| Location | Paramus, New Jersey, USA |
|---|---|
| Opening date | November 14, 1957 (outdoor plaza) September 16, 1973 (enclosed mall) August 25, 2009 (Major Renovation/Expansion) |
| Developer | Allied Stores |
| Owner | Vornado Realty Trust |
| No. of stores and services | 100 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
| Total retail floor area | 917,129 sq ft (85,204.1 m2) |
| Parking | 8,600 spaces |
| No. of floors | 1 (4 in Old Sterns/Macy's Bldg, Now occupied by Filene's Basement(1), and Century 21(2,3) |
| Website | Mall website |
The Outlets at Bergen Town Center, known as Bergen Mall until 2006 and Bergen Town Center until 2010, is located in Paramus and Maywood, New Jersey, United States, and opened in 1957 as an outdoor shopping center.[1] It is the second-oldest mall in New Jersey.[2] The mall offers a Gross leasable area (GLA) of 917,129 sq ft (85,204.1 m2).[3] The mall is located at the junction of Route 4 and Forest Avenue, and includes a separate shopping strip, south of Route 4 connected to the rest of the property via a pedestrian bridge. The mall has over the years included community spaces, including a chapel, theater for live dramas, post office, auditorium, ice rink,[4] bowling alley and a children's amusement ride area, and is the current location of the Bergen County Museum. The Bergen Mall was designed by John Graham of New York City. The mall is subject to Bergen County's Blue laws, which requires the mall to be closed on Sundays.[5]
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The mall was first planned in 1955 by Allied Stores to have 100 stores and 8,600 parking spaces in a 1.5 million ft2 mall that would include a 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2) Stern's store and two other 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) department stores as part of the initial design. Allied's chairman B. Earl Puckett announced The Bergen Mall as the largest of ten proposed centers, stating that there were 25 cities that could support such centers and that no more than 50 malls of this type would be built nationwide.[6] The mall opened on November 14, 1957 with great fanfare, as Dave Garroway, host of The Today Show served as master of ceremonies.[7]
A 135,000 sq ft (12,500 m2) Ohrbach's location was added, opening on August 17, 1967.[8]
The mall was enclosed in 1973.[9][10] The newly-enclosed mall opened on September 15, 1973, part of a wave away from outdoor malls, a trend that the nearby Garden State Plaza joined in the following decade.[11] Despite some changes through the years, the mall still looked largely the same until its 2007 renovations. The Ohrbach's location was converted to a Steinbach and was later repurposed as a Value City after Steinbach went out of business. Stern's was converted to Macy's in 2001 following owner Federated Department Stores' decision to fold the brand into Macy's, but the company elected to close the store in March 2005 to focus its business on its two other locations in Paramus (one at the aforementioned Garden State Plaza and the other at Paramus Park). In the early 90's the mall was repositioned as a value-oriented center that included a Marshall's, Gap Outlet, Value City and a Saks 5th Avenue Off 5th outlet.
A strip mall that was part of the mall property existed across Forest Ave and was connected with an auto and a pedestrian bridge. The most recent occupants were Chuck E. Cheese's (opened in the 80s, closed 2010, relocated at The Malls on IV, opened late 2011), Spa 2 (closed 2005), and Shop Rite which left in 1998 when they moved to their current location on Route 4. The former Shop Rite was finally demolished in 2011 with the rest of the building now being renovated. It is confirmed that REI sport store will be located in the building of former Spa 2.
The Bergen Mall was the target of a lawsuit by nuclear-freeze advocates who challenged the mall's restrictions on distribution of literature to shoppers. On October 12, 1984, Bergen County Superior Court judge Paul R. Huot ruled that the organization should be allowed to distribute literature anywhere and anytime in a shopping mall, noting that "the Bergen Mall has assumed the features and characteristics of the traditional town center for the citizens who reside in Paramus and surrounding Bergen County towns."[12]
Bergen Mall was also the place where Teen pop sensation Tiffany (singer) started her "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87".
In 2003, the mall was sold by Simon Property Group to Vornado Realty Trust, which began plans to convert the mall's format, with high profile stores, and changes in the looks of the mall.
In one of the first changes planned for the mall, Century 21 opened on August 10, 2006, taking 67,500 sq ft (6,270 m2) the space formerly occupied by Macy's (which had previously been Stern's). Century 21 occupies the middle two floors of the four story building, and Filene's Basement occupies the ground floor.[13]
On November 30, 2006, the Paramus Planning Board approved a series of changes that would bring the mall up to 1,500,000 sq ft (140,000 m2) at a cost of $171 million. The mall was renamed to Bergen Town Center, and was planned to include 872,000 sq ft (81,000 m2) of renovated mall retail space and a 167,000 sq ft (15,500 m2) freestanding big-box store across Forest Avenue in Maywood, Lowe's which opened in January 2011. A total of 4,339 parking spaces, including a five-story parking garage, will be provided.[2]
New additions in 2009 include Target (Opened March 7, 2009), a Wetzel's Pretzels, Subway, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Verizon Wireless, an AT&T store, and a Whole Foods (which opened on August 19, 2009 and signed a lease for 77,000 sq ft (7,200 m2).[14]), Filene's Basement (Opened October 28, 2007), Lowe's, Nike Factory Store (Opened March 7, 2009), Bobby Flay's Bobby's Burger Palace (Opened March 31, 2009), and Nordstrom Rack (Opened March 12, 2009). A Grand Opening Celebration was held on August 25, 2009 to mark the completion of the renovation/expansion.[15] Filene's Basement filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday May 4, 2009. An affiliate of Men's Wearhouse has won the bidding process, with plans to keep approximately 20 of the chain's stores open. The 5-year old Bergen Town Center store is one of the 6 stores that closed as part of the transaction.[16].
Due to highly restrictive blue laws in effect in Bergen County and more restrictive limitations in place in Paramus, The Outlets at Bergen Town Center is completely closed on Sundays, except for Bobby's Burger Palace, Qdoba, Ulta Spa, Blink Fitness, Massage Envy, and Whole Foods Market.