The Shops at Riverside

The Shops at Riverside is a two-level enclosed shopping mall, located in Hackensack, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, off Route 4, along the Hackensack River. The mall has a Gross leasable area (GLA) of 658,261 sq ft (61,154.4 m2).[2] The "lavishly appointed" mall opened on March 10, 1977 with 620,000 sq ft (58,000 m2) of retail space, which included a 237,000 sq ft (22,000 m2) Bloomingdale's (expanded from an original freestanding site opened in 1959) and a 107,000 sq ft (9,900 m2) Saks Fifth Avenue.[3] Until 2005, the shopping center was known as Riverside Square Mall.[4]

The Shops at Riverside
LocationHackensack, New Jersey, United States
Opening dateMarch 10, 1977 (March 10, 1977)
DeveloperFederated Department Stores[1]
ManagementSimon Property Group
OwnerSimon Property Group
No. of stores and services66
No. of anchor tenants4
Total retail floor area658,261 sq ft (61,154.4 m2)
No. of floors2
Public transit accessBus transport NJ Transit NJ Transit bus: 756, 762
Railway Train NJ Transit Access to NJ Transit's New Bridge Landing station (Pascack Valley Line).
Websitewww.simon.com/mall/the-shops-at-riverside

The Shops at Riverside is a very high-end mall which caters to the affluent suburban areas surrounding Hackensack in Bergen, Essex, and Passaic counties in New Jersey as well as Rockland County in New York State. The mall has 66 stores.[5] The anchor stores are Bloomingdale's, Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, and AMC Theatres.

History

Originally a freestanding Bloomingdale's built in 1959, an enclosed mall was opened in 1977, and the shopping center became known as Riverside Square Mall. The original mall had a Southern California feel, with terra cotta tile, red brick, and skylights. In 1995, after years of declining traffic and lost tenants and amidst a major renovation and expansion of nearby Westfield Garden State Plaza, The Shops at Riverside was completely renovated with new marble floors, glass railings, and comfortable seating.

From 2005 through 2008, The Shops at Riverside added 248,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of retail and dining space, including 30 new stores and three restaurants. Much of the space that was added is in a portion of the mall reclaimed from Bloomingdale's. The original Bloomingdale's Home Store bisected the mall, and was moved to the north end of the existing Bloomingdale's, while the 1977 expansion of Bloomingdale's was renovated in 2005 in preparation for the expansion in 2006. The expansion added three restaurants.[6] It also added a new concourse that linked the north corridor to the south corridor.

In December 2014, Saks closed its Shops at Riverside location, freeing up more than 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of space that the company had occupied since 1977.[7] Plans for re-purposing the space as a cinema and dining-entertainment complex were announced in May 2015.[8] An AMC Dine-In Theater with nine screening rooms opened in most of the second floor on September 13, 2017.[9][10][11]

The second phase of the renovation project include removal of the glass elevator, new flooring, a new set of escalators by Bloomingdale's, a new staircase in the center court, completion of the second floor portion of the mall and a new glass ball near the new movie theater. Most of the construction is expected to be finished by November 2018.[12]

The third phase will include a new mall entrance with valet parking, a luxury lounge, and a coat check and personal shopping service. The Bloomingdales is also expected to be renovated. The third phase will be complete by late 2019.[13]

Blue laws

Due to New Jersey state blue laws that only apply in Bergen County[14][15] most of the mall is closed on Sundays except for restaurants, the movie theater and those retailers exempt from the Sunday sales restrictions. The mall was an organizer of an unsuccessful 1993 referendum effort to repeal Bergen County's blue laws.[16]

Public transportation

NJ Transit bus lines that serve The Shops at Riverside are the 756 and 762 routes.[17]

The NJ Transit New Bridge Landing train station in River Edge is approximately 5 minutes from the mall.

References
  1. "Riverside Square valued $25 million". The Record. November 30, 1977. pp. C16. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  2. The Shops at Riverside, Simon Property Group. Accessed September 12, 2017.
  3. "Hackensack Gets New Shopping Mall", The New York Times, March 6, 1977, p. 431. Accessed September 12, 2017.
  4. Verdon, Joan. "A trip to Future Mall", The Record (Bergen County), February 8, 2005, backed up by the Internet Archive as of December 28, 2005. Accessed September 12, 2017.
  5. About Us, The Shops at Riverside. Accessed January 18, 2018.
  6. Major Expansion and Redevelopment at The Shops at Riverside!, accessed December 2, 2006.
  7. Verdon, Joan. "Saks Fifth Avenue to close store at The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack", The Record (Bergen County), October 20, 2014, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 4, 2016. Accessed September 12, 2017.
  8. http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/saks-site-in-hackensack-to-become-dining-entertainment-complex-1.1335603
  9. Verdon, Joan. "Mall owner has big plans for Shops at Riverside", The Record (Bergen County), March 16, 2017. Accessed September 7, 2017.
  10. AMC Theatres Listing on the mall's website. Accessed September 7, 2017.
  11. Verdon, Joan. "First look: New AMC dine-in theatre in Hackensack", The Record (Bergen County), September 12, 2017. Accessed September 12, 2017.
  12. Verdon, Joan. "Mall owner has big plans for Shops at Riverside", The Record (Bergen County), March 16, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2018
  13. Joan Verdon (May 22, 2018). "Shops at Riverside Mall enters final phase of its luxury makeover". NorthJersey.com. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  14. Shopping, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed April 23, 2023. "Bergen is the only county in New Jersey which enforces Blue Laws – legislation that limits Sunday shopping. Paramus strictly observes these laws, therefore major malls and other retail stores are closed on Sunday."
  15. Brennan, John. "11 things you might not know about Bergen County's blue laws", The Record, June 23, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2023. "A key moment in time was the 1959 vote to allow each of New Jersey's 21 counties to make individual decisions on blue laws. Ten counties preferred the status quo — at first. Hudson County voters decided in 1985 to become the 20th of 21 counties to repeal the state's blue laws."
  16. Hanley, Robert. "Bergen Stores Try to Repeal Blue Laws", The New York Times, August 27, 1993. Accessed February 4, 2018. "A Bergen County law that has kept stores closed on Sundays since 1959 in the heart of New Jersey's mall country came under official attack today by a merchants' group.... The start of the repeal drive did not produce any unanimous sense of euphoria from shoppers questioned randomly this afternoon outside the Riverside Square Mall here. The mall is an organizer of the campaign."
  17. Bergen County System map, New Jersey Transit. Accessed September 12, 2017.

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