Fashion Center (Paramus, New Jersey)

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The Fashion Center is a small shopping mall located in Paramus, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. This mall is considered by many to be a dead mall. The Fashion Center is currently owned by Wilner Realty of Pennsylvania. The mall has a gross leasable area of 446,000 ft²^[1].

Opening on February 15, 1967, it was billed as a miniature Fifth Avenue. Hoping to capitalize on the affluent population of Bergen County, stores included anchor stores Lord & Taylor on the north end and a B. Altman and Company store 1,500 feet away on the south end. There was also a free-standing Best & Company store in the parking lot (now Toys "R" Us). In the shopping arcade that connected the two stores, many high-end retailers such as Rogers Peet (later Brooks Brothers), Georg Jensen, and Ann Taylor were situated. The mall was decorated in contemporary decor. It is considered small by modern mall standards, with less than 450,000 sq. feet and 15 storefronts.

As the years progressed, other malls in Paramus including Garden State Plaza, Paramus Park, and Bergen Mall began to grow and take Fashion Center's local market share. However, the mall was prosperous through the 1970's.

By the 1980's, however, growing competition and the demise of B. Altman saw the mall's decline. Retailers began moving out, leaving Lord & Taylor as the only anchor store.

By 1996, the 180,000 square foot vacant B. Altman space was divided up into a Bed, Bath and Beyond (first level) and a T.J. Maxx (second level). The top level remains vacant. A massive "de-malling" scheme for The Fashion Center continued when it closed off the middle of the mall for a Best Buy store that can only be entered through the outside entrances. In 2004 the Lord & Taylor closed its entrance to the arcade. The plan is to eventually have a collection of separate stores, with no common space inside the mall.