was hurt, and they walked away from the crash.
In 2017, The Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened at Rockaway Townsquare, offering many delicious food options.
Between 2019 and 2020, the mall's food court got a fresh new look with renovations.
Recent Changes
In 2020, the Sears store closed its doors. Later, in 2021, a special COVID-19 vaccination center opened inside the empty Sears building. This center could give vaccines to many people each day.
Also in 2020, Lord & Taylor announced they would be closing all their stores nationwide, including the one at Rockaway Townsquare. This left JCPenney and Macy's as the mall's main anchor stores.
Mall Expansion
Over the years, Rockaway Townsquare has grown quite a bit. New buildings have been added around the main mall. These include a strip mall called The Shops at Rockaway Mall, located near Interstate 80. There's also Rockaway Town Plaza, another strip mall on the west side of the mall. A Hilton Garden Inn hotel was also built on the property.
