Business: Jersey Bounce

As department store sales picked up around the U.S. (see State of Business), one startling figure was reported last week from New Jersey's bustling Passaic-Hudson-Bergen county area: its department store sales for the first seven months raced 48% ahead of a year ago. Jersey's bounce showed what happens when shopping centers move into suburban communities. The Passaic-Hudson-Bergen surge is due mostly to two highwayside shopping centers that have been built in the past year, less than a mile apart.

¶ Allied Stores Corp. opened Bergen Mall near Hackensack, within 40 min. driving time of a New York-New Jersey market with annual income of $2.67 billion. Clustered around a four-story Allied Stern's department store are 39 major shops. Yearly sales of the center are running at about $70 million.

¶ Macy's opened Garden State Plaza, highlighted by a three-level Bamberger's department store (a Macy's division) and such well-known outlets as A.S. Beck, Grand Union, Horn & Hardart. Sales are at a $40 million yearly pace.

The surge to the shopping centers has had one bad effect on merchants in nearby Hackensack, long the area's hub. They complain that their sales are down. But the experience of other retailers throughout the U.S. is that shopping centers attract new customers to the whole area from far and wide, and thus overall sales should move up eventually.