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BUSINESS
2-minute read
Miguel Fernandez
NorthJersey.com
Tried getting to the Rockaway Townsquare mall lately? Thanks to the now infamous sinkhole that has closed Route 80 nearby, patrons at one of the region's largest malls have changed their shopping habits to avoid drives that have ballooned in length from five minutes to upwards of half an hour.
“I don’t want to go to the mall at all. The side roads are all a mess,” said Michele George, who lives in Rockaway with her husband and two kids.
For the same reason, she avoids the nearby Costco as well.
In addition to the mall and Costco, the area features plenty of big box stores.
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There's Home Depot, Big Lots, Best Buy, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Walmart and Target, as well as a movie theater and other smaller strip malls.
Businesses across downtown Wharton, meanwhile, have faced the brunt of traffic from the Route 80 sinkhole closure, which has redirected traffic onto local roads.
How the sinkhole came to be
Wharton, an old mining community that long ago became a suburban homestead with a thriving North Jersey downtown, has become a victim of its legacy as a collapsed section of Route 80 ? built over the Mount Pleasant mine ? has choked the borough's streets with detours and squeezed local businesses to the breaking point.
The eastbound closure of Route 80 began on Feb. 10 when a sinkhole appeared by Exit 34. That void is located just a few feet from another sinkhole that closed the same area of the highway over four days in December.
Since the discovery of the sinkhole in February, the state Transportation Department announced repairs will take longer than expected due to the possibility of additional voids in the area.
And, as if fulfilling that prediction, an additional void opened on March 19, resulting in the shutdown of westbound lanes.
The entirety of Route 80 at Exit 34 is now closed. And DOT officials have "identified 90 locations to be assessed and mitigate potential instability or possible voids."
Gov. Phil Murphy said on March 22 that repairs could take another two months.
How is the Rockaway Townsquare mall doing?
Representatives from Rockaway Townsquare, which is owned by real estate giant Simon Property Group, did not respond to multiple emails on whether the sinkhole-induced traffic has kept people away from the shopping center.
But on Monday morning, Rockaway Townsquare said that multiple retailers at the mall were extending promotions called “special sinkhole deals” to “shoppers who have endured so much inconvenience during this time.”
The deals range from 10% off at Nathan’s to happy hour specials at P.F. Chang's, to 30% off certain Macy’s purchases, 50% off lenses at LensCrafters and 50% off shoes at Dream Pairs.
There are also events at the mall “designed to provide a delightful escape from the daily traffic,” such as a brunch and egg hunt on April 5, a prom fashion show preview that day, a Girls’ Night Out on May 8 and a May 10 event offering glimpses of emergency vehicles and dump trucks.
Shopping patterns altered around the region
Wayne Cameron lives in Hopatcong, a lakeside town in Sussex County to the northwest of the sinkholes.
With his morning commute time to East Orange swelling by two hours, “I don’t want to go anywhere, even local, to pick something up,” he said.
“I’d prefer to have several stops planned before venturing out,” he added.
And George, the Rockaway resident, said she avoids the area around the mall "at all costs."
"I feel bad for these businesses, [but] I can't waste time all day long," she admitted.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: [email protected]; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook