Anyone under the age of 18 will need a chaperone age 21 or older when going to Garden State Plaza on weekends beginning April 28.
The policy will be in effect after 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, mall officials said, but does not include the AMC Theater or any restaurant with an outside entrance. The movie theater can be accessed via Entrance 1 or the escalators at Entrance 17. One adult may accompany up to four youths.
“We’ve seen an increase in large crowds of teens, essentially juveniles. … The teens aren’t just enjoying the property in shopping, dining and entertainment,” said Wesley Rebisz, senior general manager at Garden State Plaza.
“They’re being unruly, violating code of conduct, which can include running through the property in large groups, fighting and putting it on TikTok, basically disrupting business and making it uncomfortable for our everyday customers.”
Security and police stationed at the mall entrance will check identification for anyone they suspect of being under the age of 18, and those who refuse to produce ID will eventually be made to leave the mall.
“We are rolling training that’s customer service-oriented for our security officers to stay with when they’re explaining the policy and the program,” added Dan Kennedy, senior vice president of security operations at the mall’s parent company, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. “In the event something does try to begin to escalate a little bit, we have a police officer right there on top of it to de-escalate.”
Signage will appear around the mall indicating the new policy, Rebisz said — as you drive in, as you enter the mall and in the common areas.
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“We have been reaching out to the local community, our local constituents within Paramus, within Bergen County; we’ve reached out to multiple school boards and surrounding counties, Essex, Passaic and Bergen counties,” Rebisz said.
For those denied entry into the mall after 5 p.m., waiting zones where they can be picked up will be established near Entrance 1 by the movie theater, Entrance 10 on the property’s west side, and Entrance 15 by the food court.
Garden State Plaza wouldn’t be the first New Jersey mall to implement a policy of this kind. Deptford Mall near Philadelphia has a parental escort policy after 5 p.m. on the weekends for those under 18. American Dream mall in East Rutherford also has a parental escort policy for children under age 16 after 4 p.m.
