Is Woodbridge Center the ugliest mall in New Jersey?

[g555]

I visited the mall and I agree it's ugly. If I lived near it, I'd likely recommend friends visiting to go to another mall (probably Menlo Park). The large but lackluster feeling reminds me of the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick, MD, which also manages a lot of anchor stores that co-exist but a lackluster inside. Interestingly, it doesn't have a vacancy problem inside or any vacant anchors to fill. Just mid range stores mixed with low quality stores.

Another ugly mall is Monmouth Mall, but more applicable by the Boscov's and JCPenney side. The large open foodcourt of the Monmouth Mall and around the macy's side is nicer though.

I felt Woodbridge mall is possibly what malls were like in the 80s or early 90s, with full restaurants of Wendy's and Burger King establishments inside the mall, rather than a foodcourt. Some eateries like that pizza one, and other establishments in the mall look very classic, like the same store front hasn't been updated in over 20+ years. Anyways, It just seems like a very large middle class mall.

Also it has representation from Sears, JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, macy's and Boscov's and a Dick's. That's a lot there. The first three department stores on the list are in terrible condition though. Even macy's reported lackluster earnings. (I wonder if macy's can justify keeping Woodbridge open with Menlo Park store as well). Within the Woodbridge area, I can't imagine how they are all profitable as these department stores are overlap each other with product and they are too many of them, unless I factor back in the population density around the area to justify all the anchors.

Menlo Park, Bridgewater Commons, Freehold Raceway, Quakerbridge, even Ocean County, are definitely healthier and likely preferable Central NJ malls that one would want to be close to over this mall. In southern part of the state, Cherry Hill and Deptford are decent. Even Moorestown which isn't that healthy is a nice mall to be close to for convenience.

I also wasn't that impressed by the Wegmans near the Woodbridge mall, as it seemed like a very basic looking format store. No pub either inside it and kind of a depressing shopping center with a Dollar Tree across it, although it looked like some Wegmans stores that I have seen in upstate NY. But I guess it's bad to complain on that. At least Wegmans is there as many communities without that would want a Wegmans.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by g555

I felt Woodbridge mall is possibly what malls were like in the 80s or early 90s, with full restaurants of Wendy's and Burger King establishments inside the mall, rather than a foodcourt. Some eateries like that pizza one, and other establishments in the mall look very classic, like the same store front hasn't been updated in over 20+ years.

Woodbridge Center opened for business in 1971, and it has had almost no updating in the ensuing 4+ decades.

[g555]

Originally Posted by Retriever

Woodbridge Center opened for business in 1971, and it has had almost no updating in the ensuing 4+ decades.

Ok nice fact. I didn't infer it was built in the 80s or later, but speculated that it was like a mall back in that time.

The mall does have a lot of kid attractions and the business overall seems healthy, which can't be discounted. If I was owner of the mall, I likely wouldn't do much different at the moment. The anchors control a lot of what can done and this mall is anchor heavy. An ugly Sears will have to die out on its own before much can be done with the space it controls. The ugliness also extends to the Route 1 area before one gets into the mall. Obviously something it has no control of. Menlo Park is also too close that Woodbridge might not be able to position itself to also upscale.

I've been to some nice looking malls (like Exton Square Mall) and surrounding the mall is nice, with the Chester County library in proximity, but the mall itself is dying out, largely due to King of Prussia, although Exton has a lot of redevelopment opportunity.

I once passed through Macon on a drive between Atlanta and Orlando and stopped at the Macon Mall. Surprised to find a very large but dead mall, but one where it looks new (very renovated). I watched the YouTube video of the Macon Mall (Macon GA) to see how it looked originally. I forgot where I read (maybe Facebook) but many liked the non-updated original look of the mall. I actually don't like, for example, some of the Simon malls that have had renovations - presentable but just too sterile.

[ansky]

The last time I set foot in the Woodbridge Mall was when I went to purchase a new cell phone at the VoiceStream Wireless store (remember them?) Bonus points if you can guess what year that was