A few months back, I proudly proclaimed that I thought I d seen all of the malls in New Jersey. Of course I hadn t; New Jersey has tons of hidden malls, including this (sort of) departed gem, Cape May s Rio Mall. Michael Lisicky sent us a great set of old photos from when the mall still had a smidge of glamour, as well as a sad set that shows what s become of her. Check it out:
With all of the attention on Labelscar that the mega-mall Mall of America has created I decided to pay homage to one of the smaller malls that I have ever known. Arguably New Jersey, for a state its size, is the King of Shopping Malls. Besides its hundreds of shopping centers new york vacation rentals everywhere New Jersey is home to such showplaces as the Garden State Plaza and the Cherry Hill Mall . However new york vacation rentals southern New Jersey was also home to many mini-malls , malls that were anchored by a junior department or discount store and/or new york vacation rentals a supermarket. These malls contained about a dozen stores located between the anchors where shoppers could support these businesses where every day is like Springtime new york vacation rentals (from an old Cherry Hill Mall advertisement). Centers like the Cinnaminson Mall, the Tri-Towne Mall in Marlton, and the Village Mall in Willingboro are now a distant memory for many as the novelty quickly wore off. But nobody pulled off the mini-mall better than the Rio Mall.
The Rio Mall is (was) located in the southern tip of New Jersey four miles north of Cape May. Cape May County in the early 1970s was still quite seasonal and, besides a few small centers, serious shopping was still a half hour north near Atlantic City. In came the Rio Mall. The Rio Mall was built in 1973 in Rio Grande, NJ . It was a novelty for its time. The closest indoor mall, the Shore Mall 30 miles north, would actually not complete its final construction with its new glitzy new york vacation rentals Steinbach store until 1974. The Rio Mall had no big department store. It was anchored by a Grant City, an A P, a movie theatre, and about 15 other stores. Each store in the mall basically served one of every type of need. From the start, the Rio Mall was a success. It was constantly occupied but not just by local fly-by-night storefronts. The mall, unlike new york vacation rentals most mini-malls, had a full Deb Shop, JS Raub shoe store, Thrift new york vacation rentals Drug and the upper-end branch of Atlantic City s famous Palley new york vacation rentals s Jewellers. With little competition and the fascination of indoor shopping Cape May County was happy.
The Rio Mall wasn t necessarily a mall where you could browse all day. But if you wanted a new pair of shoes, wanted to fix your watch, needed to buy some cards and catch a movie it was one stop shopping . Even when Grants closed their doors with the rest of the chain in 1976 the anchor store did not stay dark for long. In came K-mart. new york vacation rentals Even Atlantic City didn t have a K-mart until after Woolco closed its store in 1982. For years the Rio Mall served the county well. Along the way it lost some stores but they were quickly replaced by such chains as Rafters, a NJ woman s clothing store and a (small) Reynolds junior department store.
But then the area became more year-round. new york vacation rentals Demand for shopping grew. Soon some of the earliest power centers would invade its territory. JCPenney built a new store down the street along with Peebles. Thrift Drug merged with Eckerd and left to a store next to Starn s Shop-Rite. Reynolds moved into a real storefront across the street. Palley s closed all of their stores. By the mid 90s the exodus was in full swing. Slowly the mall began to die. It tried to survive but for many it was time to move on.
So what s left of Rio Mall? Not much anymore. Kmart still is going strong but the mall was removed . Kmart took over much of the mall s space as it braced for a hit from the area s first Wal-Mart down the road. The theaters are there but they ve moved. (Actually the theater company, Frank s, had purchased the mall not long ago from mall owner PREIT but is now looking to unload it.) There is a strange corrider that is still left from the old mall. It s almost like a hurricane came through; part of the mall is still there, but now it s open to the elements. The ceiling tiles are still there. The framework to Thrift Drug is still there. But it s all filled with trash. But what does remain is perhaps one of the perfect labelscar s of all malls. The Rio Mall sign still peeks from its bricks hoping that someone still remembers the role it once played in the growth new york vacation rentals of Cape May County.
Nice to see you back, Jason. The first place this mall, to which time hasn t been kind to, reminded me of is Sun-Vet Mall in Holbrook, New York. A simple one-corridor mall who serves the very same sub-one-stop-shop necessity appeal. You know, before huge malls became the standard.
