CLIFTON – The sandy-colored clock tower rising above Route 3 belongs not to the Tick Tock Diner, but to the new Promenade Shops at Clifton, an outdoor upscale shopping mall and the latest retail center to add to the City’s commercial stock.
Three clothing stores - Chico’s, Joseph A. Banks and Coldwater Creek - will open to the public today. The grand opening will also kick off with a private luncheon at T.G.I. Fridays.
By Dec. 1, Massage Envy will be open and Avanti Moda shoes, Victoria’s Secret, Bath and Body Works, New York & Company, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Cosi have plans to open in the spring of 2009.
Other Promenade features include walkways, a 652-space on site parking lot with entrances and exits on Allwood Road and Route 3.
Construction of the 12-acre shopping center began in February and Stew Leonard’s Wines opened its doors in June.
This month’s grand opening comes at a time when both small and large retail stores are seeing declining profits and scaling back on production. Elizabeth Maheu, general manager for the Promenade Shops, said the state of the economy has delayed some stores from opening today, but the developer, The Briad Group, is still working on signing more leases.
The majority of the grand opening events will take place in the spring when the final shops are complete and ready to begin sales, Maheu said.
Stores are currently posting applications and the complex will yield between 150 to 500 jobs when it is fully leased, Maheu added.
Nearby businesses are awaiting the opening and employees said time will tell what affect the center will have on the community.
"Maybe it will bring people who don’t usually come to this area," said Natalie Colledge, who works at Styertowne Bakery.
As a shopper, "I don’t have to go to Willowbrook, finally," Colledge said.
However, for Mike Bertelli, the opening of Stew Leonard’s just meant another person cutting into the same pie.
"Route 3, this area, has been the last highway to have retail stores all over it," said Bertelli, owner of Bertelli’s Fine Wines since 1957. "I just feel there are too many stores…too much of the same thing."
Since 2004, when the land adjacent to Route 3 and Allwood Road was rezoned, the City has been gearing up to accommodate more retail establishments such as Clifton Commons and Riverfront Shopping Center.
The area was specifically designed to hold "lifestyle centers" with smaller, more upscale stores after the value of industrial property declined, said Mayor James Anzaldi.
Though the amount of development has been criticized, he said the construction would improve the City’s economic health.
"I think what it does do is bring money into the City instead of going out of the City to places like Paramus or Willowbrook," he said. "It also creates lots of jobs. If there is anything needed at this time, it’s jobs. I urge people to make applications as they open."
While the Mayor called Route 3 the "golden highway" for the traffic it produces and brings to Clifton, calls to the City’s Police Department for things like shoplifting and vehicle thefts in Clifton Commons became so frequent, the Council asked for the Sheriff’s help in patrolling the shopping area.
"Wherever you have retail, you’re going to have shoplifting, cars stolen. Its something you have to anticipate," Anzaldi said.
But Clifton Police detective Capt. Robert Rowan said officers are prepared to respond to the new shopping center.
"We would of course love to be able to expand the Police Department to assign additional manpower, however I’m not so sure the city budget would allow for that at this time, so we’ll do the best we can with what we have," Rowan said. "We have a large unit assigned to the Delawanna section and we have an additional unit assigned to Clifton Commons and we have anti-crime officers who work throughout the city and can respond to that location."
