American Dream Mall

These places are horrible. Regular size malls are bad enough. But places like this are a new low. I can just imagine what it'll be like trying to find a parking space that isn't 6 miles away around the holidays, not to mention the hordes of the great unwashed inside the place.

And that name! That name is an embarrassment. Anyone in the US whose dream is something like that needs psychiatric help.

Wait? Malls are closing all around the US but they thought this would be a good ideas?

Paying to park at a mall??? The opposite of any America worth dreaming about.

R3 if you want the privilege of living the American dream you must pay for it !

Kinda weird since most malls are dying off. The one in my town is half empty. And the title is stupid. How many hours did they talk about coming up with a name in the boardroom??

King of Prussia Mall outside of Philadelphia, one of the more prosperous malls in the country, is the largest shopping mall based on square footage devoted to retailing. Mall of America and apparently this place are bigger by total square footage because of their amusement parks, but their square footage to retailing is less than KofP.

That said, I was at KoP last Friday, a beautiful fall day, at lunch hour. The food court was the only place that showed any signs of life, and Shake Shack was the only place with a decent number of customers. Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie/Free People occupies a large space that features its own gourmet pizzeria (once owned by famous chef Mark Vetri), but there was only one person dining there at the time. The rest of the mall was virtually deserted.

I'm actually going to be in the area this weekend (Chiller Theater Convention is in Parsippany this weekend)

So the retail area is not open yet, correct? The only thing open this weekend is the amusement park?

"Sticked"?

It's only partial opening. This idea was cooked up in the 90's when malls were still a thing. I think it will be an epic fail.

Well that only took what 20 years? Going to Chiller too.

I love malls and always have. I don’t know why. I find them relaxing and I prefer to buy clothes in person so I can try them on first. And also feel the fabrics etc.

But I have noticed that some malls have stopped cleaning regularly throughout the day. They just clean when closed now which means they get pretty nasty during the day. Overflowing trash and dirty floors. Kind of kills the vibe.

I smell another Revel Hotel and Casino debacle here.

Way to go, Jersey.

R6, I think most of the stores in KOP make their money around the holidays. It’s bananas there before Christmas—although there’s a ton of parking, it’s really still hard to find a space.

Yeah - KOP in December is the most crowded shopping district in the Northeast. The fact that they don’t have any public transport there is insane. Philly has great public transport - but the biggest mall and now one of the major office centers has only a bus to get there. They must make a ton of money in December to make up for the rest of the year.

American Dream is a bankruptcy waiting to happen.

The American Dream?

Stuff like this will attract the hordes of fraus and breeders. I wouldn't call it off yet.

The article mentions that a Barney’s will be opening - the same Barney’s currently in Bankruptcy?

This mall has to be an elaborate money laundering scheme.

For years, there have been plans to extend either the Norristown High Speed Line or the Norristown Regional Rail Line to KoP, and at this point, I think they're in a very advanced stage. However, there is no $$$ forthcoming from either DC, Harrisburg or Montgomery County.

[quote] I hope though they sticked with the original name

Oh, DEAR. For several reasons.

Amusement park?

I would prefer an ironic version, aka Dismaland

r20 Nickelodeon Universe, they operate the amusement park at MOA.

There’s also going to be an indoor water park and a Dubai-style indoor artificial ski slope.

That thing is between me and NYC. Traffic nightmare.

The faux ski slope sounds fun... Is there an Orange Julius?

R11 I like malls, as well. For me, if you go to buy stuff in person, enclosed malls are the best, especially if you go shopping in the summer or the winter, because you don't have to keep going outside into the weather. Lifestyle centers have recently been the rage near me, but they are really only comfortable in the spring and fall. I don't want to walk between stores in the extreme heat or cold.

We went to the Queens Center Mall recently and it was packed. It was a nice day, too.

I think lots of fraus will visit it once.

[quote]Yeah - KOP in December is the most crowded shopping district in the Northeast. The fact that they don’t have any public transport there is insane

That is purposely done to keep out a certain demographic.