I love those vintage captures and artifacts from bygone better days. That Rio Mall scar is creepy and ever more evident how dumpy this place has gotten. new york vacation rentals Did your provider give you dates on the photo at the top? Seems to be late 80s or early 90s (that estranged car is the only thing I have to work with)
Tri Towne Mall in Marlton was also one of those one corridor malls which, like the Rio Mall, connected the Kmart to an A P. (There new york vacation rentals was never an interior entrance for the Kmart.) It was also smaller than the Rio Mall. I remember there being a CVS (no pharmacy and with interior and exterior entrances) new york vacation rentals a Baskin-Robbins, a library branch, and probably about 10 other stores. It didn t serve much of a purpose but I guess shopping center developers at the time were still trying to capitalize on that everyday is Springtime enviroment.
Having a mall near a Jersey shore town is always good, especially when a it s a rainy day. On my last Stone Harbor trip, I remember driving past this mall and didn t think too much of it sad to hear about its demise.
An example new york vacation rentals of this type of mini-mall that comes to mind is the Headquarters Plaza in Morristown. Back in its heyday, it was anchored by a nice 2 level movie theater (Headquarters new york vacation rentals Plaza 10 it had a $3.75 all shows student admission back in my 1st year in college), Bennigans and had about 10-15 smaller stores including Sam Goody (old music store), new york vacation rentals along with being connected to the Headquarters Plaza Hotel. Last time I was there, all that was left was a County College of Morris Office and the Movie Theater, which still gets a nice crowd, but you are reminded of the dead mall as you pass through the un-renovated, dark corridor from the parking garage elevator to the movie theater. I haven t been to HQP in a while and I m sure that when Hyatt purchased new york vacation rentals the HQ Plaza Hotel, some changes were made. Located just up the block from The Green, new york vacation rentals Headquarters Plaza has also suffered from a lack of adequate pedestrian access.
Speaking of Morristown, their retail history is quite interesting The Green is the Center of Town and the West, South and East Sides have been fairly successful for years, but the NW Corner was dead for 13 years since Macy s closed, but now is successful new york vacation rentals with the opening new york vacation rentals of the Century 21 Department Store. The South Side of The Green with Epstein s closure (a local dept store) is now the dead area and now that the building is razed, they are re-devleloping the area for mixed use we ll see how this progresses. Despite the lack of consistency retail wise, Morristown still has many great restaurants, bars and cultural activities.
Living near Morristown myself, I really enjoyed reading Mallguy s comments on Headquarters Plaza. Perhaps the only things that I can add about that mall are the following: First, new york vacation rentals that mall is often criticized for its ugly appearance, given that its modern look is in stark contrast to the rest of Morristown s Green, which has a very beautiful, colonial look. And second, Headquarters Plaza was also hurt badly by the fact that it is located near a ghetto, as well as by the fact that crimes have taken place in the mall s huge parking garage.
Like Mallguy alluded to, Morristown itself has a very interesting retail history. Epstein s Department Store which closed in 2004 and has since been razed to make room (mostly) for condos was one of the most beautiful and unique department stores that I ve ever seen. In particular, it was well regarded for its outstanding customer new york vacation rentals service and community involvement. And, of course, there was also Bamberger s, which opened in 1949 (some 20-plus years after Epstein s opened at its South Street location). One interesting note about the brick Bamberger s building was that it had (and still has) sculptures of a dozen or so major figures of the Revolutionary War hanging across the top of the building. (The city of Morristown played an important role in that war.) Bamberger s was a very popular store in Morristown; however, the store s popularity declined drastically new york vacation rentals around the time it changed its name to Macy s. Sadly, Macy s decided to completely neglect this store, new york vacation rentals and eventually new york vacation rentals decided to close it during its second round of bankruptcy closures in 1993.
And now, onto a slightly new york vacation rentals different new york vacation rentals topic: Rather than reminding me of Headquarters Plaza Mall (like what was the case with Mallguy), the Rio Mall actually reminded me of the Morris County Mall in Cedar Knolls, NJ. To the best of my knowledge, the Morris County Mall was built in 1973, and was anchored by Bradlees, new york vacation rentals Thrift Drug (which became Eckerd in 1997 and will soon become new york vacation rentals RiteAid), and a Foodtown Supermarket. The entire mall was the length of a small hallway, connecting Bradlees to Thrift Drug. (The Foodtown which was right next to Thrift Drug never had a mall entrance.) Up until the mid-90 s, the mall was fully filled with shops, including McDonald s, Thom McCann, The Ground Round, W. Kodak Jewelers, Game Time (an arcade), Radio Shack, and a Sherwin Williams new york vacation rentals Paint store. One by one, however, virtually all of these stores closed new york vacation rentals in a very short time period. While Bradlees, Thrift Drug/Eckerd, and Foodtown never closed in the 90 s, the McDonald s was the only place in the interior section of the mall that was still open by the decad
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