Westfield Garden State Plaza is an upscale shopping mall in Paramus, New Jersey, owned and managed by theWestfield Group and located at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17 near the Garden State Parkway. With 2,118,718 sq ft (196,835.3 m2) of leasable space, it is the largest mall in New Jersey, the third-largest mall in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and one of the highest revenue producing malls in the United States. Its department store anchors are J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.It was the first large scale shopping mall in New Jersey.

 

Westfield Garden State Plaza ranks among the largest shopping malls in the United States, having been ranked 16th largest in the United States. Westfield Garden State Plaza is the largest mall in the Westfield Group's global portfolio in terms of leasable area. This is significant given that Westfield Group is the largest retail property group globally.

 

The mall had sales of $578 per square foot in 2005, about 50% above the national average, according to the Directory of Major Malls. Westfield Garden State Plaza is one of the most profitable malls in the country.

 

Blue laws

Due to highly restrictive blue laws in effect in Bergen County and more restrictive limitations in place in Paramus, Westfield Garden State Plaza is completely closed on Sundays, except for some of the restaurants and the movie theater, all of which have special Sunday entrances. Westfield Garden State Plaza's parking lot is accessible, on Sundays, only from the Route 4 and Route 17 access points. Gates are down so that the access roads from the secondary streets are blocked. The Paramus Borough Code forbids the performance of any "worldly employment" on Sunday, with very limited exceptions.These laws were enacted shortly after Westfield Garden State Plaza opened out of fear that the mall would cause high levels of congestion in the borough. While there have been several attempts to repeal these laws over the years, they have all failed.

 

Public transportation

Westfield Garden State Plaza is also a major bus transfer point for New Jersey Transit, as the 162 and 163 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the 171 and175 to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. Several local routes operated under contract to NJT by Coach USA Community Coach stop here; the 770 toPaterson and Hackensack, the 709 to Bloomfield, the 758 to Passaic and Paramus Park, Bergen County local routes 751, 753, 755, and 756 stop there.

As the mall is closed on Sunday, except for certain restaurants and the movie theater, there is no Sunday service to the mall by bus.