R28, your suggestion that working class diverse populations don’t own a car, and that a large retail cabal would deny them entry based on that (wrong) assumption speaks more to your own naïveté and racism than the reality of the retail world.

Obviously, R28 has never seen the Route 123 bus that travels to King of Prussia Mall. It is chock full of that "certain demographic," so R28 is pulling shit out of his gigantic, prolapsed asshole.

Is your name Donald Trump by chance?

[quote]your suggestion that working class diverse populations don’t own a car, and that a large retail cabal would deny them entry based on that (wrong) assumption speaks more to your own naïveté and racism than the reality of the retail world.

What an idiot.

You know nothing about the discriminatory practices of the suburbs and shopping centers, to keep out the poor and especially teens (who don't drive btw.)

From Slate:

"When buses started running to a suburban mall near Dayton, Ohio, in January 2014, online commenters, writing in the Dayton Daily News, erupted in anger. They resented—sometimes in purely racist terms—that this new public transportation line would be bringing outsiders, largely blacks, to Beavercreek, a suburb that is about 89 percent white."

“Homeless and thugs taking up residence in the food courts, thugs with no money wandering the hallways all day scaring off the people with money,” wrote Godsey97, commenting on a local newspaper story. “Let the shoplifting and Knockout Games begin,” said a commenter named Guesswho. Another commenter, brack, chimed in, “they have ruined schools, neighborhoods, companies, salem mall and Dayton mall and now the Beavercreek mall!!! time to flush political correctness and affirmative action.”"

"Beavercreek isn’t unique. “The fact that there wasn’t service [in Beavercreek], and was resistance to service there demonstrates a trend we’ve seen in other parts of the country, of seeing transit as delivering undesirables to the area,” says Jason Reece, director of research at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University. “It’s not uncommon to get pushback to bus stops, and even bike paths and trails.”

King of Prussia does not want easy public transportation from Philly. It's not in their interests. They gain nothing by it.

R30 I was adressing the poster who wrote about KOP, "The fact that they don’t have any public transport there is insane".

If that's the case, that there's no public transit there, then IMHO the most likely reason would be those mentioned in the Slate article posted above. A practice that happens all over the country with malls.

However, If KOP is indeed served well with public transportation, then take it up with poster R14

Just one massive griftfest to build it. I give it a year before it closes. -NJ resident

"King of Prussia does not want easy public transportation from Philly. It's not in their interests. They gain nothing by it."

Once again, R31 is someone, like R28, who doesn't know jack shit about King of Prussia Mall.

KofP is in a very desirable demographic, which high education and high income levels. The mall, as well as the very upscale King of Prussia Town Center across the street, is surrounded by numerous office parks that employ thousands of highly paid, skilled workers. Housing in the area, for sale and for rent, caters to a high income demographic as well, certainly not the demographic where adults or their children are going to be cooking burgers, selling pretzels at Auntie Anne's or mopping floors.

The mall is highly dependent on a "certain demographic" from Philly and Norristown to cook its food, clean its toilets and floors, and stock its shelves. The Route 123 bus routinely gets stuck in traffic on the nearby Schuylkill Expressway, causing that "certain demographic" to be late for work, which irritates store/restaurant and mall management. And just an FYI, R28/R31, management of KofP mall has been one of the main proponents of the proposed extension of the Norristown Regional Rail Line to bring a "certain demographic" there. simply so the mall can operate efficiently and KofP management contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the numerous studies advocating more and better public transit to the area.

R34 Uh... right over your head. You really don't get.

What is it that I'm not getting, R35? You made an ignorant and uninformed statement (King of Prussia does not want easy public transportation from Philly. It's not in their interests. They gain nothing by it.) and i called you on it.

R36 Must I tell you again that my statement was based on poster R14s post (see R32).

If KOP does have public transportation from Philly (or is advocating for better coverage) then good for them.

The reason why Malls are often wary of easy public transportation to their shops can be seen here at the near by Cherry Hill Mall.

The "upscale" mall in my area is not on a bus line. Everybody knows why.

