Menlo Park Mall A mall doing very well

 My newest blog has moved to another mall a traffic light away from me, but this mall is doing very very well The Menlo Park Mall in nearby Edison is going strong while two traffic lights away at Woodbridge Center is on the verge of dying a slow death as a few anchors as well as store fronts are gone.

History of Menlo Park Mall 

The mall has started out as a open air shopping center  in 1959 like most malls did after World War 2 and when suburbia got big. Opening anchors were Bamberger's and Montgomery Wards, JC Penny Woolworth's, Shop Rite and Pantry Pride. In 1967, the mall became enclosed as a single level which would remain until its demolition in 1990. First anchor change came in the early 1970's as Ward's left and Alexander's opened. JC Penny moved to Woodbridge Center in the early 1980's. In 1986, Bamberger's was rebranded to Macy's. As mentioned the one story mall was demolished in the summer of 1990 leading to the mall building a 2 level structure which opened in the fall of 1991 while Macy's remained open throughout the renovation. Also 2 parking decks were constructed facing Parsonage road and one in the back of the mall between the new Nordstrom that would open its second NJ store in 1991 replacing a aging Alexander's. In 1992, The mall added a 12 screen Cineplex Odeon which replaced a 2 screen theatre which was near the mall but part of the property. The Cineplex became a AMC theatre and now the AMC dine in theatre. Also a Wiz opened and the south end of the mall next to Macy's and Arcadian Gardens would remain till they went out of business in 2002. 2003 the mall would open a  Cheesecake Factory was added near Nordstrom as well as a 2 story Barnes and Noble as a promenade. Memories of Menlo go back to high school on friday nights hanging out with friends walking the mall, eating at the food court, talking to girls and hope to get their numbers, maybe getting into beef with others yea it happened or watching a blockbuster movie at the theatre yea I remember getting snuck in to see Showgirls, Pulp Fiction. Good times back in the 1990's. As I visited the mall .It has gotten more upscale versus when it opened or reopened over 30 years ago with stores like Apple, Uniqlo and a few others

                                         Now and then Macy’s in 2025 and Bamberger’s in 1962



Menlo in its open air era in the early 1960’s see how nice ppl dressed just to go shopping now today ppl look like they rolled out of bed and headed over for shopping. 





              A raw video of the mall and Alexander's                                                                         getting demolished in 1990

              A old tv commercial from the early 80's                                                                                 what the hell is up with the NY accents lol


















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

malls when they opened in NJ **revised**

Image
 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.                                                      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 go...
Read more

Abraham and Straus grand openings in the tristate.

Image
 Over the past years A&S expanded into different states including New Jersey and Pennsylvania                                                     1971 Woodbridge center   A first for New Jersey as the chain opened its first store at Woodbridge center mall with its pointy unique structure on the exterior it was a huge three floor store. The chains first effort in NJ was a success. In 1992, the store received a renovation inside in which there was a celebration in which the late NJ Nets star Drazen Petrovic signed autographs and 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris who played Andrea Zuckerman on the show. Sadly the store closed in 1995 after Macy’s phased out the A&S brand. The store was sold to Sears and opened that year and remained till 2020 and closed during the COVID pandemic it currently sits vacant.          ...
Read more

Farewell to Monmouth Mall

Image
 The mall that sits on rt 35 and 36 off Wyckoff Road will be history come March. Monmouth Mall's humble beginnings started off in 1960 as a open air shopping center known as the Monmouth Shopping Center starting with anchors Bamberger's and Montgomery Wards. By the 1970's, that small shopping plaza turned into the enclosed Monmouth Mall in 1975 which grew with three more anchors and Wards left and Alexander's coming in along with Hahne's, JC Penny and Abraham and Straus (A&S) which was a nice solid mall lineup for a decade. As a small kid growing up in Freehold, this was the first major shopping plaza I ever stepped foot in being Freehold did not recieve a major sized mall for a good two decades. Monmouth was thriving well into the 1980's till the mall started a few anchor changes as Alexander's left in the early 80's and Caldor came in as a discount alternate to the 4 upscale anchors. In 1986, Bamberger's rebranded to Macy's as the chain ret...
Read more