Willowbrook Mall (New Jersey)

Willowbrook Mall is a one-level shopping center with a partial second floor located in Wayne, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is near the intersection of New Jersey Route 23, U.S. Route 46, and Interstate 80 in the New York metropolitan area and is situated close to both Essex and Morris counties near the Passaic River. The mall features more than 165 retail establishments and a leasable area of 1,518,006 sqft. It is the fifth-largest shopping mall in New Jersey. The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, 2006, and 2015.

As of February 2024, the mall's anchors are Macy's, Bloomingdale's, BJ's Wholesale Club; JCPenney, which had anchored neighboring Wayne Towne Center since it opened, relocated to Willowbrook in March 2024. Willowbrook also features a 14-screen Cinemark movie theater, which is located in the rear parking lot adjacent to BJ's auto center.

With blue laws in effect in neighboring Bergen County and even stricter restrictions in effect in Paramus, Willowbrook Mall has benefited from the spillover of shoppers on Sunday. The mall and its surrounding access roads and parking areas are prone to flooding in rainstorms. The Passaic River flows near the mall and one of its tributaries, and the Pompton River, runs behind it.

History
Construction of Willowbrook Mall began in 1966 with the groundbreaking of a Bamberger's store. and by 1968 the construction included an Ohrbach's and a Sears. The mall was originally planned as a 110-store indoor shopping mall, encompassing 1500000 sqft. It opened on September 24, 1969. A second phase opened on August 12, 1970, consisting of 47 specialty stores on two floors, and a Stern's department store. Upon its opening, Willowbrook Mall became the largest enclosed shopping mall in the world.

In 1993, Willowbrook Mall became one of the first malls in New Jersey to ban smoking on mall grounds. The Bamberger's store has been open without interruption for the mall's entire existence, but was rebranded as Macy's in 1986 after its corporate parent decided to rebrand its entire northeastern United States operation under its namesake marque. Ohrbach's came under new ownership and was rebranded as part of the Steinbach chain, which went out of business in 1996. The building was gutted and expanded for its new tenant Lord & Taylor, which opened in 1997. Stern's closed its doors in 2001 after its parent company, Federated Department Stores, retired the brand; the store was converted to its sister brand, Bloomingdale's, which opened in late 2002.

In 2015, it was announced that the mall would undergo a two-year, $23 million renovation. The renovation entailed new ceilings in the Sears & Macy's wings, an overhaul of the food court, new flooring throughout the mall, additional seating, and a two-story streetscape theme for the Bloomingdale's wing. In 2017, Sears opened an updated store format and subleased an unused space to Dave & Buster's, which opened on Valentine's Day 2018. Seritage shuttered and razed the Sears Auto Center for a Cinemark movie theater, becoming the second movie theater within the mall area limits (after a 14-screen AMC Theatres, formerly Loews Theatres). On July 15, 2019, Sears announced that it would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate their traditional brick-and-mortar format. In October 2020, it was announced that BJ's Wholesale Club would plan to open a warehouse store and gas station where the previous Sears outpost was with the gas station opening north of the mall's parking lot. The store opened in 2023.

In August 2018, Macy's added a Macy's Backstage outlet in a portion of its store. A P.F Chang's opened in a small space within the Bloomingdale's store on January 22, 2019.

In August 2020, Lord & Taylor announced that it would shutter its traditional brick and mortar format as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopper's Find opened in Lord & Taylor's former anchor location in June 2021 and closed in early 2023. JCPenney will be closing its Wayne Towne Center location and moving into the former Lord & Taylor location in March 2024.

Public transportation
The mall and its parking lots serve as a transportation hub for the surrounding area. A NJ Transit park and ride facility, opened in 1974, provides bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. The buses serve the mall.

In popular culture
Willowbrook Mall was the site of the Nickelodeon comedy The Adventures of Pete & Pete special episode "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation", in which Ellen's photo booth was located in the parking lot of the mall.