[quote] Parking is free for this opening weekend, but then you'll have to pay. Starting at $3 for the first three hours, the fees then escalate to a maximum of $24 if you stay for eight hours or more.

Will the people of New Jersey pay that to park? Sounds like they have a death wish.

That picture with the OP looks like something out of the 1950's at least this one looks slightly more appealing if you are going for the theme park attraction.

They built a huge mall in a county that doesn't allow stores to be open on Sunday, what sort of IQ do these developers have?

It looks like a recycling and toxic materials sorting facility.

More like American Nightmare Mall

Is this a tourist attraction? I would like to fly in and visit.

Sticked?

It's not open on Sundays?

Jackie Goldschneider, the mayor said that protecting the blue laws — which prohibit shoppers from purchasing certain items on Sundays — “has always been and will continue to be my number one priority.”

That’s the mayor’s number one priority? Not the citizens? Not growth? Infrastructure improvements? But blue laws? In 2019? Even in Texarkana, stores are open Sunday!

[quote]They built a huge mall in a county that doesn't allow stores to be open on Sunday, what sort of IQ do these developers have?

Sounds like the perfect fit for us!

[quote] It's not open on Sundays?

The amusement Park part of it is open on Sundays but that county doesn't allow sales of non essential items on Sundays, so nearly all the stores will be closed.

[quote] the mayor said that protecting the blue laws — which prohibit shoppers from purchasing certain items on Sundays — “has always been and will continue to be my number one priority.”

I bet come the next election, that mayors opponent will be well funded by the stores in that mall.

[quote]but that county doesn't allow sales of non essential items on Sundays, so nearly all the stores will be closed.

I had no idea that was still a thing in some places, esp. in the Northeast.

I don't understand these extreme Blue Laws, in the North. I'm from the Bible Belt and we don't even have them like that. I remember there were ones that stated stores couldn't open until 1:00pm, but not that they had to stay closed all day, and most of them have fallen away. And there are still areas where you can't buy alcohol on Sundays, but I don't mind that, if you can't go one day a week without buying alcohol, you have a problem.

I gotta be honest, that Reptar carousel looked delightful. I was a huge Rugrats fan growing up.

Are malls still big with kids? I grew up in the 90s, so malls were sort of essential. They were a shopping, food, and entertainment hub. I was always around malls because I loved going to the theater. It was also a safe and familiar place to meet up with your friends when you couldn't drive. Even when you could drive it was a convenient place to hang. As I got older though malls started to depress me and then Amazon happened.

Doesn't surprise me that they're turning these malls into IP-based theme parks, and from the looks of it attendance is relatively high. I remember visiting the Mall of America in Minnesota when I was like 9 and they had an indoor theme park. Camp Snoopy if I recall, which I thought was cool because we had that back home at Knott's Berry Farm. So this isn't an entirely new concept... perhaps a more ambitious articulation of the same idea.

Everybody knows whats happened to most malls and why they are dying. Just because we arent allowed to say it doesnt make it not true. They established bus service near an open air mall by our airport,wich until that point had been a very nice place to go to,and in NO time ,well,you know the rest of the story.

The reason for the blue laws in that area is because of the traffic, basically the people who actually live there want a break from the constant traffic and congestion.

As Chris Rock famously said: "There are always two malls. The mall where white people go, and the mall where white people USED to go."

I love a good mall.

I live in NJ and was listening to a talk radio station with callers who were at the opening. This has been in the works for SEVENTEEN years. The grand opening had none of the stores or food court open. The only part open was the Nickelodeon park and 8 of the 34 rides were closed. There is no direct public transportation available in one of the most highly trafficked areas of north Jersey and you have to pay for parking. What a huge fail. Everyone who called in to the talk station said they would never go back again.

The Hudson Yards mall in NYC is equally idiotic in my opinion. What are these developers thinking building malls in 2019. I guess the idiot banks who lent them the money will foreclose on them and lose 1/2 the loans.

Yes, it's surprising that any mall was built in this day and age, never mind a mall this huge. It seems so outdated.

So is Jimmy Hoffa now buried under Hot Dog on a Stick?

