The Ocean County Mall is a super-regional mall, opened On July 20, 1976 by

Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation Edward John DeBartolo Sr. (May 17, 1909 – December 19, 1994) was an American businessman. In 1971, his Ohio-based corporation was ranked as 47th among the nation's top 400 construction contractors. In 1983, DeBartolo was included on ''For ...

, located in Toms River,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

on Hooper Avenue ( County Route 549). The mall is accessible from Exit 82 of the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

via Route 37 East. The mall is managed by

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 Indian ...

. The mall has a

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

of . The mall is anchored by Boscov's,

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 ...

. There is also a vacant space from

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

that plans to be redeveloped. It also contains several eateries, and a small food court. The Ocean County Mall is the only enclosed mall in

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.Monmouth Mall Monmouth Mall is an enclosed split level shopping center in Eatontown, New Jersey located on the corner of the intersection of NJ 35, NJ 36, and Wyckoff Road ( Route 547). It is owned Kushner Companies and managed by Westminster Management. T ...

in Eatontown, and the

Shore Mall Harbor Square, formerly Shore Mall, is a shopping plaza (formerly a shopping mall) in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey in the United States on U.S. Route 40/U.S. Route 322 originally known as "Searstown". The plaza is accessible from Exit 36 off t ...

in Egg Harbor. With the growing need for an enclosed mall, the mall was originally planned to be at the intersection of Route 37 and the Garden State Parkway. However, the mall opened On July 20, 1976 at its current location at Hooper Avenue and Bay Avenue, with 3 anchors (Sears, JCPenney and Bamberger's, now Macy's) and a cinema (

General Cinema General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first cinemas certi ...

, now replaced by a Japanese restaurant). In 1988, a small expansion was built which included a

Stern's Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Departmen ...

. When the chain went out of business, it was turned into Boscov's. Around the same time, the General Cinema quietly closed down due to competition from the AMC-Loews across the street at

Seacourt Pavilion The Seacourt Pavilion is a regional shopping center on Hooper Avenue in Toms River, New Jersey. It is right across the street from the Ocean County Mall. The mall has a gross leasable area of . The shopping center is split-level, with the parking ...

. The Cinema's main mall entrance near Applebee's was sealed off for years (now a Japanese restaurant, Ichiban), while the small side hallway near Sears remained locked and dark. In 2003, the mall received a complete renovation, which added new signage, flooring, lighting, seating areas, and lighting in the parking lot. The renovation was partially sponsored by the Deborah Heart and Lung Center, which donated seating & lounge areas, in part to encourage

mall walking Mall walking is a form of exercise in which people walk or jog through the usually long corridors of shopping malls as a substitute for a running track or other walking venue. Many malls open early so that people may mall walk; stores and other su ...

. To accommodate, there is a stretch of discolored tile around the perimeter of the mall with numbers engraved marking walking distance. On January 4, 2018 it was announced that the Sears would be closing in early April of that year as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide. Sears closed on April 8, 2018. Simon redeveloped the space to include more retail, restaurants, and fitness by 2020. Its one of the five malls owned by Simon that had Sears closed planned to be redeveloped. In January 2020,

LA Fitness LA Fitness (doing business as LA Fitness International LLC) is an American gym chain with more than 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was formed in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California. History LA Fitness was founde ...

opened in part of the Sears space.

Five Below 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

opened in July 2020. In September 2020,

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of beauty stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

opened.

HomeSense HomeSense (stylized as Homesense in Europe and the United States) is a Canadian chain of discount home furnishing stores owned by TJX Companies. It originated in Canada in 2001, and was expanded to Europe in 2008 and the United States in 2017. ...

opened in December 2020.

Anchors

- 2 floors, formerly Bamberger's * Boscov's - 2 floors, formerly

- 2 floors, original anchor *

Homesense HomeSense (stylized as Homesense in Europe and the United States) is a Canadian chain of discount home furnishing stores owned by TJX Companies. It originated in Canada in 2001, and was expanded to Europe in 2008 and the United States in 2017. ...

1 Floor *

1 Floor

References

External links

International Council of Shopping Centers: Ocean County Mall
{{Simon Property Group Toms River, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Simon Property Group Shopping malls established in 1976 Buildings and structures in Ocean County, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Ocean County, New Jersey Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area