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When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to go to Chinatown to buy fake Rolex watches. They actually said Rolex on the face, but they too, broke within a few weeks.
Yes, but you and your friends knew that those "Rolexes" were fakes. Until I pointed out the fairly obvious to my oblivious friend, Doug, he had no clue that he had been cheated by the purveyor of fine timepieces who hung out in the Two Guys parking lot.
Yes, fencing with a saber, or an epee, or even one of those very light-weight foils.
On the topic of fencing merchandise, here is an amusing little story from the late '60s:
I knew a guy--Doug--who was really gullible, and who was constantly being cheated because of both his greed and his gullibility. One day, he arrived at my house to show me the brand-new "Omega" watch that he had just purchased from a random ghetto-dweller, in the parking lot of the Two Guys From Harrison store in Jersey City. Certainly that is where most discerning consumers would choose to shop for high-end timepieces!
Doug was just so incredibly proud that he had been able to score a brand-new Omega for... IIRC... $20, and he was confident that he had gotten the better of that ghetto-dweller. I took a look at his "genuine Omega", adjusted the hands in order to clearly display the logo on the watch's face, and was able to tell Doug that his "Omega" was actually a "Cimega".
I guess that he wasn't cheated TOO badly because that watch actually ran for about 2 weeks before a jeweler declared it to be an unrepairable piece of $5.00 junk.
You’re just full of stories of other people’s misfortune, huh? Lol
Woodbridge Mall seems pretty crowded, and so I'd guess that the owners don't feel a need to invest in upgrades. I find the mall dated and somewhat sleazy. Surprised that it has a Lord & Taylor.
The Nordstrom at Menlo Park seems to be on its way out. Maybe Lord & Taylor can move there.
The Shops at Riverside is a very nice mall, although small. Try that if you're looking for elegance.
I went to the Voorhees town center a few years ago and that's a very sad mall. It had a crappy food court. The Boscov's was outdated and the Macy's was going out of business. The upstairs was empty except for a few offices.
Woodbridge Mall seems pretty crowded, and so I'd guess that the owners don't feel a need to invest in upgrades. I find the mall dated and somewhat sleazy. Surprised that it has a Lord & Taylor.
The Nordstrom at Menlo Park seems to be on its way out. Maybe Lord & Taylor can move there.
The Shops at Riverside is a very nice mall, although small. Try that if you're looking for elegance.
Crowded? That's news to me. Look at the vacancy inside the mall, it rarely has foot traffic even on weeks it's light.
I went to the Voorhees town center a few years ago and that's a very sad mall. It had a crappy food court. The Boscov's was outdated and the Macy's was going out of business. The upstairs was empty except for a few offices.
Yeah like a big haunted house. I was last there when it was still Echelon Mall, over ten years ago so I have no idea what it is like now.
I used to love malls. My father used to take my brother and me to Garden State Plaza almost every Saturday evening when we were kids, with an occasional Paramus Park or Willowbrook trip thrown in for variety. We’d walk the whole mall, and Pop would buy us dinner. The Chinese stand in the GSP Food Court used to sell plates of fried rice for $1.25 and egg rolls for about $.90 in the mid-80s just after they enclosed the mall. My father, who was not a man of means, was thrilled that he could feed us for less than $5.
Even when I got older, I still loved malls. I went two or three times a week with friends in college. I hit ‘em all... The Plaza, The Park, Willowbrook, Rockaway, Woodbridge, Nanuet, even A&S Plaza in Manhattan.
But things started to change in the latter half of the 90s... I can pinpoint exactly when my disillusion with malls began. It was right around when Garden State Plaza completed its 1996 expansion. Parking, which was never great, became a nightmare. The crowds grew larger and more unruly. And, ironically, while the mall was hoping to target a more upscale crowd with its new fancy stores, the mall crowds actually became more gangsta. I’m not talking gangsta in terms of skin color, I’m talking in terms of attitude... as in a lot more people had real nasty ones.
Yeah, I still hit up the malls for a few years after that. I went to Palisades Center a bunch of times after they opened, but aside from the fact that the inside looked like it was straight out of Blade Runner, it got old quick.
Then, the nail in the coffin... Paramus Park removed the see-thru elevator and waterfall in 2001. I think that was the day malls truly died for me.
Today, I absolutely hate malls. Braving the Garden State Plaza is a death wish. The crowds are huge, rude, and crude, and the stores are overpriced. Even the open town centers are a mess. The Bergen Town Center is a zoo. Bring back the ghost town Bergen Mall. I do hope they do something with the even more haunted Ledgewood Mall. But they’ll probably turn that into a hipster circus too.
The one good thing is that just as my disillusionment with malls increased, my fascination with something else began to grow... online shopping. Now, the mall comes to me!
The funkiest/strangest mall I've ever been in in New Jersey (I've never lived in New Jersey, just have friends who have, and have visited quite a number of times) is the Bergen Mall....though the last time I was there was in 2006, before the now closed chapel moved up and out of the basement.
The funkiest/strangest mall I've ever been in in New Jersey (I've never lived in New Jersey, just have friends who have, and have visited quite a number of times) is the Bergen Mall....though the last time I was there was in 2006, before the now closed chapel moved up and out of the basement.
Yup, the Bergen Mall is now Bergen Town Center... a hipster open-air mall that’s a zoo from morning till night, although I think there’s still a small indoor section.
I’d give anything to have the old Bergen Mall back...
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