Garden State Plaza (officially Westfield Garden State Plaza) is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

located in

Paramus Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

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 Delawa ...

. It is owned and managed by

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

-based real estate management company

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fra ...

, and located at the intersection of

Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * AH4, Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durres to Kakav ...

and Route 17 near 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 Jerse ...

, about west of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.Queally, James; Sherman, Ted; Grant, Jason (November 5, 2013)
"Garden State Plaza shooting suspect killed self in mall, authorities say"
NJ.com. Opened in 1957 as the first suburban shopping mall in New Jersey,
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', March 20, 1957. p. 49. Accessed February 27, 2021. "The Garden State Plaza Shopping Center, being built in Paramus, N.J., will open on May 1, it was announced yesterday. The center will be the largest in the state." it has of leasable space,
,

Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio ...

. Accessed June 6, 2008 and housing over 300 stores, it is the second-largest mall in New Jersey, the third-largest mall in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

, and one of the highest-revenue producing malls in the United States. The mall had sales of $500 per square foot in 2013, about $320 above the national average; Garden State Plaza is one of the most profitable malls in the country. In a study of malls in the United States performed on behalf of

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...

, published in 2018, Westfield Garden State Plaza ranked ninth in the nation, based on sales of $950 per square foot. Most of the mall, especially retail outlets, is closed on Sunday in accordance with state and local

blue law Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

s. In a borough in which half of the property tax revenue comes from retail properties, Garden State Plaza accounts for 10% of the property taxes collected in Paramus.

History

The site at the southwest corner of Route 4 and Route 17 that would become Garden State Plaza was next to a

drive-in theater A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

dating back to the 1930s.Pries, Allison
"Garden State Plaza is expanding. See how it went from a drive-in to N.J.'s biggest mall."
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 5, 2019, updated September 24, 2019. Accessed February 28, 2021. Allied Stores and Macy's had discussed a shared project at the site that was abandoned in August 1953, after which Allied Stores pursued development of the Bergen Mall (since renamed as Bergen Town Center), that would be located a mile away on Route 4 and which was scheduled to open in September 1957 with

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 ...

as its anchor store. R.H. Macy announced the creation of Garden State Plaza in May 1954, establishing a subsidiary that would own and operate the mall. JC Penney announced in June 1955 that the company would construct an standalone three-story building as part of the project, with the infrastructure to add a fourth floor, as needs grew. In September 1958, long-time Macy's rival Gimbel's announced that it was acquiring access to a building site in the mall for a facility that would include of retail space on three floors, with completion expected in 1960. Garden State Plaza opened on May 1, 1957, as the first suburban mall in New Jersey, with plans to be "the largest in the state". On opening day, Garden State Plaza had 75,000 shoppers at a mall that was anchored by a

Bamberger's Bamberger's was a department store chain with branches primarily in New Jersey and other locations in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. History 1892–1912 Newark was known for m ...

store on three floors and included 60 retail stores and 5,500 parking spaces on a site that covered ."Big Shopping Area Opened In Jersey; 75,000 Visit Paramus Center --3-Story Bamberger Unit Is the Principal Store 17 Connections to Roads Price Range Like Newark's"
''

'', May 2, 1957. Accessed February 28, 2021. "More than 75,000 persons visited the Garden State Plaza Shopping Center at its official opening today.... Now there are nine large buildings housing sixty stores.... Bamberger's Paramus, as the new store will be known, is in a three-level structure occupying 340,000 square feet." The formal ribbon cutting ceremony included the mayor of Paramus Fred C. Galda and a local eight-year-old who cut a ribbon with one thousand dimes as a fundraiser for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (since renamed as the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comb ...

), part of an awareness campaign to encourage people to get the

polio vaccine Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all chi ...

. Its original three anchor stores were Bamberger's,

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the com ...

, and

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, Gi ...

