Quaker Bridge Mall is a two-level

super-regional mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, it began to be used as a generi ...

located in the Clarksville section of Lawrence Township, Mercer County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. As of 2022, the mall features the traditional anchors

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

and

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

. The mall currently features prominent specialty stores

Coach New York Coach New York, commonly known as Coach, is an American luxury fashion house headquartered in New York City & specialized in handbags, luggage, and accessories, as well as ready-to-wear. Coach licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eye ...

, White House Black Market, and Ann Taylor. The mall is on

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

near Interstate 295. The mall opened in 1975 and is managed by

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

(which owns 50% of it). It is also the location of the transmitter for the New Jersey–based radio station

WKXW WKXW (101.5 FM, "New Jersey 101.5") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Trenton, and broadcasting to most of the state of New Jersey. It is owned by Townsquare Media with studios and offices on Walters Avenue in Ewing. On weekdays ...

, better known as New Jersey 101.5. The mall has a

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

of , making it one of the larger

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 ...

History

Quaker Bridge Mall opened in 1975 with four anchors:

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 19th century Newark was known for m ...

, Hahne's,

and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

. The development of the mall helped to spur growth along the Route 1 corridor with the opening of additional shopping and strip centers, as well as the reconstruction of numerous intersections on Route 1 to accommodate the rising levels in traffic. An

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

four-screen cinema opened February 1977 at the back entrance, under

Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses Australia and New Zealand * Woolworths Group (Australia), the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand; named after the American F.W. Woolworth company, but unrelated * W ...

. Anchor store changes took place in 1986 and 1990 when Bamberger's converted to

and the closing of Hahne's allowed for the opening of

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...

. In 1988–89, the mall was renovated. New flooring was added, new lighting was added, new seating areas added, the child's play area in the Sears wing was removed in favor of a planter and seating area, the majority of the fountains were removed, the mall was painted and the entrances facing Route 1 were redesigned. In the late 1990s, Woolworth's and the movie theater closed. A proposed expansion project in the 2000s would have added

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

and

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

, along with as many as 100 new stores and restaurants. Nordstrom's two-level, store would have been the fifth Nordstrom store in New Jersey. Neiman Marcus had planned to occupy about on two levels. The township approved the new JCPenney building and parking deck in 2008. However, neither project was continued in the mall's 2010 renovations. In October 2010, the mall received approval from Lawrence Township to expand that included a large-scale renovation of the mall, replacing flooring, the escalator in the center court, and adding an elevator in front of Lord & Taylor and escalators in front of JCPenney, with a new food court added on the upper level near Macy’s. In May 2018, Sears announced that its store would be closing as part of a plan to close 72 stores nationwide. In August 2020,

announced that it would be closing its store at the mall, as part of the chain's nationwide liquidation.

Gallery

QuakerBridgeMall Center Court.jpg, Center court, 2013 Quaker Bridge Mall 2nd floor from Sears.JPG, Second floor looking from Sears in 2008, before the mall was renovated

References

External links

Quaker Bridge Mall websiteInternational Council of Shopping Centers: Quaker Bridge MallQuakerbridge Mall expansion leasing sheet
{{Philadelphia Malls Buildings and structures in Mercer County, New Jersey Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls established in 1975 Simon Property Group Tourist attractions in Mercer County, New Jersey Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area U.S. Route 1 1975 establishments in New Jersey