The holiday market in Montclair’s historic Lackawanna Station.. Photo: Red Root Marketing
For the first time since the Pathmark supermarket closed in 2015, the abandoned shopping mall at Montclair’s Lackawanna Station is bustling.
A pop-up holiday market, featuring 200+ vendors of crafts, clothes, jewelry, fresh produce, books, baked goods and art, now occupies the mall’s 100,000 square feet of vacant space. It’s open every Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm, through Sunday, January 19.
The market is run by local developer David Placek, whose company, BDP Holdings, partnered with Montclair Flea (a consortium of area businesses) to transform the defunct mall into a one-stop holiday shopping destination. They’ve freshened the space, hung holiday lights, and added restrooms and five food trucks, including Little Bear Poké and Burgers Doughnuts Potatoes (home of the “doughnut burger”). Coming soon: a wine shop and two bars serving seasonal drinks and craft beers. Art will be on display throughout the space.
In addition to gift and food vendors, there are holiday-specific services, such as gift wrapping (courtesy of the Montclair Aging Collective) and Christmas trees, wreaths and poinsettias (sold by a local Boy Scout troop.)
[RELATED: NJ’s Holiday Markets to Explore This Season]
Placek’s plans to develop the historic site’s nearly 9 acres with more than 300 apartments and retail shops have been plagued by delays, so the holiday project is a “pop-up incubator,” explains Jason Gleason, vice president of community development at BDP Holdings, and former executive director of the Montclair Center Business Improvement District. “We want to do something with the property between now and when we are afforded the opportunity to redevelop.”
After the holiday pop-up closes, some businesses are expected to stay in the space—and come spring, the number of food trucks will grow to eight. One of the businesses that will stay and expand is Ironbound Market, run by Montclair resident Charles Rosen, who owns Ironbound Hard Cider company and Ironbound Farm and Ciderhouse in Asbury. The market will sell produce and meat, plus prepared and packaged foods, sourced from local farmers.
BDP Holdings also plans to open a co-working space in the mall this spring called the Rec Room, with private and open spaces as well as meeting rooms.
Montclair officials approved BDP Holdings’s renovation plan in 2023, but the project is the subject of two lawsuits. Gleason said he expects to host pop-ups in the space for the next three to five years.
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