, with the rest of the mall consisting of 90 smaller specialty shops. It was called "the largest shopping center in the world." Constructed by the Muscarelle Construction Company for owner/developer R.H. Macy & Co. as an open-air shopping "plaza", total construction costs for the mall were $26 million (equivalent to $ in ).Verdon, Joan
"Westfield Garden State Plaza, Paramus"
''

The Record The Record may refer to: Music * ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Records, an English power pop band * '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee G ...

'', July 27, 2008, backed up by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

as of August 1, 2008. Accessed February 18, 2022. "The mall, which originally had 90 stores, cost $26 million to build in 1957."

Garden State Plaza drew much business from nearby New York towns and cities, whose shoppers wandered across state lines to take advantage of New Jersey's lower sales taxes and its policy that exempted clothing purchases from sales tax. By 1961, it was the world's largest mall. In 1975, the mall began a multi-phased, years-long project that would fully enclose the mall, converting exterior passageways into covered spaces. The project, budgeted at $20 million, would add of retail space, bringing the total to upon completion. A $21 million construction project in 1981 converted access tunnels into a second level for the mall, added of retail space. The mall was enclosed between 1981 and 1984 in response to competitive pressure from newer fully enclosed malls such as the Willowbrook Mall in nearby Wayne.Garden State Plaza Reshaped Landscape
, ''Retail Traffic'', May 1, 1999 Later in the 1980s, a lower level was added by converting a former basement truck tunnel into retail space. The existing JCPenney basement was given a new entrance on the lower level, but since the floors were at slightly different elevations, that entrance features the shortest

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

in North America, at a height of six steps. In 1987, Gimbels' parent company, BATUS, which had been selling off its Gimbels' stores, sold its Garden State Plaza location to Associated Dry Goods. Associated reopened the store as the new headquarters for its Hahne's department stores. Hahne's had previously been headquartered at its flagship store in

downtown Newark Downtown Newark is the Central Business District of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. Downtown is the site of the original Puritan settlement of Newark located at a bend in the Passaic River. The first settlers, led by Robert ...

, which the company wanted to close. In the mid-1990s, a

Nobody Beats the Wiz The Wiz, also known at times as Nobody Beats the Wiz, was a chain of electronic stores in the northeastern United States, located primarily in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. History The chain was founded by four brothers, Stephan, Lawren ...

store was added as an out-parcel to the mall site; it later became a

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

store that closed in 2018. The site was then occupied by a toy store called Toy City, owned by Party City. On September 7, 1990,

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

opened its first New Jersey location, building a $37 million, , three-level store on the former Hahne's site. In 1996, the luxury department store chain

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

opened a store in the mall, which was its seventh in the state at the time. In 1996, Garden State Plaza marked the completion of a $200 million expansion and major remodeling project that added over of retail space and two four level parking structures, Parking Garage A, and Parking Garage B. The downstairs food court was connected to the lower level from the previous expansion. J. C. Penney grew by , and two new anchors were added, a

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

on three levels and a

on two levels, both targeted at the upscale fashion-conscious shopper. A Venetian carousel was also added at that time of the expansion and remodeling and was located in front of Macy's. The carousel closed in 2016, and was removed so that the mall could use that space for performances by the

Bergen Performing Arts Center The Bergen Performing Arts Center (BergenPAC) is a not-for-profit theater in Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Engl ...

. Westfield acquired the mall in 1986 from Macy's in a deal that also included New Jersey's Brunswick Square Mall and Quaker Bridge Mall. The Borough of Paramus petitioned the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging th ...

to review a decision by borough's Planning Board, asking it to review the plans to construct a "entertainment lifestyle precinct" at the mall that included a 16-screen AMC movie theater and 10 specialty retail stores, along with a parking lot below the new wing, known as "Parking Garage C".Verdon, Joan
"These aren't your mother's shopping malls"
''

