Willowbrook is a two-level, major shopping center located in Wayne, New Jersey, 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 1,500,000 ft²,[1] placing it near the largest shopping malls in the United States, and making it the fourth largest of all Shopping malls 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 laws in effect in Bergen County, and nearby shopping haven Paramus imposing even stricter Sunday-sales restrictions of its own, Willowbrook has benefited from the spillover of shoppers on Sunday.[2]
[edit] Main storesMain stores are (listed in descending order by square footage):
[edit] HistoryConstruction 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.[3] The opening of Willowbrook 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 city limits itself. (Bamberger's, Ohrbachs, and Sears). The large 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 addition, S. Klein, based in New York, and having a branch in Newark opened a large store as an outparcel next to (but not connected to) Willowbrook. A second mall known initially as West Belt Mall (now Wayne Town Center), was built around the S. Klein store, and contained a large JC Penney Store. The S. Klein store later became E. J. Korvette, and was then rebuilt as the first full-line Fortunoff store in New Jersey. In the early 1970s, the mall was the site of Willowbrook Ministries, an effort by two ministers to reach out to shoppers. The ministry office, funded by several major Christian denominations, was open six days a week, every day except Sunday.[4] Increasingly, shoppers were seeking to fulfill all of their needs -- including their spiritual needs -- at the mall.[5] In that same period, book stores started their migration from Main Street to malls, and the Willowbrook Mall was at the forefront with an early Waldenbooks location.[6] With more shoppers at malls, it was becoming increasingly difficult for advocacy groups to reach out to customers shopping at malls. In 1983, Willowbrook bowed to pressure from the Passaic County Nuclear Freeze Committee to distribute pamphlets and obtain petition signatures, subject to the malls rules and oversight.[7] In 1988, Willowbrook 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, 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 became one of the first malls in New Jersey to join 300 of 1,800 malls nationwide that banned smoking on mall grounds.[8] Sears is the only original anchor store from the mall's opening. Ohrbach's became Steinbach's in 1987 and then 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, Willowbrook has attempted a more upscale remerchandising. This has been evidenced by stores that have opened in recent years, as well as stores that are opening this year. [edit] TransportationAn NJ Transit park and ride facility, opened in 1974, provides New Jersey Transit bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.[9] Beginning in 2008 the park and ride only operates service on weekends (due in part to the opening of the new Route 23 bus and rail station). Local bus service is provided by NJ Transit. [edit] Popular culture
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