This Iconic Mall In Freehold Township, NJ Lost Three Anchors But Still Found A Way Forward

Central New Jersey still has a 1,653,000-square-foot enclosed mall with department stores, restaurants, entertainment, grocery, fitness, and sports-use retail across its enclosed mall and exterior buildings

That property is Freehold Raceway Mall, at 3710 U.S. 9, Freehold, New Jersey 07728. It opened to the public on August 1, 1990.

U.S. Route 9, Business Route 33, and Route 537/Main Street bring traffic to the site, across from the former Freehold Raceway property.

Owned and managed by Macerich, the mall serves western Monmouth County and the wider central New Jersey market, with a new three-level department store planned for the former Nordstrom space in 2027.

Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Township, NJ

Freehold Raceway Mall Began Across From the Track

The name continues to refer to the property across Route 9.

Freehold Raceway Mall is located in Freehold Township, across from the former Freehold Raceway horse-racing property.

The mall and the racetrack were separate sites. The mall was built as a retail property on land connected to horse stables near the raceway.

Before the mall opened, this part of Freehold already had three visible conditions: steady traffic, recurring noise, and large crowds.

U.S. Route 9, Business Route 33, and Route 537/Main Street bordered the area. The old Freehold Circle once managed traffic there.

Mall construction was part of the change that replaced the circle with an at-grade intersection controlled by traffic signals. Jughandles and traffic lights were then added.

Construction began in 1987. The project changed land next to the raceway into a super-regional enclosed shopping center. Its size was substantial from the beginning.

The horse track continued operating nearby for decades after the mall opened. Live racing and simulcast operations at Freehold Raceway ended on December 28, 2024.

Freehold Raceway Mall Opened With Two Anchors in 1990

On August 1, 1990, shoppers entered Freehold Raceway Mall for the first time. A private preview was held before the public opening and raised money for CentraState Medical Center.

The first two anchor stores were Sears and Lord & Taylor. Both opened with the mall and established the initial department-store layout.

The mall was not fully complete at opening. JCPenney remained under construction when the mall doors opened.

It opened in 1991. Nordstrom opened in 1992. That store expanded the mall's draw because there was no other Nordstrom location within 30 miles.

The early mall included vacant inline spaces and a retail base that filled in over time.

The food court, specialty retailers, and department stores helped make the property more than a local shopping stop. It drew customers from central New Jersey and western Monmouth County.

Macy's joined in 1998 with a 244,000-square-foot store.

Wilmorite Built It, Macerich Took Control Later

Wilmorite was the developer of Freehold Raceway Mall. The mall's original business model followed a common enclosed-mall format.

Large department stores were placed at the ends of the property. Smaller specialty retailers occupied the spaces between them.

The site also included enough parking to attract shoppers from a wide road network. By 1998, the mall had five anchor stores: Sears, Lord & Taylor, JCPenney, Nordstrom, and Macy's.

Macerich acquired Freehold Raceway Mall in 2005 as part of its acquisition of Wilmorite's portfolio.

In 2009, an ownership arrangement involving Freehold Raceway Mall and Chandler Fashion Center created a 49.9 percent partner interest.

At the end of 2008, the mall was about 95 percent occupied. This occupancy level came before later pressure on department stores and before online shopping pushed enclosed malls to reconsider older retail practices.

In November 2023, Macerich acquired its partners' interest in Freehold Raceway Mall. After that transaction, Macerich owned 100 percent of the property.

In 2023, Macerich also acquired full ownership of the former Sears parcel at the mall.

The 2007 Expansion Changed the Shape of the Mall

The 2007 expansion occupied the area between JCPenney and Sears. The project added 96,000 square feet to the mall.

It changed the property by adding stores with exterior entrances, restaurants, a promenade, and space for community events.

The enclosed part of the mall remained in place. The added section gave the property features beyond the older indoor-only shopping center format.

The interior renovation updated finishes from the earlier building. The work included new flooring, ceiling colors, railings, lighting, columns, seating areas, and changes to the center court.

These updates refreshed the 1990 structure and made the interior feel more open and current while keeping the main building intact.

The outdoor section later became useful for tenants such as L.L.Bean, Jared, The Cheesecake Factory, and other restaurants and stores that faced the exterior.

This part of the property became important as shoppers expected more than a simple indoor route lined with apparel shops.

Borders Left, L.L.Bean and Primark Filled New Roles

Borders once had a store at Freehold Raceway Mall. The bookstore closed after the chain entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and began closing many locations.

L.L.Bean later opened in the former Borders space in 2013. The store occupied 25,000 square feet and was the company's third New Jersey location.