'', February 11, 2007. Accessed February 13, 2021. "Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, the region's largest mall, with more than 2 million square feet of stores, has decided that today's malls don't live by shopping alone. It is adding a 163,000-square-foot "entertainment lifestyle precinct." It will include a 16-screen movie theater with stadium seating, a restaurant and 10 specialty retailers, including 'experiential' stores where shoppers are encouraged to try out the merchandise before they buy." The petition was turned down, and the mall celebrated its 50th anniversary with the new expansion and stores opened on May 25, 2007. In 2013, the mall rebuilt Parking Garage B, expanding it to five levels and 1,800 parking spaces. Adjacent were built a new guest services office and a valet lounge. A year later, the mall added a wing at a cost of $160 million known as the "Fashion District" that has 22 stores and restaurants. In January 2018, Best Buy announced that they would be closing their two-level store at Garden State Plaza and would be relocating to a single-floor building to be constructed at The Outlets at Bergen Town Center nearby.Verdon, Joan
"Best Buy relocation creates opening for new moves at Garden State Plaza"
''

'', January 17, 2018. Accessed January 27, 2018. "The freestanding Best Buy store in the parking lot of Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus will be empty soon, and that will give New Jersey's largest mall an opportunity to make some new moves.Best Buy is preparing to relocate to the mall next door, The Outlets at Bergen Town Center, in a new building under construction in the east section of that mall, on Forest Avenue." The store officially moved on April 14, 2018. J. C. Penney closed on March 10, 2018.Attrino, Anthony G
"J.C. Penney quietly closing another N.J. store after 60 years at mall"
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, January 26, 2017. Accessed January 27, 2018. "J.C. Penney, an anchor for 60 years at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, will close on March 10, according to a recording on the store's phone line.... After its 1958 Paramus opening, the Westfield Garden State Plaza -- located on Route 17 near Route 4 -- expanded and grew around the retailer, NorthJersey.com reported. The store was remodeled in 2012 and 2013, according to the report." Both stores are expected to be redeveloped by Westfield in the future, though as of October 2018, no such development has been announced. In July 2018

North Jersey Media Group North Jersey Media Group is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey and owned by the Gannett Company, Inc. It publishes ''The Record'', the ''Herald News'' of Passaic County, the ''Daily Record'' of Morris Count ...

reported that Uniqlo will be relocating from Westfield Garden State Plaza to

Paramus Park Paramus Park is a shopping mall located in Paramus, New Jersey, United States. It opened in 1974, is owned by Brookfield Properties, and has a gross leasable area (GLA) of . Description Paramus Park is located on a plot of land between the ...

. The Paramus Park Uniqlo officially opened on March 1, 2019. Westfield Garden State Plaza announced plans to build a mixed development center in the old JCPenney space. In July 2019,

Tru Kids Tru Kids, Inc. (; doing business as Tru Kids Brands) Is an American retail and licensing company that operates the Toys "R" Us locations in the United States. Although they only operate locations in the United States, they own the Toys R Us brand ...

announced that one of two

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loca ...

stores being opened by that company as part of that toy retailer's recovery from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and its acquisition by Tru Kids, would be at Garden State Plaza. (The other would be opened at The Galleria in Houston.) Eschewing the "warehouse" arrangement of previous stores, Toys "R" Us stores, these revamped versions were much smaller, and centered around open play areas, interactive displays and areas for special events and birthday parties. It opened on November 27, 2019. However it closed on January 28, 2021. In September 2019, the mall announced that it would developing mixed-use projects with dining and other retail on the ground floors of the buildings and housing on the upper floors, which would be constructed in areas now covered by parking lots on the periphery of the mall. Construction of this housing would count towards the borough's affordable housing obligations and would serve as a downtown "town square" for Paramus.Pries, Allison
"Garden State Plaza, N.J's biggest mall, is getting a massive makeover"
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, May 1, 2019, updated September 24, 2019. Accessed March 1, 2021. "When Paramus redid its master plan a couple of years ago, Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said, it zoned the Routes 4 and 17 commercial corridor for mixed use, which allows for residential units to be built on top of retail. The zoning was implemented for two reasons, he said Wednesday: to make sure Paramus' commercial entities could remain competitive and to satisfy the borough's affordable housing obligation. Half of Paramus' tax base is commercial. And Garden State Plaza pays one of every ten tax dollars." On August 27, 2020, Lord & Taylor, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 2, announced that it would close all 38 of its stores.

