About this mall
Shore Mall is a regional mall, opened in 1968, located in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey on U.S. Route 40 / U.S. Route 322. The mall is accessible from Exit 36 off the Garden State Parkway. The mall is owned by Cedar Shopping Centers. The mall has a gross leasable area of 620,000 ft², located on 73 acres (300,000 m2) of land. The mall’s anchor stores include Boscov’s and Burlington Coat Factory.
Shore Mall originally opened in 1968 as an open-air mall called Searstown. Original anchor stores included Sears, Grant City and a Pantry Pride supermarket. Between 1971 and 1974, the mall was enclosed and expanded, with regional up-market department store Steinbach being added as a fourth anchor store. A time capsule was buried next to the Steinbach store. Grant City was shuttered in 1976 when the chain declared bankruptcy; by the end of the year, JCPenney opened in the former Grant City space. Pantry Pride was subsequently replaced with Foodtown, and the mall was renamed Shore Mall.
In 1987, a newer mall known as Hamilton Mall was constructed nearby in Mays Landing; both JCPenney and Sears moved from the older mall. In 1988 Clover, a discount chain owned by the Strawbridge’s chain (now Macy’s), soon opened in the former JCPenney/Grant City space, while Boscov’s replaced the former Sears. Circuit City opened in the former Foodtown, which closed in the early 1990s. Steinbach closed in 1995 and Clover closed in 1997 as both chains went under; their stores at Shore Mall were replaced with Value City in 1996 and Burlington Coat Factory in 1998, respectively. Circuit City moved closer to the Hamilton Mall in a strip mall called Hamilton Commons in 2004 and closed in winter 2009 due to bankruptcy, and has since been replaced with K&G Fashion Superstore.
The Shore Mall was sold in January 2006 to Cedar Shopping Centers, who has announced plans to convert the property to a strip mall. A year later, the Value City store at Shore Mall was among 24 locations sold by Value City’s parent company to Burlington Coat Factory. The store closed on September 21, 2008.
