Brunswick Square is a single story shopping mall located in

East Brunswick, New Jersey East Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York City metropolitan area and is located on the southern shore of the Raritan River, directly adjacent to the city ...

, at the intersection of Route 18 and Rues Lane. It is owned and managed by

Washington Prime Group Washington Prime Group Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. The company is organized in Indiana with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From January 2015 to September 2016, the company had the name WP ...

and has gross leasable area (GLA) of . The current anchor stores are

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

History

Brunswick Square Mall was built on land that was formerly the Ostroski Farm on Rues Land. The Ostroski family sold the land to the Macy's Corporation in 1969 for the construction of Bamberger's. The mall, originally owned by DeBartolo Corporation, opened in 1970 with anchors

and Bamberger's. Bamberger's became Macy's in 1986 when the chain was phased out in favor of the Macy's name. In 1999, a smaller expansion took place that added a Barnes & Noble and expanded the movie theater to 13 stadium seating screens. The theater expansion occupied an adjacent McCrory's. Several eateries were incorporated into the movie theater, including

Nathan's Famous Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of the B ...

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream ...

, and

Auntie Anne's Auntie Anne's is an American franchised chain of pretzel shops founded by Anne F. Beiler and her husband, Jonas, in 1988. Auntie Anne's serves products such as pretzels, dips, and beverages. They also offer Pretzels & More Homemade Baking Mix fo ...

, to make up for a lack of a proper food court. Also that year,

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in India ...

acquired the mall from DeBartolo. In October 2000, the interior of the mall was renovated in which new ceilings, skylights, flooring and lighting was installed and a second main entrance was constructed on the west side of the mall through a space formerly occupied by

Kinney Shoes The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a genera ...

, next to Spencer's Gifts. In 2011, JCPenney underwent major renovations to give the store a new look and add a Sephora inside the department store. Numerous stores have come and gone since 2011. The movie theater Mega Movies closed down and was replaced by

Starplex Cinemas Starplex Cinemas was a Dallas-based American movie theater chain which at one point had 34 locations across the United States. Showbiz Cinemas acquired the Starplex location in Kingwood, Texas, in 2012. Later, Starplex merged with Showplex Cinemas ...

in 2011. Starplex had also bought the fast food franchise licenses of the Nathan's Famous and Ben & Jerry's from Mega Movies but subsequently decided to close the ice cream store due to a lack of revenue. In early 2013, construction was completed on a new entrance and hallway anchored with a

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Loui ...

Tilted Kilt Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery is a modern Scottish-Irish-themed sports pub and franchisor-type restaurant chain in the United States. History The first Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery was opened in the Las Vegas Rio Hotel and Casino in 2003, "wearing ...

, and GoWireless. In 2015, Starplex Cinemas was bought out by

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

. Also in 2015, the Subway sandwich store closed and was replaced by the Pop in Cafe. The Pop In Cafe has since closed. In 2016, Simon Property Group sold the mall to WP Glimcher. Also that year, Ruby Tuesday closed to make way for Bar Louie and

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised ...

. Bar Louie opened in late-2016 and Red Robin opened in August 2017. In addition,

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

moved next to Famous Footwear during this time and its former storefront was used for Red Robin. Pups of War, a nerf blaster arena, opened in June 2021.

Gallery

File:Brunswick Square Mall.JPG, Exterior near Macy's File:East Brunswick Square Mall (Rear Main Entrance).jpg, South entrance near AMC Theatre

References

External links

Brunswick SquareInternational Council of Shopping Centers: Brunswick Square
{{New York City Malls Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls established in 1970 East Brunswick, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, New Jersey Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area