[quote]The Hudson Yards mall in NYC is equally idiotic in my opinion.

I thought the same thing until I visited it.

It's at the end of the High Line (or at the start of the High Line depending on how you look at it) and so it will always have an endless stream of tourists going through. It's actually very shrewdly positioned.

When I was there the place was packed. Who knows how many people were actually buying anything, but it had people from all over the world in there.

I agree it’s well placed for tourists - but Hudson Yards is filled with retail stores that no one buys anything in. Except food stores like Citarella. Food court maybe. Mall no.

Since the American Dream and the American mall are pretty much dead this thing is well named.

[quote]So is Jimmy Hoffa now buried under Hot Dog on a Stick?

Beats working there.

They should tear the whole thing down and turn it into a giant garden.

Jersey people do not want to pay for mall parking so that's strike one. And then, if there's an event at the stadium, the parking goes up to $30 automatically? Gtfo with that shit. I feel sorry for the residents of East Rutherford and everyone impacted by the traffic in the area. Its going to be a horrorshow.

The only way this mall and Hudson Yards mall is if they grow the market. If they merely siphon traffic from midtown Manhattan streets and other North Jersey malls, they will have failed.

The last time I was in NYC was Memorial Day weekend 2018 to see Boys in the Band. I saw several, large vacant storefronts with "for lease" signs in the windows on Broadway in Time Square. I've never seen that before.

Giant malls are great because they make Americans do something they hate: walk.

Drive throughs and now the internet make fat, ugly asses.

I assume this NJ mall is about corruption, kickbacks, bribes, money laundering

R42, the developer promises “JOBS!” and “NEW TAX REVENUE!” to get gullible, not-so-bright city officials to green light the building of the mall and then (ironically) give said developer a huge tax incentive to build it (over the objections of residential taxpayers). Then the wealthy developer quietly sells out to a real estate investment trust (REIT), takes his money, and RUNS back to his gated community in a suburb that would pillory him if he tried to pull the same shit in their town.

At that point, the developer doesn’t give a flying fuck if the mall succeeds or fails. And city residents are left to deal with the consequences (traffic, crime, and a big old white elephant that generates little tax revenue).

Looks like it is also in a flood plain. Good luck!

Anybody visited already? I got sick so unable to. I also heard the food court is available yet? That’s the main reason I was interested in going.

Because there might be delicious food in a NJ megamall's food court?

I’ll only go if they have a Bamberger’s.

R76 That actually brings up a good point. I think department stores would be wise to resurrect individual nameplates, and make the individual stores more unique, in order to win back customers. They would get the older customers with the nostalgia factor, and young people value unique experiences. They tend to like to shop at stores that aren't in every mall across America. What has killed department stores more than anything is how homogenized they became, where you could walk into any store regardless of the nameplate and find basically the same goods as in any store by that name or in fact any other department store.

What idiot would build a mall in a community that has strict blue laws? And also charge for parking? This mall makes no sense.

The Grove, Beverly Center, Westfield, Metreon and every mall I know charges for parking.

Like something in a vast Chinese city we have never heard of. Destined to be moth-balled in less than 3 years.

r79 Very few suburban malls in the US charge for parking. And "Westfield" is the name of a company that owns hundreds of malls, most of which do not charge for parking, so we have no idea what you're talking about.

I hate malls. George Romero got it right!

God those photos are depressing. Half the fun of theme parks are being outside.

And they need to heat and cool that whale.

I agree the interior of that place is depressing as hell. I won’t be surprised if this thing is foreclosed and abandoned five years from now.

I'm not opposed to indoor themeparks, the one at MOA looks nice. But this one just looks bare. They need to paint the walls and floor, or something. It just looks like a traveling carnival set up in an abandoned warehouse.

Daily admission just jumped from $50 to $80 per person. Ridiculous. A family of four that pays for parking is looking at over $350 before you even buy anything.

I don't know where you got your info, but I'm on their site right now and admission to the amusement park part is $49.99 ($39.99 for those under 4 feet tall) and FREE for the 2 and under crowd.

