Mall Sign: Vineland Shopping Center

Vineland, New Jersey - 1973

The Vineland Shopping Center and its swanky signage, in this fantastic vintage snapshot taken back in 1973. Photo is courtesy of this flickr photoset, which also contains an interesting side-by-side shot of this image, along with an updated one of the same sign (yes, it's still there) at the Vineland Shopping Center, taken much more recently. (Surprise! Though similar, the vintage version's still cooler.)

See more mall signs here!

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.

Two Guys Discount Store 1977

Middletown, New Jersey - June 3, 1977

Here's a beautiful, almost dreamlike late-seventies snapshot of the Two Guys discount store at a larger Two Guys shopping center arrangement in Middletown, NJ. Thanks to ever eagle-eyed MOA reader, Patrick Richardson, for spotting this one for me!

"Hi Keith. Here's a cool Two Guys picture I found on Wikipedia. It's from the town I grew up in in NJ. This was part of the Two Guys shopping center. It was replaced in the early-80's by a Bradlees and is currently a Kohl's."

As well, here's a related snippet from said Two Guys stores entry on Wikipedia:

"Many locations originally included a discount store with a supermarket, as well as complete Hardware, Major appliance, and Automotive Service departments. The Two Guys Supermarkets were full sized 'stores within a store', and they competed directly with large Supermarket chains like A & P and Shop Rite. The Supermarkets used the tag line, 'Two Guys, The Super, Supermarket', while the main store used the tag line 'We Save Money For You, Naturally'."

Willowbrook Mall Interior 1973

Wayne, New Jersey - 1973

Groovy interior shot of lush (and very Avocado Green-ish) Willowbrook Mall in 1973. Many thanks to, Charles Freericks, for the head's-up on this vintage postcard! Some Wiki notes:

"The opening of Willowbrook Mall came at a time when many shoppers were avoiding trips to downtown areas to shop over safety concerns. Early radio spots for the mall called it 'the new downtown', and it featured anchor stores that were also located in nearby downtown Newark, or within the city limits itself. (Bamberger's, Ohrbachs, and Sears). The large branch of Bamberger's opened in the fall of 1967 (before the rest of the mall), and with Newark just having dealt with race rioting in the summer of 1967, many shoppers defected to the Willowbrook location."

Mall history: 1969 - present
Current website: here
Info from Wikipedia
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4

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.)

Cherry Hill Shopping Center Aviary

Cherry Hill, New Jersey - circa 1960s

The beautiful birdcage in Cherry Hill Mall (or Cherry Hill Shopping Center, whichever you prefer).

I actually shared this same image once before in my "Shopping Mall Bird and Monkey Cages" post a long time ago (the one they liked so much on TV, lol), but this is an upgraded version of same. Plus, I just think this classic mall photo is so fantastic (oh, I wanna say kitsch-tastic so bad!) that it deserves to be featured in its own entry, don't you? The card's postmarked 1968, and here's its caption:

"A view of the 20-foot high aviary housing colorful tropical birds. One of many delightful points of interest in this unique shopping world of over 100 street and shops all under one roof, where the temperature is always spring time."

Mall history: 1961 - present
Architect: Victor Gruen
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Paramus Park Mall Turkey Statue

Paramus, New Jersey - circa 1970s

In my Paramus Park Mall entry of a few days ago, mention was made (via Wiki info) of a large metal turkey statue that sat in one of the mall's courtyards:

"Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Thanks (once again) to Charles Freericks, who supplied the photo of the mall for the last post, we now have the above vintage-era shot of the Paramus Park Mall wild turkey statue! It's apparently still there today, btw, albeit now demoted to a more low-key location in the food court on the mall's upper level.

To the left is a recent picture of it (2006) I found on Photobucket. Gives a little more perspective on its size, and you can also see a plaque on the display which explains the piece and names its artist (Christopher Parke, I believe).

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1

Paramus Park Mall & Sears

Paramus, New Jersey - circa mid '70s

Mid-seventies snapshot of Paramus Park mall in Paramus, NJ, taken from the parking lot (the Sears anchor store is visible to the right). Many thanks to Charles Freericks, for this great photo submission!

My buddies over at Labelscar have a nice entry on the mall as it looks today, if you're curious about that, and below you'll find some Paramus Park mall history from Wikipedia:

"The mall, developed by The Rouse Company, opened on March 14, 1974, with a 300,000 sq. ft. Abraham & Straus (now a Macy's store) and Sears (which didn't open until August) as anchors and space for 120 specialty stores.

Paramus Park was the fourth, and final major indoor (or in the case of Garden State Plaza, soon to be indoor) mall in Paramus. It is shaped as a four-legged zigzag, with an anchor store at each end and the second-level food court on a large balcony in the middle. Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

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

Easter Bunny at Monmouth Mall

Eatontown, New Jersey - 1981

Vintage newspaper ad promoting the Easter Bunny's arrival at Monmouth Mall in 1981. Thanks to, Pat Richardson, for this fun (and timely) submission! Here's a little overview from long-branch.net:

"Monmouth Mall, New Jersey's fifth largest shopping center, is 1.5 million square feet. The center first opened as a 500,000 square foot open-air center on March 1, 1960. In 1975, the mall was enclosed and expanded to it's current size. The mall underwent major renovations in 1987 and again in 1996. During the 1996 renovation, Monmouth Mall added a 700-seat food court and the 15-screen Loews Theatre."

Mall history: 1960 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none