The fire-damaged, temporarily closed mall in Camden County has lost nearly all its tenants.
Shoppers can’t even access the interior of the once thriving shopping center, formerly known as Echelon Mall. The storefronts are closed behind metal gates, caution tape and locked doors in eerie silence.
But somehow, the mall’s ’90s-era, old-school Boscov’s is still bustling with holiday shoppers.
The two-floor department store that anchors Voorhees Town Center continues to bring in customers even as the mall around it sits dark and empty.
Boscov’s lights are bright and the aisles are active. On a recent weekday afternoon, workers rang up longtime shoppers as Christmas music played and discount signs lined the store.
Almost nothing has changed inside the Boscov’s, built in 1992 to replace Stern’s, another department store that once anchored the mall. With its neon signs, mirrored ceilings and candy counter selling fudge, the Boscov’s still carries many of the nostalgic touches it had when it opened three decades ago…
Enclosed shopping malls began rising in New Jersey in the 1960s, starting with Cherry Hill Mall in Camden County. They boomed through the ’70s and ’80s.
For young people at the time, malls weren’t just retail spaces but social hubs. Baby boomers treated mall trips as scheduled weekend activities, using malls to discover new styles, browse new merchandise and hang out with friends, according to James W. Hughes, a Rutgers University economist and professor.
By the 1990s, the U.S. had roughly 1,500 malls. And at the time, big-name department stores sat at the ends of every mall. They served as literal and figurative anchors, holding the malls in place as they drew in customers who filtered into the rest of the mall.
“They were really comprehensive emporiums that did everything,” said Hughes, who has studied New Jersey’s suburban economy for decades.
Shoppers could buy clothing, appliances and furniture in department stores, then eat lunch, get their hair done or even book someone to hang their wallpaper, all under one roof.
Boscov’s at Voorhees Town Center still carries some of those throwback touches, selling everything from discounted clothing and shoes to furniture and even operating a hearing-aid center that still takes appointments.
But that model has steadily weakened, researchers said.
Over the last 25 years, department stores were first undercut by specialty retailers and then by online shopping, causing many to disappear, Hughes said.
“Department stores were once the centerpieces of the malls. They were the big draw,” he added. “But they really started to have a hard time with all types of competition, and a number of them closed.”
A growing number of once-mighty anchors have vanished from New Jersey malls. Bamberger’s — the iconic Newark-based department store acquired by Macy’s — closed its flagship in 1992. At its height, the downtown Newark store had eight selling floors and elevators operated by white-gloved attendants.