Woodbridge Center is a major two-level shopping mall located in
Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
Woodbridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional hub for Central New Jersey and a major bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area located within the ...
U.S. Route 9
U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, between ...
.
As of 2022, the mall currently features
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 ...
,
Boscov's
Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with forty-nine locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of these stores are located in Pennsylvania.
Corporate headqu ...
,
J. C. Penney
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, Girl ...
, and
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...
Cotton On
Cotton On Group is Australia's largest global retailer, known for its fashion clothing and stationery brands. As of 2020, it has over 1,500 stores in 18 countries employing 22,000 people across seven brands: Cotton On, Cotton On Kids, Cotton O ...
.
The land that Woodbridge Center now stands on used to be the location of Maple Hill Dairy farm and the old clay pits in Woodbridge. The mall is owned and managed by JLL (company) (Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.). Jones, Stacy "Boscov's readies Woodbridge store for debut" ''
The Star-Ledger
''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...
'', August 4, 2013. Accessed February 14, 2018. "A steady stream of empty cardboard boxes leaving Woodbridge Center and 50 empty tractor-trailers only begin to hint at the more than 350 people transforming what used to be a Fortunoff into the mall’s newest anchor.... The Woodbridge location will be the mall’s sixth anchor store, joining Dick’s Sporting Goods, J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s and Sears." The mall features a fountain, carousel, train ride, and children's play area. Although most malls have a
food court
A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...
, Woodbridge Center's eating establishments are spread throughout the mall with their own individual seating areas and restrooms. Before the coming of the food court, all malls had their eating establishments spread throughout the mall.
The mall's location near
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
and the benefit of no sales tax on clothes in
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 ...
makes this mall, along with nearby
Menlo Park Mall
Menlo Park Mall is a two-level super regional shopping mall, located on U.S. Route 1 and Parsonage Road in Edison, New Jersey. The mall has a gross leasable area of .Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...
, a popular choice for
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
SeaQuest Interactive Aquariums
SeaQuest Holdings, LLC better known as just SeaQuest, is an interactive marine, exotic mammal, and bird/reptile life attraction chain. It was founded by Vince Covino and features hands-on animal interactions at shopping malls throughout the Unite ...
opened a large space, its first in New Jersey, on Thanksgiving 2019.
Hahne's
Hahne & Company (pronounced Hayne), commonly known as Hahne's, was a department store chain based in Newark, New Jersey. The chain had stores located throughout the central and northern areas of New Jersey.
History
The firm was founded by ...
. In 1981,
J. C. Penney
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, Girl ...
moved from the nearby
Menlo Park Mall
Menlo Park Mall is a two-level super regional shopping mall, located on U.S. Route 1 and Parsonage Road in Edison, New Jersey. The mall has a gross leasable area of .Edison, New Jersey. By 1987, the mall got a fresh new look through renovation. The stairwell in the A&S wing next to center court was removed, new flooring was added, new lighting was added, the mall entrances were redone, and the fountains in front of A&S were either changed (the 2nd floor fountain) or removed (the first floor fountains). The Mall's current fountain is on the 1st floor outside of Macy's. (The fountains in front of Lord & Taylor and Sears have been disabled.) In 2003, the mall was expanded with a new Galyan's, the chain's first location in New Jersey, which become
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...
in 2004."Woodbridge, N.J., sporting goods store to become Dick's." '' Home News Tribune'', October 25, 2004. Accessed February 14, 2018. "Sporting-goods and specialty-apparel retailer Galyans Sports and Outdoor Adventure's first New Jersey store in the township is about to become Dick's Sporting Goods. At 10 a.m. on tomorrow the 100,000-square-foot store near Macy's in Woodbridge Center will hold its grand reopening." Notable department stores that have closed include Hahne's (became
Fortunoff
Fortunoff is a New York-based retailer of outdoor furniture and jewelry.
The company started as a home, jewelry and furniture retailer founded in 1922 by Max and Clara Fortunoff. After being sold to private equity companies in 2005 and 2009, t ...
now
Boscov's
Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with forty-nine locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of these stores are located in Pennsylvania.
Corporate headqu ...
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 ...
), and A&S (later Sears).
In October 2007, the carousel ride was relocated near the J. C. Penney. The train ride was also reconfigured to ensure both rides stay together at the same location. A toddler's play area, "Tiny Town", is located near the carousel and train rides.
On November 14, 2017,
Dave & Buster's
Dave & Buster's is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of October 2022, the company has 151 locations in the United States and two i ...
opened on the upper level by Sears, their first location in New Jersey.
On October 15, 2019, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing.
On February 4, 2020, it was announced that Sears would also be closing during a series of closures.
Incidents
On March 8, 2012, police shot and killed a shoplifter in the Sears wing who had held a woman hostage.
See also
*
List of neighborhoods in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
Woodbridge is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total land area of including 23.213 square miles (60.122 km2). There are many distinct sections,Virginia B. Troeger ...