It was expected to employ 100 people.

Primark arrived in 2016. It was the first Primark store in New Jersey.

The store measured 50,700 square feet and sold six categories of goods: women's wear, men's wear, children's wear, home goods, beauty products, and gifts.

Primark occupied space connected to the former Sears anchor structure after Sears reduced its presence. The move showed that the mall was already changing before the largest anchor closures.

Smaller and mid-sized chains were taking portions of spaces that had once been organized around department-store traffic.

L.L.Bean and Primark gave the mall new draw points before the 2020 anchor losses.

Sears, Nordstrom, and Lord & Taylor Closed by 2020

Three major anchors left in the same hard stretch. Sears closed after operating as one of the mall's original 1990 anchors.

The Freehold store was part of a wider group of Sears and Kmart closures and closed by early 2020.

Nordstrom closed its Freehold Raceway Mall store in 2020. The store had opened in 1992 and had helped lift the mall's regional position for nearly three decades.

Lord & Taylor also closed its Freehold Raceway Mall store in February 2021, during the chainwide liquidation of its remaining brick-and-mortar stores.

The Freehold location was one of the New Jersey stores included in that process.

The closures removed Sears, Nordstrom, and Lord & Taylor from the mall's old anchor map. Macy's and JCPenney remained.

Primark, L.L.Bean, restaurants, and specialty retailers kept the property active, but the old department-store frame had been broken.

By the end of 2020, three traditional anchor spaces needed new uses.

Freehold Township Zoning Opened the Door Wider

Freehold Township revised zoning for the mall area in 2021. The revised regional mall zoning allowed far more than standard retail.

Allowed uses included temporary vendors, personal services, indoor recreation, restaurants, offices, co-working space, hotels, convention centers, bus stations, public agencies, senior services, and cultural or civic uses.

The zoning also allowed schools, medical training, technical education, utilities, banks, fitness centers, outpatient care, urgent care, warehouse clubs, and child-care centers.

Outdoor storage of new automobiles by township dealerships was allowed in defined areas outside the mall loop road. Gasoline or alternative-fueling stations were allowed when tied to a warehouse club.

Pad-site buildings were also allowed, with no more than three pad sites in the RMZ-1 area and a maximum pad-site footprint of 25,000 square feet.

The 2021 zoning change made medical, education, recreation, hotel, civic, and warehouse-club uses possible at the mall.

Entertainment and Fitness Replaced Part of Sears

The former Sears area became one of the mall's biggest test cases.

Dave & Buster's opened in the former Sears area with 41,000 square feet. The space includes arcade games, virtual-reality entertainment, sports viewing, food, drinks, and event space.

Freehold Athletic Club also opened in the former Sears area. It covers 32,000 square feet and includes fitness equipment, pickleball courts, group classes, a yoga studio, and a cryotherapy room.

Lidl opened near the Route 537 side of the property and added a grocery use to the mall site.

That brought a more routine shopping trip to a property long centered on fashion, department stores, and restaurants.

Bob's Stores operated at the mall but closed as part of the chain's 2024 bankruptcy-related liquidation. The Freehold location was the chain's only New Jersey store at the time of closing.

The former Sears area now includes entertainment, fitness, and grocery-adjacent traffic.

House of Sport Arrived as Von Maur Waits for 2027

DICK'S House of Sport took over the first-level space formerly used by Lord & Taylor.

The Freehold store covers 100,000 square feet.

It includes sporting goods retail, golf simulators, golf bays, a climbing wall, rock-climbing walls, batting cages, turf fields, a multisport cage, and other activity areas.

It opened on October 31, 2025, with grand-opening events running through November 2.

Warby Parker opened on October 25, 2025, on the lower level near Victoria's Secret. It was the company's 17th New Jersey location.

Jack & Jones and JJXX held a two-day grand opening on March 14 and March 15, 2026, on the lower level near the House of Sport and JCPenney wings.

Pop Mart is now open on the lower level across from Foot Locker.

Von Maur is scheduled for the former Nordstrom space in fall 2027. It will be the company's first store in New Jersey.

The location is planned as a three-level anchor store with 164,000 square feet and about 150 full-time and part-time employees.

Its merchandise will include apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty products, gifts, and specialty brands.

The store design and services will include an open floor plan, residential-style furnishings, complimentary gift wrap, complimentary shipping, and live music played on a grand piano.

Three anchor stores left Freehold Raceway Mall. The mall responded by using the vacant space for entertainment, sporting goods, fitness, and one more department store still coming.