Garden State Plaza

     When I was a little kid, Garden State Plaza was the shopping mecca, and it wasn't the climate controlled enclosed shopping mall that's there today. GSP started life as, well, a plaza. It was essentially a strip mall, with the stores turned inward towards each other and the parking outboard. I remember going there with my mom around Christmas, and one of the store Santas turned out to be a Graydon Guard, home on his college break. He recognized us, and was asking us all about Dad, and how we liked our house on Wall St. We were amazed that Santa knew exactly who we were and where we lived. After graduating from college, I worked at GSP as a construction coordinator for the enclosure project. It was exciting to get "behind the scenes" at a place I knew so well. I marveled at all the tunnels that allowed trucks to service the stores from below. Later on, the tunnels themselves were converted to retail areas - the lower level of today's GSP.  

Bamberger's was owned by Macy's. This store eventually became a Macy's when they terminated the Bamberger's name. 

  

I didn't know GSP had a grocery store. But here's the proof, the venerable Grand Union (my mom shopped at Kilroy's Wonder Market in Glen Rock). 

   

You knew Christmas was coming when the giant Santa and his chimney appeared in the parking lot.