Rockaway Townsquare is a two-level super regional shopping mall, located on Mount Hope Avenue in

Rockaway Township, New Jersey Rockaway Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 25,341, reflecting an increase of 1,185 (+4.9%) from the 24,156 counted in the 2010 Census. Rocka ...

. As of 2022, the mall currently features anchors

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gi ...

, &

Raymour & Flanigan Raymour & Flanigan is a high-end American furniture retail chain, based in the Northeastern United States. Overview Raymour's Furniture Company, the predecessor of Raymour & Flanigan Furniture, was established by brothers Bernard Goldberg and Ar ...

, as well as

Hollister Co. Hollister Co., often advertised as Hollister or HCo., is a retail brand owned by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, selling apparel, accessories, and fragrances. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store. Hollister uses a narrativ ...

Guess A guess (or an act of guessing) is a swift conclusion drawn from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while the person making the guess (the guesser) admittedly lacks material for a greater degree of certainty. A guess is als ...

, White House Black Market, J.Crew, and LUSH Cosmetics. It is served by exit 35 of Interstate 80 and located directly south of that highway. Rockaway Townsquare is currently owned by the Simon Property Group. It features a

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

of , placing it in the top ten among the largest

shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey have played a major role in shaping the suburban landscape of the state following World War II. History New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the United States, and in the suburban sphere of influence of b ...

. Rockaway Townsquare attracts customers from

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

, and Warren counties and is under an hour away from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Mall history

The mall first opened on Labor Day Weekend of 1977. It was built on top of a wetland, which was not protected in New Jersey until 1988 with the passage of the New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, and the former

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

town landfill. A time capsule was enclosed in the interior of the mall, marked with a plaque. The contents were unveiled on August 22, 2000. Upon opening, the mall contained five large sculptures by Rita Blitt. Most were located on the first floor and reached up through openings to the second. A twenty-foot stainless steel and brass American flag hung from the ceiling. The silhouette of one of these sculptures, the yellow Stablitt 55, became the mall's original logo. Although the other sculptures have been removed, Stablitt 55 still stands outside the mall, on the corner near the three-store strip at the entrance off the main road. Major stores that have since closed include:

Bamberger's Bamberger's was a department store chain with branches primarily in New Jersey and other locations in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. History 1892–1912 Newark was known for m ...

which was in the location currently occupied by

(it was converted along with the other Bamberger's stores to the Macy's nameplate in 1986), Hahne's which was in the location currently occupied by

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

(converted to the L&T nameplate in 1988), Child World, which was occupied by Kids "R" Us after Child World went out of business in 1992, though was occupied by

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply holding company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company has combined annual sales of approximately $11 billion, and employs about 38,000 associates with businesses in the United States. ...

after the majority of standalone KRU locations closed in 2003. (Office Depot has since closed as well; this space has since been converted to DSW, relocated from the existing Marketplace at Rockaway location; after

Toys R Us A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include Toy block, toy blocks, Board game, board games, and Doll, dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed sp ...

closed in 2018, Toys R Us/Kids R Us is currently occupied by

Party City Party City Holdco Inc. is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Party City’s parent organization is Party City Holdings Inc. Based in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, the comp ...

Acme Acme is Ancient Greek (ακμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme and Septimius, a fictional ...

, which is currently occupied by

Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. As of 2021, Nordstrom Rack operates 352 stores in 41 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces ...

, and Party Fair, which is currently occupied by

Five Below 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

, moving it from the shopping plaza where

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

is. The old location is currently occupied by Orange Theory Fitness.

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

had screens 1–6 in the location currently occupied by

Forever 21 Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...

(previously FYE and Record Town) located inside the mall, as well as screens 7–12 in the location currently occupied by

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

in one of the strip malls located on the perimeter road. The 1–6 screens closed in 1998 and the 7–12 screens in 2002. When the theaters originally expanded from 6 screens to 12 in February 1981, it became the first 12-screen multiplex in America. On August 25, 2009, a small plane crash-landed in the parking lot. The only injury was the pilot, who walked away and was treated. In 2016,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

subleased part of the store to

. The Sears at the mall closed for good on September 13, 2020. On December 15, 2017,

The Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. The company operates 219 full-service restaurants: 206 under The Cheesecake Factory brand and 13 under the Grand Lux C ...

opened at Rockaway Townsquare. On February 23, 2022,

P. F. Chang's P. F. Chang's China Bistro is an American-based, casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang that serves Asian fusion cuisine. Centerbridge Partners owned and operated Chang's until acquired by the private e ...

opened at the mall. Between January 2019 and Fall 2019, the food court was renovated. The Lord & Taylor location at the mall was closed on December 29, 2020, leaving

and Macy's as the only traditional anchors left. The closing was part of the parent company's effort to close down all of the chain's stores nationwide.

Expansion

The mall has undergone several expansions since it opened. These include Rockaway Commoms, a strip mall in the southeast corner of the property and a

Hilton Garden Inn Hilton Garden Inn is an American chain of mid-priced, limited or focused service hotels owned by Hilton Worldwide. As of December 31, 2019, it has 862 properties with 126,086 rooms in 49 countries and territories, including 81 that are manage ...

. The Shops at Rockaway Mall, a strip mall, opened in the corner near Interstate 80. Rockaway Town Court is a strip mall at the East side of the mall. Rockaway Town Plaza is a strip mall at the west side of the mall with a

as an anchor. There is also a Health Pavilion for the Morristown Medical Center in the Complex.

In popular culture

A scene from the 1984 film ''Firstborn'' starring

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

features Parker's character Lisa shopping at Rockaway Townsquare. In the 1980s, a local rock band by the name of Danger recorded a song about the mall. The song was accompanied by a video, which has since been uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

."Danger - The Rockaway Mall"
/ref> Little other information is known about the band Danger.

References

{{Simon Property Group Buildings and structures in Morris County, New Jersey Rockaway Township, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls established in 1977 Simon Property Group Tourist attractions in Morris County, New Jersey Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area Interstate 80 1977 establishments in New Jersey