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I know... Wetzel Pretzel!
hhahah yea im 16 and im goin to try to get a job somewhere in there becasause im in Hackensack andnot far from the Bergen Mall or GSP .. i dont care where i get a job, im hopin somewhere in the food court, it would be tight
very nice (and huge) mall; it really has something for everyone.
it's amazing how much gsp has expanded and improved over the years. i remember when it was an outdoor mall back in the day. then in the early '80s they enclosed the place, and later in the decade they added nordstrom and the downstairs area where sbarro's is located. that was a pretty big deal at the time until the massive expansion of '96 (neiman marcus, lord & taylor, and the entire western section of the mall), in which they completely redid the decor and made the place a lot brighter with skylights and a lighter color scheme. and now they've added yet another wing and a huge theater. wow.
and yes, the carousel is still there.
the owners of gsp were smart. they knew they had to improve and expand to stay competitive, especially since they draw from both local suburbanites and nyc residents. and in a span of 20 years they've transformed a run-of-the-mill suburban mall into a real destination.
contrast that with the bergen mall, which was left to rot for years and by the '90s became a complete ghost town, especially after gsp expanded in '96. i actually remember when the bergen mall was busy (my family even preferred it over gsp when we first moved from the city), so it's kind of sad to see it fade into obscurity.
the problem is that they never upgraded the decor, amenities, or stores. seriously, the place was a time warp that was stuck in the early '70s. now, at long last, they're finally undergoing a massive renovation and adding stores that people actually want to go to, like target and whole foods, but for all intents and purposes it's going to be a completely different mall. the truth is that the bergen mall of my youth was gone the day they started those renovations, and i miss it already, if only for nostalgic reasons. funny how things which seem generic, cheesy, or lame when you're a kid can sometimes become oddly cool and endearing if they stick around long enough, provided that they remain in the same shape as their heyday.
when i was a kid, i loved going to the downstairs "village mall" area with my brother and friends. it was a cozy little maze of shops that was isolated from the main level of the mall, and was basically a replica of an old western town, complete with quaint storefronts that had front doors and windows just like in a real town center. as i recall, the village mall area was dimly lit and had some ugly carpeting lining its "streets", but we always had a great time just roaming around from store to store. we especially liked to frequent this one comic book shop; it had a great selection and you could literally spend hours in there.
even though i took the bergen mall for granted, and stopped going there altogether by the early '90s, in retrospect i realize that it had a lot of character, especially the basement village. i mean, the place had a chapel, a performing arts space, and a post office; it really was intended to serve as a town center for paramus back in the day.
so while the garden state plaza is impressive and has just about everything, i do miss the quirkiness of the bergen mall. it's the type of shopping center you just don't see anymore. i really think that it could've survived in its former state had the owners been more proactive in the early '90s, before gsp underwent its massive expansion. instead of letting the mall decay, the owners could've done some minor renovations to spruce up the place while preserving the overall old-school look. and they should've aggressively pursued the types of stores that would've enabled them to create their own niche - something distinct from gsp and paramus park mall.
i guess they're finally doing that by gutting the place and turning it into an outdoor "town center", but it's not going to be the same.
well bergen mall is getting a target and a whole foods... that is enough to get a lot of people there. century 21 is a nice store too. like an upscale marshalls
Im not from BErgen but I always go to GSP to do Christmas shopping. I get it all done in that mall in one night! Then go have some beers at Joes bar and Grill
Dont like that place. Its too big and the shoppers there for the most part seem like they are a bit too trendy/metro sexual for me....
agreed. try going there on a saturday. spend an hour trying to find parking.
crowded. people are all snobby. i only go there if i HAVE to and there's no other store...
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