A Walking Tour: Newark Broad Street

The central shopping district of Newark features of row of discount clothing stores, an off-brand fried chicken place and lots of beauty supply shops. Most of them hawk their wares with huge, brightly-colored plastic signs that stretch upwards two or three stories. But, peeking out from behind those signs, or towering above them, etched into the buildings are the names that represent Newark’s storied shopping past.

“You had huge department stores. The Haynes Department store, the Bamberger’s, were two of the largest,” said Adam Zipkin, deputy mayor for economic development in Newark. “You had S. Klein, and they were centers and attractions, not just for people living in Newark, but for the region.

Zipkin attended Seton Hall Law School in the 1980s and has worked and lived in Newark ever since. But his connection goes back even further. His parents were born and raised here, and his grandparents lived in Newark’s Weequahic neighborhood, once home to a large Jewish community.

Zipkin grew up hearing stories about shopping trips to Broad Street.

“In the 1920s, the intersection of Broad Street and Market Street was known as the busiest intersection at rush hour in the country, busier even than Times Square,” Zipkin said.  “So it certainly has been an important retail district in the city for a long time.”

(Courtesy of the New Jersey Historical Society)

Broad Street storefronts now rent for about $15 a square foot. At the opposite end of the spectrum, storefronts on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan rent for $2,000 a square foot.

Newark lost half its population during the middle part of the 20th century, when new super highways, malls and desegregation of schools led to a white and middle class exodus out of the city. 

But the low-rent discount stores on Broad Street serve the needs of many Newark residents.

“I’m just looking for sales,” said Jessica Flores, who was flipping through the clothing racks at Jackie’s Kids on Broad Street. “Pajamas are on sales, clothing are on sales. I got kids you know. Things are rough.”

The economic development plan for Newark focuses on converting empty office buildings into apartments. By bringing new residents downtown, city officials hope to encourage a wider mix of retail to Broad Street. But it remains to be seen if people will be drawn back to live in a neighborhood where stores’ main sellers are individual cigarettes out of the pack, wigs and discounted kids clothes.