Blue laws

Due to New Jersey state

s that only apply in Bergen CountyShopping

Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. and more restrictive limitations in place in Paramus restricting business on Sunday, Garden State Plaza is almost completely closed on Sundays, except for some of the restaurants and the movie theater, all of which have special Sunday entrances. On Sundays, Garden State Plaza's parking lot is accessible only from the Route 4 and Route 17 access points. Gates are down so that the access roads from the secondary streets are blocked. The Paramus Borough Code forbids the performance of any "worldly employment" on Sunday, with very limited exceptions.Chapter 391: Sunday Activities
Borough of Paramus. Accessed February 10, 2021. These laws were enacted shortly after Garden State Plaza opened, out of fear that the mall would cause high levels of

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

on the highways in the borough. During the aftermath of

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

issued an executive order that suspended the state's blue laws, allowing stores to be open on Sunday, November 4, 2012, for the benefit of those severely affected by the hurricane. A week later, after a public outcry that included the mayor of Paramus announcing that the borough would continue to enforce its own restrictions, the state's blue laws were put back into effect.

Public transportation

Westfield Garden State Plaza serves as a local transportation hub. The mall is served by NJ Transit bus lines routes

163 Year 163 ( CLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laelianus and Pastor (or, less frequently, year 916 ''Ab urbe condi ...

171 Year 171 ( CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 924 '' Ab urbe c ...

175 Year 175 ( CLXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Iulianus (or, less frequently, year 928 ''Ab urbe condita ...

, 707, 709, 756,

758 __NOTOC__ Year 758 ( DCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 758 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

and 770.

Incidents

On November 4, 2013, 20-year-old Richard Shoop, armed with a SIG 556R semi-automatic rifle, fired multiple shots in the mall. Customers and employees were evacuated immediately from the mall premises shortly after the shots were fired and the mall was on lockdown for hours. The mall remained closed the following day. No one was injured or killed, other than Shoop himself, who committed suicide at 3:20 AM.

Popular culture

* Garden State Plaza is the setting for Tricia Sullivan's science fiction novel ''Maul'' (2002). The novel takes its title from the way that the word "mall" is pronounced with the New Jersey accent. In the novel, three teenage girls start a shoot out with a local gang. * Several episodes of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'', the HBO mob drama were filmed at the mall, which was called the "Paramus Mall". * The 2005 ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy w ...

special ''All Star Alphabet'', featuring

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

and

Nicole Sullivan Nicole Sullivan (born April 21, 1970) is an American actress and comedian best known for her six seasons (1995–2001) on the sketch comedy series '' MADtv''. She also played Holly Shumpert in five seasons (2001–2005, 2007) of the CBS sitcom ...

, was filmed on location at the mall.Nash, Margo
"Footlights; All About A, And Don't Forget Z"
''

'', September 4, 2005. Accessed July 19, 2019. "When it came time to choose a shopping center, the video's makers headed, quite naturally, to New Jersey. Mr. Colbert, dressed as a big blue letter Z, and Ms. Sullivan, appearing as a big red A, are shown in the video ambling around the Garden State Mall, asking people if they know any words with their letters in them. Ms. Sullivan got a lot more responses than Mr. Colbert."

References

External links

Westfield Garden State Plaza

Westfield Garden State Plaza

International Council of Shopping Centers The International Council of Shopping Centers, doing business as ICSC, is the global trade association of what it calls the "Marketplaces Industry" (i.e., shopping centers, shopping malls, and all other retail real estate). Founded in 1957, it fe ...

Aerial View
* Karsian, Dillon (May 1, 1999)
"Garden State Plaza Reshaped Landscape"
''Retail Traffic''. {{WestfieldUnitedStates Paramus, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls established in 1957 1957 establishments in New Jersey Garden State Plaza Buildings and structures in Bergen County, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Bergen County, New Jersey Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area Attacks on shopping malls Attacks on buildings and structures in the United States IMAX venues