Before it was Macy’s, Bamberger’s was where the cool NJ kids shopped

Cherry Hill. Deptford. Quaker Bridge.

Those were the malls to go to in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when I was coming of age.

We had the Shore Mall in Atlantic County. The Grants there became a JCPenney in 1976, and there was a Steinbach, a Jersey-based department store that became a Value City in the ’90s.

But it seemed like all the cool kids were shopping at Bamberger’s.

Just out of reach

Bamberger’s always felt slightly removed from my reality. The closest one to us was in Deptford, and we never ventured to that part of South Jersey.

Our lives were centered between Mays Landing and Atlantic City.

Then, in 1981, I moved up to Ocean County, and I finally got my Bamberger’s at the Ocean County Mall. That’s where I did my Christmas shopping.

Later I moved to Mercer County. My holiday shopping was always last-minute in those days, and I did it at the Bam’s in the Quaker Bridge Mall.

Jersey mall culture

Around that time, I fully embraced Jersey mall culture.

These were the malls you saw on TV and in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Two stories. Massive food courts.

The Shore Mall had its small-town charm. But it wasn’t the cool mall, not like the ones to the north and west of Atlantic County.

🔗 Classic NJ stores we miss: Two Guys, Grants, Rickel, Sears

Before 1986, the department store anchoring many NJ malls was Bamberger’s. | ’80s TV commercial via YouTube

A Newark original

Bamberger’s was a Jersey store long before it was a mall store.

Louis Bamberger opened it in Newark in 1892 with his brothers-in-law, Louis Frank and Felix Fuld. The flagship on Market Street took up an entire city block.

In 1922, the store started a radio station. You might know it: WOR. As a radio guy, I love that one.

Bamberger’s even had its own Thanksgiving Day parade through Newark, with giant helium balloons, according to the Newark Public Library.

Macy’s bought the company in 1929 but kept the Bamberger’s name. Then, in 1986, every Bamberger’s became a Macy’s.

That was cool too. Macy’s was the store from “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Where they are now

The old Bamberger’s stores at Deptford and Quaker Bridge are still Macy’s today. Both malls opened in 1975 with Bamberger’s as an anchor.

Livingston wasn’t so lucky. That store opened as a Bamberger’s in 1971 and closed as a Macy’s this spring, NJBIZ reported.

This year, my holiday shopping will probably happen on my phone. Last-minute, of course.

Some things never change.