Westfield Garden State Plaza is a large upscale shopping mall in Paramus in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is owned and managed by the Westfield Group. Broadly, it is located at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17 near the Garden State Parkway in Bergen County, New Jersey. With 2,132,112 ft 2 (198,073 m 2 ) of lettable space, it is the largest mall in New Jersey and the third-largest mall in the New York City metropolitan area. Its department store anchors are J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, and it is across Route 4 from an IKEA, Sports Authority, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and a Christmas Tree Shops. It is often referred to by locals of Northern New Jersey and Rockland Counties as the Garden State Plaza.
The Garden State Plaza ranks among the largest shopping malls in the United States, having been ranked 18th largest in the United States by the American Studies department at Eastern Connecticut State University Shopping Mall Studies. The Garden State Plaza is the largest mall in the Westfield Groups' global portfolio in terms of lettable area. This is significant given that Westfield is the largest retail property group globally.
The mall had sales of $578 per square foot in 2005, about 50% above the national average, according to the Directory of Major Malls. Westfield Garden State Plaza is one of the most profitable malls in the country.
History
Garden State Plaza was built in 1957 by the Muscarelle Construction Company for owner/developer R.H. Macy & Co. as an open-air shopping "plaza". Its groundbreaking design differed from today's "Big Box" shopping areas in that, rather than having its tenants strung around the periphery of one large parking lot, the stores, except for those more suited for out-parcels (e.g. automotive repair and retail), were clustered on a shopping island, encircled by a moat of parking lots, much like today. Connecting the stores were open-air sidewalks, complete with benches, plantered trees and other vegetation. This model approximated a "downtown" pedestrian mall, at the same time serving as a precursor of the latter-day enclosed and air-conditioned shopping malls. Eventually it would siphon most of the retail business from nearby downtown Paterson, whose Meyer Brothers and Quackenbush department stores (later Stern's-Quackenbush) would fall upon hard times and melt into history.
The original anchor was Bamberger's (owned by R.H. Macy since 1929). Gimbel's and J.C. Penney were added in 1958. Total construction costs were $26 million in 1957 for the mall and its original group of 90 stores.
Garden State Plaza drew much business from nearby New York towns and cities, whose shoppers wandered across state lines to take advantage of New Jersey's lower sales taxes and its policy that exempted clothing purchases from sales tax. By 1961, it was the world's largest mall.
The mall was subsequently enclosed between 1981 and 1984 in response to competitive pressure from newer fully enclosed malls such as the Willowbrook Mall in nearby Wayne.
Nordstrom opened its first New Jersey location on September 7, 1990, building a $37 million, 272,000 sq ft (25,300 m 2 )., three-level store on the former Gimbel's site.
In 1996, Garden State Plaza marked the completion of a $200 million expansion and major remodeling project that added over 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m 2 ) of retail space and two 4 level parking structures with a bank of 2 elevators situated in a small lobby on the 3rd and 4th floors. On the 1st and 2nd floors, the elevators and parking structures connect directly to the mall. JCPenney grew by 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m 2 ) to 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m 2 )., and two new anchors were added, a 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m 2 ) Neiman Marcus on 3 levels and a 135,000 sq ft (12,500 m 2 ) Lord & Taylor on 2 levels, both targeted at the upscale fashion-conscious shopper.
Westfield acquired it in 2002 during the breakup of Urban Shopping Centers, Inc.
Blue laws
Due to highly restrictive blue laws in effect in Bergen County and more restrictive limitations in place in Paramus, the Garden State Plaza is completely closed on Sundays, except for some of the restaurants and the new theater, all of which have special Sunday entrances. Garden State Plaza's parking lot is accessible, on Sundays, only from the Route 4 and Route 17 access points. Gates are down so that the access roads from the secondary streets are blocked. The Paramus Borough Code forbids the performance of any "worldly employment" on Sunday, with very limited exceptions. These laws were enacted shortly after Westfield Garden State Plaza opened out of fear that the mall would cause high levels of congestion in the borough. While there have been several attempts to repeal these laws over the years, they have all failed.
Expansion
The Borough of Paramus asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to review a decision that allowed Westfield Garden State Plaza to construct a 16-screen movie theater. The borough had submitted a petition against Westfield Garden State Plaza and the Borough's Planning Board to the New Jersey Supreme Court, asking it to review the plans to construct a 163,000-square-foot (15,100 m 2 ) "entertainment lifestyle precinct" at the mall that will include the theater and 10 specialty retail stores, along with a 158,000-square-foot (14,700 m 2 ) parking lot below the new wing. New stores, complemented by the new 16-screen AMC Theatres, include a relocated Borders, Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins, Origins, Ruby Thai, and Sunsights by Solstice. The mall celebrated its 50th Anniversary with the new expansion and stores opened on May 25, 2007. Several other stores opened after May 25, including Grand Lux Cafe, Great Steak & Potato, Jamba Juice, a new Vans store, and a new Quiksilver.
Public transportation
Garden State Plaza is also a major bus transfer point for New Jersey Transit, as the 162 and 163 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the 171 and 175 to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, the 770 to Paterson and Hackensack, the 709 to Bloomfield, the 758 to Passaic and Paramus Park, and Bergen County Academy Express-contracted local routes 751, 753, 755, and 756 stop there.
Note The 751, and 755 do not pull directly into Garden State Plaza but into IKEA instead; as for the 753 it travels nowhere near Garden State Plaza but to Bergen Town Center with connecting bus routes 751, 755 (to IKEA) and 171 and 756 to Garden State Plaza.
Anchors
- Macy*s (Opened 1957 as Bamberger's; converted to Macy's 1986; one of the largest locations in the chain) (435,000 sq ft on 3 levels)
- Nordstrom (Opened 1960 as Gimbels; converted to Hahne's 1987, closed & demolished 1988, reopened as Nordstrom 9/1990) (246,000 sq ft on 3 levels)
- JCPenney (Opened 1958; expanded 1996) (176,700 sq ft. on 3 levels)
- Neiman Marcus (135,000 sq ft on 3 levels) - Opened 1996
- Lord & Taylor (130,000 sq ft on 2 levels) - Opened 1996
Former anchors
- Borders (Opened 1997, closed 2007, relocated to new wing, store reopened as XXI Forever Spring 2008) (40,000 sq ft on 2 levels)
- Bamberger's (Opened 1957, closed/converted to Macy*s)
- Gimbel's (Opened 1960, closed 1986, converted to Hahne's 1987, closed & demolished 1988, rebuilt/reopened as Nordstrom 5/1990)
References
- ^ Garden State Plaza: Our Stores, accessed December 18, 2006
- ^ a b c d e Westfield Garden State Plaza, Westfield Group. Accessed June 6, 2008
- ^ Westfield Garden State Plaza, International Council of Shopping Centers. Accessed June 6, 2008 shows 2,000,000 ft²
- ^ Largest Shopping Malls in the United States (2004), accessed February 9, 2006
- ^ "westfield/corporate" (PDF). Westfield Annual Report 2005 . http://westfield.com/corporate/pdf/reports/2005AnnualReports/Group_AR_210306.pdf . Retrieved 5 January 2007 .
- ^ "westfield.com/corporate". Westfield group . http://westfield.com/corporate/about/ . Retrieved 19 November 2006 .
- ^ a
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