THE HISTORY OF OUR MARKET
The Grand Marketplace building began life in the early 1970s starting out as a two anchor center that included a Woolco and Pantry Pride supermarket. The space in between housed an indoor mall with multiple shops and restaurants. The space also included a movie theater.
During the course of time the center lost it’s anchors to larger facilities in the area as the businesses grew.
The center started to succumb to time and vacancy leaving the center in disrepair.
During this time the Camden County Improvement Authority decided to take the property known as the Pennsauken Mart through eminent domain for the purpose of building a minor league hockey arena and conference center. This would displace 100+ long time tenants in the 50 year old Mart.The Mart was started as a shoppers paradise for Pennsylvania residents who wanted to shop on Sundays but were unable to because of blue laws forcing all retail establishments to close on Sundays. The Mart then grew by leaps and bounds eventually becoming one of the busiest shopping Mecca in the area. The Mart then became a huge success and continued to thrive until it’s demise and the hands of the Camden County Improvement Authority.
When it became self evident that the Mart’s demise was a certainty the current site of the Grand Marketplace was offered and accepted with great enthusiasm by the merchants. Once the interest level reached its goal construction began on the new home of the merchants. The new home is twice as big as the old Pennsauken Mart and holds many more merchants than the old center. After a long awaited construction period The Grand Marketplace at Willingboro finally opened to the public on November 2, 2006. The International food court was then completed by June of 2007.
The facility has been operating since then with great success.