Wayne Towne Center facts for kids

The Wayne Towne Center is a large shopping center in Wayne, New Jersey. It's located near the Willowbrook Mall and is part of the big New York City area. Back in 2008, it had a huge space for stores, about 653,000 square feet!

This center used to be an indoor shopping mall. It opened in the late 1980s when the JCPenney store was built. But in 2008, it started to change. The inside part of the mall, which had one floor, was taken down. Now, it's more like a group of separate stores with shared parking.

Today, the main stores at Wayne Towne Center are JCPenney, Costco, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Nordstrom Rack. JCPenney has been there since the mall first opened. Costco moved there from another location nearby. Dick's Sporting Goods opened in 2014, and Nordstrom Rack joined in 2015.

How the Center Changed

The Wayne Towne Center has always been close to the bigger Willowbrook Mall. This sometimes made it hard for the center to attract lots of shoppers. For example, a store called Neiman Marcus Last Call left in 1993.

In 2008, a book store called Borders Books and Music closed down. This store had taken the place of Neiman Marcus. The part of the mall where Borders was located was torn down later that year.

Becoming an Outdoor Shopping Area

Also in 2008, the mall started a big change called "de-malling." This means an indoor mall slowly becomes more like an outdoor shopping area. To do this, many stores inside the mall closed. Two of its main stores, Old Navy and Loehmann's, also closed.

A restaurant called TGI Friday's used to be inside the mall. It moved to a new building in the parking lot. The remaining main stores, JCPenney and Fortunoff, closed off their entrances to the old indoor mall. Other new restaurants like Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze opened in the parking lot. A shoe store called DSW Shoe Warehouse also joined them. Later, a Chipotle Mexican Grill opened near JCPenney.

Fortunoff, another main store, closed in 2009. This was a big loss for the center. For a while, construction on new buildings stopped.

New Owners and New Stores

In 2010, a company called Vornado Realty Trust bought the Wayne Towne Center. They planned to make it much better, just like they had done with other shopping centers.

In 2014, construction started again! The old Fortunoff store, which was very large, was torn down. Dick's Sporting Goods decided to open a store there after all. It opened in November 2014. One month before that, Costco opened its new location.

More new places opened too:

• Panera Bread opened in part of the Chipotle building.
• A La-Z-Boy furniture store opened in 2015.
• A two-story Nordstrom Rack opened in October 2015.
• A two-story 24 Hour Fitness gym opened in January 2016.

However, in the summer of 2020, 24 Hour Fitness closed many of its gyms, including the one at Wayne Towne Center, because of financial problems.

Main Stores

These are the big stores you can find at Wayne Towne Center:

• JCPenney (a very large store!)
• Costco
• Dick's Sporting Goods
• Nordstrom Rack

Places to Eat

You can grab a bite at these restaurants:

• TGI Friday's
• Olive Garden
• Bahama Breeze
• Chipotle
• Panera Bread
• Shake Shack
• Cava
• Chick-fil-A

Other Businesses

Besides the main stores and restaurants, there are other useful businesses:

• DSW Shoe Warehouse
• La-Z-Boy Furniture Gallery
• Firestone Complete Auto Care Center
• Jared the Galleria of Jewelry
• Ulta Beauty
• Five Below
• City MD Urgent Care
• America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses

Stores That Used to Be Here

Many stores have come and gone over the years:

• Fortunoff (closed 2009)
• Borders Books & Music (closed 2008)
• Old Navy (closed 2008)
• Loehmann's (closed 2008)
• Zany Brainy (closed 2003)
• Neiman Marcus Last Call (closed 1993)
• Korvettes
• S. Klein
• Daffy’s (closed 2008)
• 24 Hour Fitness (closed 2020)
• Disc-O-Mat - Music Store
• Hallmark Card Shop
• Hickory Farms