![]() ![]() The reasons for the struggles are both shared and unique. The American Dream megamall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was under development for 17 years before opening in late 2019. But in 2020, there are now fewer than 700,000 employees in the sector, working across just over 6,000 locations. In 2011, US department stores employed 1.2 million employees across 8,600 stores, according to estimates from the research firm IBISWorld. The downfall of these onetime crown jewels of retail will have meaningful impacts on the Americans who work for them and the communities they’ve long called home.Īcross the US, department stores are shrinking or shuttering altogether. While the story of American Dream is unique in many ways, its struggles are emblematic of the bleak future facing many US malls and department stores - whose destinies have long been intertwined. Its owners, Triple Five Group, missed several mortgage payments this summer, and it’s not clear who might fill the enormous holes left by the three fallen department store chains, or which other retail tenants will opt out of their leases now that the development is missing three of its anchors. More than half of all mall-based department stores will close by the end of 2021Īround 100 storefronts in American Dream opened their doors to customers in October and November, but the complex’s future is not guaranteed. Whether the mall makes it in the long term will hinge in part on how it deals with the collapse of three of the marquee department stores that were to anchor the complex and draw foot traffic - Barneys New York, Lord & Taylor, and Century 21 - which all have gone bankrupt and closed, or are planning to close all their stores in the US. The Covid-19 pandemic hitting in March made things much worse. The development’s complicated 17-year history, marked by ownership changes, false starts, and broken promises, had already put American Dream in a precarious situation. The complex finally opened last fall, but it’s now facing huge new challenges. It’s a $5 billion, 3 million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex in East Rutherford featuring an indoor ski slope, an ice-skating rink, and a Nickelodeon-branded amusement park. The Dream in question isn’t the mythological notion that upward social mobility is within reach for all hardworking Americans. In a New Jersey suburb seven miles west of Midtown Manhattan, the American Dream is on shaky ground. ![]()
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