malls when they opened in NJ **revised**

 Found some ads when some of the malls opened in NJ. The one mall I actually went to opening day was Freehold raceway mall in 1990. Over that summer I stayed at my grandmothers while my mom had to work. So that was pretty easy in a way.

                                                                     Garden State plaza 1957

New jersey’s first successful shopping center started out as an outdoor shopping plaza then transformed to an enclosed mega regional shopping center and growing ever since. GSP still going strong 68 years later. 

                                              Monmouth shopping center/Monmouth mall 1960

Started out as a large outdooor shopping center in the early 60’s and morphed into super regional Monmouth Mall for almost 50 years as it was rebranded in 1975 but times caught up to this mall and most of it got demolished for the Monmouth Square project a mix of retail and living space. 

                                                     Woodbridge center 1971 

Woodbridge center opened in march of 1971 with just A&S with its very first NJ Store followed by Stern’s later Macy's and Orbachs later Steinbach and Lord & Taylor a few months later.  In 1978, the mall got a expansion in which JC Penny and Hahne’s later Fortunoff and now Boscov's got added as the mall had five anchors and over 200 shops, restaurants. Gaylan's later renamed to Dick's sporting goods became the malls 6th Anchor in 2003 Today when I go to Woodbridge, its on the verge of dying since the pandemic. It's slowly going.

Manalapan Mall 1971

It was small, but Freehold’s first area mall 19 years before Freehold Raceway Mall opened. With just Steinbach and 20 something mall stores this lasted till the malls collapse in the mid 90’s. Since then it was replaced with the Manalapan epicenter which has Target, Wegmans, PC Richard’s in the old Steinbach building and a ton of other shops and restaurants. 

Livingston Mall 1972

The mall that sits on the corner of South Orange Ave and Eisenhower Parkway opened that year as Bamberger's, Hahne's and Sears were the anchors. today the mall is dying with just one anchor in Macy's and a few stores left. Don't know what will happen with this mall 

Paramus Park 1974

Paramus third shopping plaza opened in 1974 as A&S and Sears and a small Fortunoff a few years later which just sold jewelry. The mall remains solid to this day even though A&S became Macys and Sears turned into specialty supermarket Stew Leonard’s

                          Quakerbridge Mall 1976 

A few minutes from the state capitol, Quakerbridge Mall opened in Lawrenceville with Hahne’s and Bamberger’s also Sears and JC Penny joined in later months 

Riverside square 1977

The upscale mall in Hackensack is just a few minutes from the George Washington Bridge and the existing Paramus malls on Rt 4 with Garden state plaza and Bergen towne center. Anchors are Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue in which they closed years ago and is now a AMC theatre with a hefty renovation I’ll have to visit. haven’t been there in years. Over 20 to be exact. 

Seaview Square 1977

Right down the highway from Monmouth Mall, Seaview Square opened with Sears, Steinbach and Stern’s. This mall didn’t last too long 23 years later, it was demolished in 2001 and went to a big box shopping center. 

                       Burlington Center Mall 1982

     This mall had a very short life. I got to go here once thanks to a car show I went to. This mall opened with such promise by the mid 2000’s this mall was dead by the 2010’s it was gone altogether sadly this mall is not around for me to document since it met the wrecking ball 

                   

Hamilton Mall 1987 

Not too far from the gambling capital of the east coast of Atlantic City is where the mall sits in nearby Mays Landing right next to the horse racetrack. The mall opened with Macy’s, JC Penny and Sears this mall has fallen on hard times and is a dead mall in 2025 with just Macy’s and a few more stores open inside 

Newport Center 1987

The urban landscape of the Jersey City waterfront area got its first mall and opened before the holiday rush and the first mall where you have to pay to park in the parking deck or access it from the PATH train. Opening Anchors was Sears and Stern's. JcPenny was added later. As you see the grand opening had Hollywood presence as Jay Leno and Keshia Knight Pulliam aka Rudy from the Cosby Show made an appearance.

 

Bridgewater Commons 1988

Somerset County's only major shopping center opened in early 1988 off of Rt 22 As Macy's, Hahne's and Stern's were the original anchors happy to say the mall is still thriving to this very day despite anchor changes and renovations and a outdoor lifestyle center nearby with Shake Shack, Crate and Barrel and others.

Freehold Raceway Mall 1990

As a kid growing up in the town, there was no major mall ok we had Manalapan Mall with Steinbach and that's that. We had to venture to Eatontown for Monmouth Mall or Ocean for Seaview Square. My former hometown got its first mall in 1990 as Sears and Lord and Taylor opened it up but so many other proposed anchors never saw the light of day in the new shopping center as Hahne's, Stern's and A&S didn't make the cut as they were phased out by their companies of Federated and May dept stores. Instead JCPenny and the states third Nordstorm opened. Despite the challenges after the pandemic, the mall is thriving even though three anchors have shuttered. I do stop by whenever I'm in town. 

Jersey Gardens 1999

Located off the NJ turnpike and Newark Liberty airport is the largest outlet shopping center.Jersey Gardens opened to huge fanfare in Elizabeth and going strong over 25 years later the only thing that changed is the name and ownership as it’s called the mills at Jersey gardens and owned by Simon properties.