Willowbrook Mall nothings stopping this mall from failing

 Willowbrook Mall has stood the test of time for well over 50 years as Passiac County's shopping paradise 

The History of Willowbrook Mall 

In 1969, Willowbrook Mall opened in Wayne, Nj along busy highways such as rt 46,23 and nearby Interstate 80. Opening anchors were Sears, Bamberger's and Ohrbach's. In 1970, Stern's would open as the malls 4th anchor. The malls setup would involve a 1 floor setup from Sears to the center court the 2 floors with Stern's and Ohrbach's at the time. First anchor change at the mall would involve Macy's rebranding of Bamberger's in 1986. In 1987, Ohrbach's would go out of business and replaced with Steinbach which closed in 1995 and replaced with Lord and Taylor in 1996. Stern's would be replaced by Bloomingdale's in 2002 after Macy’s retired the Stern's brand in 2001. Sears would close in 2019 as part of that store would have a BJ's wholesale club and a Dave and Busters in its place both are accessible from the outside only no in mall access. Lord and Taylor would close in 2020 as they went out of business and replaced  in 2024 with a JC Penny which was next door at the Wayne Town Center. Also part of the mall growing, sit down restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory and PF Chang's opened and a Cinemark 14 screen theatre was built where the Sears auto center once stood. The mall also has a park and ride lot for various NJ Transit routes either local or to NYC. Despite the changes and surviving recessions and covid, Willowbrook continues to run strong in Northern NJ.








                                                Then and Now Stern's and Bloomingdale's

                                             















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