THE REAL TOURS: #33 American Dream - Raw & Real Retail

This is the 33rd tour of our series, THE REAL TOURS, in which we provide an in the moment glimpse into a place with off-the-cuff commentary completely intact! No research, no script, just RRR letting you in on their insights and observations walking the malls. The American Dream mall in East Rutherford, NJ was a long time in the making. Originally proposed by the Mills Corporation in 2003, it has seen a number of stalled plans and ownership changes before finally opening in 2019, receiving a quite unenthusiastic reaction from shoppers. It opened mostly empty so a lot of people made clickbait videos calling it a dead mall in 2020. This is far from the case, as this breezy and incomplete tour of the property as it stands in April 2023 shows. The mall is still in the process of filling up and only has one traditional anchor, Saks on 5th. But it is full of enough entertainment and dining options that the people have seen fit to come back to the mall. This tour is incomplete. The mall is gigantic, 3 million square feet in leasable space. This is just a brief overview. Hopefully we can make it back much earlier in the day soon and make a part 2. This tour was recorded on April 6, 2023 at around 5pm.