Here are the parking rates:

Up to 3 hours — $3

Up to 4:59 hours/min — $4

Up to 6:59 hours/min — $5

Up to 7:59 hours/min — $6

8:00+ hours — $24 (Maximum all day rate applies)

From the pictures, it's mostly "ethnic" types who are going there.

Where’s the MALL? All I see is a horrid indoor theme park with no theme or sense of direction. This would not be out of place in the middle of bumfuck China.

50 bucks seems like a lot. I think it should be the price of a movie ticket and then a small fee per ride. What do I know. It's already quite expensive to take the family to the mall to see a movie. Who has 200 bucks to spend on something lackluster such as this? And the water park should be 20 bucks for 3 hours.

I think they should’ve dropped the mall in the name. It’s more of amusement/entertainment park anyway.

It's expensive to keep the undesirables out.

Meh. Undesirables can come up with cash. This place needs crowds to be the least be "fun" feeling. 4 Tiger moms and 10 Jewish moms and dads do not merriment make. It might be fun and be a repeat hangout for kids if it were teaming with undesirables.

People who are actually spending money at the mall don't want to be around undesirables r96.

Prices just jumped again. It now cost $1000 to enter the park.

R94 There will be 450 shops and 6 anchors but they will not open until March 2020.

"...450 shops and 6 anchors but they will not open until March 2020."

LOL!!!!!

Sure they will...sure they will...

R90, I think the other poster was referring to the price come Nov 16. The $49.99 is an introductory price and it jumps $79.99 mid-November. Kids under 48 inches will be charged 59.99.

Is it true that it’s haunted by the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa?

Jimmy Hoffa was in Michigan, not NJ.

There was a widely known rumor that Hoffa was dismembered and the parts brought to NJ and buried under Giants Stadium, which was under construction at the time, when they tore it down they found no human remains (or so they say).

Why would someone risk transporting body parts 1000 miles? That makes no sense. Murder victims' bodies are almost always disposed of close to where they were killed.

^R103

r106 that story is bullshit.

Who the hell would transport a murder victim’s body from Michigan to NJ just to bury it in Giants Stadium?

It’s just an urban legend guys

Could we return back to the socioeconomics of "undesirables". I don't see this attraction having the glamor to attract a regular high attendance of rich parents with their tots. It's got to be middle class pricing and a place a critical number of young people want to go to on their own - meaning teens. And repeatedly.

Ski Dubai is reasonably priced by the way.

In Europe, three hours in a water park, for a teen, is 15-25 bucks.

It’s all fun and games until someone projectile vomits Cinnebons and orange Fanta from a moving roller coaster.

450 shops and 6 anchors?

Have they released any lease agreement statistics?

Usually, a place this big with "guaranteed" anchors/shops would be releasing lease agreement names to boost interest in the place.

At least, they would be releasing the names of the anchor stores.

I guess they have about 30 agreements, but still don't list any anchor stores.

One of the leases is Forever 21 which just closed 200 stores amid a bankruptcy filing.

30 leases against 450 storefronts?

And they claim this is all going to be done in only 4 months?

The worlds largest mall was dead for several years. It came to live when it went radically downscale.

The American Dream Mall is some of huge grift. Or it's been created by graduates of the Camden School of Business Management.

The anchor stores will be Bamberger's, B. Altman, Alexander's, Abraham & Straus, Bonwit-Teller, and Gimbel's. (I hear that Wanamaker's pulled out.)

And dont forget J.W. Mays!

How old I am that I remember all of them.

Stern’s too

Sure, but in a few years they'll go downscale and the anchors will be Woolco, Zayre, Ames, Caldor, Two Guys, and Korvette's.

And the amusement park will be called Radio Shack World.

R115 -

What about Caldor?

r121, see r119.

Caldor will get replaced by Bradlees.

No Jamesway? I always thought Caldor was a step above the others (before Target entered the Northeast) and the name reminded me of The sculptor Alexander Calder and his magnificent mobiles.

Why is DL so full of humorless know-it-alls?