The Mall at Short Hills
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| The Mall at Short Hills | |
 Interior of the mall |
|
| Facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Route 24 & JFK Parkway Short Hills 07078 |
| Opening date | 1980 |
| Developer | The Taubman Company |
| Owner | The Taubman Company |
| No. of stores and services | 175 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,342,000 square feet (120,780 m²) |
| Parking | Outdoor & Garage |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | http://www.shopshorthills.com |
The Mall at Short Hills, usually referred to as the Short Hills Mall, is a high-end mall in the Short Hills area of Millburn, New Jersey, United States. The mall developer is The Taubman Company. The mall has a gross leasable area of 1,342,000 ft² (120,780 m²)[1], placing it in the top ten among the largest shopping malls in New Jersey.
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[edit] Description
The Mall at Short Hills is located between the JFK Parkway, Route 24, and the Canoe Brook Country Club. The mall is 23 miles (37 km) west of Manhattan and across from the Short Hills Hilton Hotel. The two-story indoor complex caters to over ten million customers a year. Fountains, sculptures, and lounges with plasma televisions and leather couches are within the interior of the building. Additionally, the Paul Miller Motorcars group showcases various cars from its dealerships at various points throughout the mall. Frequently featured cars include Bentleys, Porsches, Audis, and Land Rovers.[2]
[edit] History
The Mall at Short Hills began as a series of bundled strip malls in an outdoor plaza area in the 1950s. A freestanding B. Altman and Company store in 1957 was the first on the site. The original open mall was constructed in 1961, together with a 72,000 square feet (6,480 m²) Bonwit Teller. A 243,000-square foot (21,870 m²) Bloomingdale's was added in 1967.[3] In addition, smaller "boutiques" such as, Young World, Delicacies Shop, Au Gourmet, a men's store, and a restaurant opened in the mall.
Even in the late 1960s in a period when the "shopping mall" usually meant inexpensive items, and upscale merchandisers were found in major city downtowns, the Short Hills Mall distinguished itself from the pack by offering top-end products at branches of upscale stores.[4]
After a fire that destroyed sections of the strip mall in the mid-1970s, The Taubman Company determined that North Jersey residents needed high-end luxury stores. With the aging Livingston Mall that specializes in more "affordable stores" approximately five miles away, as well as the construction of Route 24, the Taubman Company developed the tract of land that is now home to the Mall at Short Hills. In 1974, Prudential Insurance Company of America began working with The Taubman Company in construction of a 431,000-square foot (38,790 m²) multi-level mall. By 1980, the two had completed a two-year, $100 million project to enclose the mall, which at that time included 1,160,000 of gross leasable space and three anchor stores. New retailers included Godiva Chocolatier, Black Star and Frost, The Limited and Gap.[5]
In 1981, The Mall at Short Hills grew again as a new Abraham & Straus store joined the center and a new five-level parking deck was added. In 1993 the first phase of major expansion began and was completed in November 1994. The expansion added a 100,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue, a totally renovated Bloomingdale's; added a new five-level parking deck adjacent to Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue; and turned the Abraham & Straus into a Macy's; and added a third floor to Macy's.
The next expansion phase was completed in August 1995 and added two anchors -- a 129,000 square-foot Neiman Marcus and a 172,000 square-foot Nordstrom -- and many new specialty stores including Tiffany & Co., Crate & Barrel, DKNY, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. 35 specialty stores, occupying 100,000 square feet(9,000 m²) were added, 2 new parking decks; 1; 4 levels; which is across the service road from Neiman Marcus; and the other; a 5 level deck across the service road from Nordstrom; bringing the total area to 1.2 million square feet (108,000 m²), an expansion of 20%.[6]
In 2006, The Mall at Short Hills became home to the world's first American Express Members Lounge offering complimentary drinks (including automated barista service), snacks, Apple-based computers, primarily aimed at Internet use and holiday gift wrapping for all visitors (plus guest) who could present a valid American Express card. The lounge, however, is temporary, and closes at the end of each holiday season. [7]
The Mall at Short Hills was home to the first Opie and Anthony "Homeless Shopping Spree" on December 16, 1999 during which the two New York City talk radio hosts unleashed a small bus-load of homeless men and women into the mall. Listeners were encouraged to give money to the participants in order to lure the men and women into the more upscale stores.
Opie and Anthony hosted their 4th Homeless Shopping Spree at the Mall at Short Hills on December 16, 2006, from 2pm-6pm.[8]
[edit] Anchors
- Bloomingdale's (243,000 square feet; 22,140 m²; 4 Floors)
- Macy's (279,000 square feet; 25,110 m²; 3 Floors)
- Neiman Marcus (129,000 square feet; 12,330 m²; 3 Floors; under renovation)
- Nordstrom (172,000 square feet; 16,920 m²; 3 Floors; under renovation)
- Saks Fifth Avenue (100,000 square feet; 9,000 m²; 3 Floors; under renovation)
[edit] References
- ^ International Council of Shopping Centers: The Mall at Short Hills, accessed September 21, 2006
- ^ Mall Events, accessed November 26, 2006
- ^ "How to Update and Expand a New Jersey Shopping Mall" The New York Times. March 11, 1981. "It may be two or more years before the Taubman Company of Troy, Mich., joint venturers with the Prudential Insurance Company in the reconstruction of the Mall at Short Hills, has all the new store space leased out."
- ^ "You Might Think You're on Fifth Ave., but You're Really in Millburn, N. J.", The New York Times, August 16, 1969. p. 22
- ^ History of The Mall at Short Hills
- ^ "As Short Hills Mall Expands, a Downtown Reacts; The special business district in Millburn shows its mettle.", The New York Times, February 12]], 1995. p. R9
- ^ The Charge Is On: Amex, Visa, MasterCard In Full Throttle, Marketing Daily, November 13, 2006
- ^ No holiday humor in radio pair’s jollies over degrading homeless, Boston Herald, December 18, 2006
- HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, July, 2004 by Gerry Beatty. Goldman Associates Tests Retail-Based Showroom in Mall. (The Mall at Short Hills)
- HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, December, 1996 by Mark Tosh. Luxury the lure in home lines: shoppers long on cash make Short Hills bloom. (The Mall at Short Hills, near Millburn, New Jersey)
