American Dream Mall: Is America's Largest Mall a Spectacular Failure? Let's Find Out!

Published 2024-01-24
Join me as I take a full walkthrough of America's largest and arguably most spectacular and amazing mall, the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey!

It looks great and I love it, but the financials seem to say it's dying! Let me know what you think about this mall in the comments!

This video was filmed on a Thursday around 3:30 to 6:00pm.

If you liked this video, please don't forget to give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe to my channel. I plan to have more dead mall videos in the future. Thanks for watching!

Time Stamps:

00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:25 - Aquarium
00:04:18 - Angry Birds Mini-Golf
00:05:08 - Nickolodeon Universe View
00:07:48 - Dream Works Water Park and It's Sugar
00:08:11 - Third Floor
00:09:48 - Angry Birds Mini-Golf
00:10:49 - Mr. Beast Burger
00:11:49 - Water Fountain
00:15:06 - Big Snow Ski Slope View
00:16:44 - Secret Garden View (Third Floor)
00:18:52 - Food Court
00:20:22 - The Rink (Ice Skating Rink)
00:22:02 - Dream Wheel
00:23:13 - Mall Walking
00:29:57 - Second Floor
00:33:47 - The Collections (Second Floor)
00:36:18 - Water Fountains
00:38:14 - View of Ponds
00:46:44 - Secret Garden View (Second Floor)
00:48:36 - Big Snow Ski Slope View
00:54:46 - Angry Birds Mini-Golf
00:56:11 - Nickolodeon Universe View
00:57:48 - First Floor
00:58:54 - The Rink (Ice Skating Rink)
01:00:43 - Arcade
01:05:27 - The Collections (First Floor)
01:06:50 - Water Fountains
01:08:37 - Ponds
01:17:22 - Secret Garden

My Toys 'R Us video from the American Dream Mall:    • Inside America's Last Standalone Toys...  

My Nickelodeon Universe video from the American Dream Mall:    • Nickelodeon Universe: America's Large...  

Source of information:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream_Meadowlands

www.northjersey.com/story/money/shopping/2023/09/2…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_shopping_mal…

#mall #americandream #americandreammall #newjersey #shoppingmall #shoppingmalls #retail #nostalgia #malls #mallshopping #fleabittenadventures

All Comments (21)
  • @dmleibo
    Thanks for putting this together. Since it opened I’ve had no desire to deal with the parking and traffic to get to American Dream and this video has satisfied any curiosity I had about it.
  • @graytay
    I find it so off-putting that there is such a lack of natural daylight in the vast majority of the mall. It’s amazing how much warmer and more inviting the few areas with proper skylights are than the rest of the place. Seems crazy to me that such a recently opened mall would be designed like this.
  • @skeeterfan3626
    They charge you to park. That right there would keep me from ever visiting.
  • @YTLawnGnome
    I have been here two times in 2023 and each time I was there it was pretty busy. I think it is more of a tourist attraction than a place to shop.
  • @kkonabill95
    Yes! Please come back to this mall and try out all the activities sometime this year. It would be great
  • @Jonny4384
    On behalf of myself, if you want to try something, do a walk through, or anything else that intrigues you, go for it! Enjoyed the video. I look forward to them each week and thanks again!
  • @Traindude7777
    Watched the whole video, Tom. Great video. Fun fact, I was there at the grand opening of the mall! Won't forget it!
  • @carissaa8411
    I love this place. And just to let you know, you can sled at Big Snow. It’s kind of a kiddie area but adults can use it. I went with my friend and her two kids, and we stayed there the whole time cos they were too little for the other stuff.
  • @rogueish28
    It's nice, but online shopping has pretty much taken over not only for the convenience but if something isn't in store, it's usually online... It's sad because malls use to be really cool hang out spots...
  • @markstrouse3101
    Great video as always. I was told that the occupancy is still very very low as of mid January.
  • @Melissa2087
    i think this mall is great... yes its dead on the weekdays but on the weekends... it is BUSY. It has had a lot of problems and it is expensive but I loved the water park, theme park and tilt museum.This mall is about 40 minutes from me so I don't go too often and I wish malls in general would get busier and people stop giving their money to amazon.
  • @mmcgahn5948
    I also live nearby in Bergen County. Local people go to one of the 3 Paramus Malls - this mall is a tourist trap
  • @jonjonns2743
    I live in the area. Due to the horrible roads and traffic, I have never been there. Thanks for the video. It is way too much for me. If you want a real experience, try the ride there in a heavy rain storm.
  • @KissMyFlapjack
    We have a Jollibee in SouthCenter Mall in Tukwila, Washington (Seattle area). That location even has a full-size standee of their mascot that I took a picture of and my retail friends were shocked there was a real life Jollibee and I had no idea that it was rare.
  • Gross sales of $153 million, compared with $151 million the prior quarter. Last year, American Dream’s sales rose 31% to $553 million. $2 billion is a 2017 projection the mall would bring in during its first year of operations. It was 86% leased as of Dec. 31 2023
  • Tom thanks for making this video, I enjoy watching watching your videos.
  • @stphinkle
    I think this mall is doing OK considering it was plagued with challenges in its construction resulting from the 2007 financial crisis, lenders pulling out, litigation over construction halting it several times, and an opening day that occured during the COVID-19 lockdowns which lead to some tenants pulling out or downscaling their operations which impacted the vacancy rate. It is like that this mall did not get the full treatment at opening.
  • This is the most active mall I've seen in a long time and it gives me hope for our country. I hope they build one in AZ, all of these indoor theme parks would be amazing since its so hot outside.
  • I'm amazed they even built this mall. Malls were dying in 2010's and then just to open in 2019, with pandemic in 2020, that is a death knell. But maybe in areas of wealth, this is sustainable. Thanks for sharing, will be interesting to see what happens to malls. They must incorporate some housing, medical, groceries to make these large spaces viable. People got too use to online shopping and delivery. I enjoyed this, told my grandkids about the activities.