The Daily Mall Reader: Garden State Plaza, A Potemkin Mall

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Welcome to the Potemkin Mall"

The New York Times - December 20, 2005

(Excerpt) PARAMUS, N.J. - At the Garden State Plaza, a sprawling marble and skylight-filled shopping center just outside Manhattan, discriminating consumers can find a $400 fur-trimmed handbag at Coach, a $60 pair of distressed jeans at American Eagle Outfitters and a $25 make-your-own giraffe at Build-a-Bear.

And, if they look closely enough, they can also find dozens of retail analysts, hedge fund managers and institutional investors, their telltale briefcases and BlackBerries in hand, as they rummage through clothing racks to calculate markdowns, count shoppers to gauge a chain's popularity and quiz managers about sales.

Read the full article here.

Garden State Plaza (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza)

Paramus, New Jersey - August 26, 1970

Interesting historical photo snapped during the "Women’s March for Equality" at the Garden State Plaza mall (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza) in the summer of 1970. Uppity women unite! If you're interested you can read more about the event over at the page I found this photo on.

Groovy chicks, groovy fashions (check that dude's Bermuda shorts), and a cute little baby in a groovy stroller, what's not to love? Best of all, they're standing in front of an early-seventies Garden State Plaza, which, even though we can't see much of it, is really my main point here.

Mall history: 1957 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

(Study image courtesy & ©2002 The Women's Project of New Jersey, Inc.)

Garden State Plaza Mall in the Sixties

Paramus, New Jersey - circa 1960s

Garden State Plaza, from back in the early days when it was still an open-air shopping mall. Some stores visible in the photo are: Gimbels, Lorrys, and, though in shadow and hard to see, Arcadian Gardens (to the right), which was a restaurant, I believe.

Garden State Plaza is now an enclosed Westfield-owned shopping mall. But once, a long time ago, it looked cool like this.

Mall history: 1957 - present
Developer: R.H. Macy & Co.
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2