Ledgewood Commons is a

shopping plaza 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 ...

in the Ledgewood, section of Roxbury, New Jersey, United States. Its anchors are

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, Burlington, and

Marshalls Marshalls, Inc. is an American chain of discount store, off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store (stores operating with HomeGoods combined), ...

. It is an outdoor shopping plaza with a gross leasable area of The site covers and has 2,223 parking spaces. From the mall's opening in 1972 until 2016, it was branded Ledgewood Mall as a enclosed mall.

History

1972–2016: Ledgewood Mall

The center was originally opened in 1972 as Ledgewood Mall, with anchors of W. T. Grant store and

Finast Finast was a retail supermarket brand that started in the northeastern United States, with headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts. Finast was a syllabic abbreviation for "First National Stores." Commonly referred to as "The First National", ...

. By 1980, the mall's anchors were

Rickel Rickel (known as Rickel Brothers in its early years, Rickel Supermarts in the 1960s, and Rickel Home Centers in later years) was a chain of home-improvement centers based in northern North Jersey, New Jersey. The company’s first store opened i ...

Jamesway Jamesway Corporation, more commonly known as Jamesway, was a chain of discount department stores based in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was founded in 1961 with a single store in Jamestown, New York, ultimately growing into a chain that, at its peak ...

, and Arthur's Catalog Showroom. These anchors remained for over a decade. The Rickel space later closed and became

Sports Authority Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer based in Englewood, Colorado. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commer ...

Phar-Mor Phar-Mor (stylized as ) was a United States chain of discount drug stores, based in Youngstown, Ohio, and founded by Michael I. Monus, Michael "Mickey" Monus and David Shapira in 1982. Some of its stores used the names Pharmhouse and Rx Place ( ...

and

also opened.

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

announced in July 1993 that it would be opening a

Stern's Stern's was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Department Stores opted to retire the Stern's bran ...

store in fall 1994, as part of a major nationwide expansion of the chain. This store was converted to a

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 ...

in 2001 when Stern's stores were closed.

closed in December 1995 following the company's liquidation. By 1999,

replaced both the former Jamesway and Arthur's stores, and

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

, which has since closed as part of the economic collapse of that retail chain, was added as well. Phar-Mor eventually became an Ashley Furniture HomeStore location. From 2009 to 2017, Circuit City became

Spirit Halloween Spirit Halloween Superstores, LLC is an American seasonal retailer that supplies Halloween decorations, costumes, props and accessories. It is the United States' largest Halloween retailer. It is currently owned by Spencer Gifts. It was founde ...

every September until October. In 2018 the Spirit Halloween relocated to the nearby Roxbury Mall. By the early-mid 2010s, many of the mall's former tenants relocated to the nearby Roxbury Mall or other nearby strip malls.

2016–present: The Shops at Ledgewood Commons

In 2016, JV Partnership, Advance Realty, Debartolo Development & Invesco bought the mall. The owners had plans for a redevelopment that would turn the mall into an open-air power center. The owners announced that Barnes & Noble would get a new building at the site of the former Sports Authority . The former Macy's building was demolished on November 30, 2017, which kicked off the construction project. As of June 2018, much of the mall had been demolished, with only a small seating area remaining open between Marshalls and Ashley Home Furniture. What is not already demolished had been closed off to the public. In September 2018, the owners of the mall announced that

Five Below Five Below, Inc. is an American chain of specialty discount stores that prices most of its products at $5 or less, plus a smaller assortment of products priced up to $30. Founded in 2002 by Tom Vellios and David Schlessinger and headquartered in ...

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of cosmetic stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high- and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

, DSW,

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. ( ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. As of March 31, 2025, C ...

and

Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises, LLC (doing business as Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Five Guys) is an American multinational fast food chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The first F ...

had signed leases and would open stores in the mall. In December 2018, Walmart announced that it would demolish its current store at the mall and replace it with a new modern supercenter store. The old store closed on May 10, 2019, and Walmart started construction on the new store in June 2019, which opened on October 7, 2020, Walmart had originally planned to open on October 17, 2020, but construction finished early and the opening date was moved sooner. In 2019, Lemon Tree Hair Salon opened in the former

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

. In January 2019,

24 Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately held and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs (behin ...

announced that it would open a gym at the mall. However, in August 2020, the company pulled out of the project after the company filing for bankruptcy. Also in August 2020,

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

closed its first location at the mall, after being at Ledgewood from 1994 to 2020. On September 9, 2020, Burlington Department Store announced it would officially open a store at the new mall. In October 2020, it was announced that At Home would open in the space where

was going to be. In February 2021,

and

opened. In March 2021, Burlington Department Store opened.

Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,400 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, and is mainly located in North America and Asi ...

and

opened a month later in April. On July 30, 2021, The Shops At Ledgewood Commons held a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony which marked the official opening of the new open air power center. Many other stores are set to open. In 2023, Lemon Tree moved to one of the strip malls to make way for

Popeyes Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. is an American multinational chain of fried chicken restaurants founded in 1972 in New Orleans and headquartered in Miami. It is currently a subsidiary of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International. , Popey ...

. In November 2023, Barnes & Noble announced that it would return to the shopping center in January 2024. The mall was purchased by Urban Edge Properties in April 2024 for $83.2 million. The next month, the acquirer obtained a 5-year, $50 million mortgage on the property. In May 2024, J.Crew Factory opened and

Red Lobster Red Lobster Hospitality, LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States (including Puerto Rico), and Canada, as well as in Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, ...

closed its location in the shopping center due to the company preparing to file for bankruptcy.

Controversy

The construction of the Shops at Ledgewood Commons was given an exception from Governor

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American politician, diplomat, and financier serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected governor i ...

's Essential Construction order during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Construction workers protested the decision, though the Mayor of Roxbury said that the project is essential since the center has a

and restaurants. The Walmart temporarily closed in 2019 for a new supercenter store.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shops at Ledgewood Commons, The Buildings and structures in Morris County, New Jersey Roxbury, New Jersey Shopping malls in New Jersey Shopping malls established in 1972 Shopping malls in the New York metropolitan area