Willowbrook Mall (New Jersey) facts for kids
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| Location | Wayne, New Jersey, United States |
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| Coordinates | 40°53′20″N 74°15′36″W / 40.889°N 74.260°W |
| Address | 1400 Willowbrook Mall |
| Opening date | September 24, 1969 |
| Developer | The Rouse Company |
| Management | Brookfield Properties |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 148 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (4 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 1,520,000 sq ft (141,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 with partial upper level (2 in Dave & Buster's, Lord & Taylor, and former Sears, 3 in Bloomingdale's and Macy's) |
| Parking | Parking lot with 8,000 spaces |
| Public transit access |   NJ Transit Bus: 11, 28, 191, 193, 194, 195, 197, 198, 704, 705, 712, 748, 871, 874 |
Willowbrook Mall is a large shopping center in Wayne, New Jersey. It has one main level and a smaller second floor in some areas. The mall is located near major highways like Route 23, Route 46, and Interstate 80.
Willowbrook Mall first opened its doors in 1969. Since then, it has been updated and made bigger several times. These changes happened in 1970, 1988, 2006, and 2015. Today, the mall has over 140 different stores and restaurants. It covers a huge area of about 1.5 million square feet. This makes it the fifth-largest shopping mall in New Jersey.
The main stores at Willowbrook Mall are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, Lord & Taylor, and Bloomingdale's. There is also one large space that used to be a Sears store, but it is now empty.
Willowbrook Mall is very popular, especially on Sundays. This is because nearby Bergen County has "blue laws." These laws mean that many stores there cannot open on Sundays. This brings more shoppers to Willowbrook Mall. However, the mall and its parking lots can sometimes flood when it rains a lot. This is because the Passaic River and Pompton River flow nearby.
Contents
History of Willowbrook Mall
Building the Mall
Work on Willowbrook Mall started in 1966. The first store to begin construction was Bamberger's. By 1968, plans also included stores like Ohrbach's and Sears. The mall was designed to have 110 stores inside. It was planned to be about 1.5 million square feet in size.
The mall officially opened on September 24, 1969. A second part of the mall opened on August 12, 1970. This new section added 47 more specialty stores on two floors. It also included a Stern's department store. When it first opened, Willowbrook Mall was one of the largest indoor shopping malls in the world.
Mall Changes Over Time
In 1993, Willowbrook Mall was one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking. This meant people could not smoke anywhere inside the mall.
The Sears store was one of the original main stores. It stayed open until September 2019. The Bamberger's store has been open since the mall started. It changed its name to Macy's in 1986. This happened when its parent company decided to use the Macy's name for all its stores.
Ohrbach's store later became part of the Steinbach chain. Steinbach stores closed down in 1996. The building was then completely rebuilt and made bigger. A new store, Lord & Taylor, opened there in 1997.
Stern's store closed in 2001. Its parent company decided to stop using the Stern's brand. The store was then changed into a Bloomingdale's. This new Bloomingdale's store opened in late 2002.
Recent Updates and New Stores
In 2015, the mall announced a big renovation project. It cost $23 million and took two years to complete. The updates included new ceilings in some parts of the mall. The food court was completely redone. New flooring was put throughout the mall. More seating areas were added for shoppers. The Bloomingdale's section got a new look, like a street with shops.
Also in 2015, the company that owned Sears made a change. It created a new company called Seritage Growth Properties. This new company took over many Sears properties, including the one at Willowbrook Mall.
In 2017, Sears made its store smaller. It rented out the extra space to Dave & Buster's. Dave & Buster's, which has games and food, opened on Valentine's Day in 2018. Seritage also closed the Sears Auto Center. They tore it down to build a Cinemark movie theater. This became the second movie theater near the mall. There was already a 14-screen AMC Theatres nearby.
On July 15, 2019, Sears announced it would close its Willowbrook Mall store. The store officially shut down on September 15, 2019.
In August 2018, Macy's added a "Macy's Backstage" section inside its store. This section offers discounted items. A P.F. Chang's restaurant opened inside the Bloomingdale's store on January 22, 2019.
On August 2, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing many of its stores. On August 27, 2020, they announced that all remaining Lord & Taylor stores would close. The Willowbrook Mall store closed in February 2021. This left Bloomingdale's and Macy's as the only original-style main stores.
In October 2020, plans were announced for BJ's Wholesale Club to open a store. This new store would be in the building that used to be Sears. They also plan to add a gas station north of the mall's parking lot.
Public Transportation Access
Willowbrook Mall and its parking lots are an important transportation spot. NJ Transit has a "park and ride" area here. It opened in 1974. This service provides bus rides to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. This makes it easy for people to get to the mall and also travel to New York City.
