Big-time retailers coming to Paramus

As the recession and economic crisis lingers, luxury retail and white-tablecloth dining are feeling the effects. But two segments of the retail market that continue to see an uptick in sales volume are grocery stores and discount retailers.

On March 25, Fairway Market — which has three stores in New York City and one in Plainview, NY — will open its first market in New Jersey. The 50,000-square-foot space is in the Fashion Center, located at Route 17 and Ridgewood Avenue in Paramus. Fairway joins Lord & Taylor, Best Buy, Loehmann’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and T.J. Maxx in the 500,000-square-foot shopping complex.

Fairway, founded by Nathan Glickberg and run by the fourth generation of Glickbergs, is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Nathan Glickberg originally opened it as a fruit and vegetable market at the current flagship location on 74th Street and Broadway, before it expanded into a full-fledged specialty food store.

A few miles from the Fashion Center in Paramus, is the Bergen Town Center, where more than 300,000 square feet of retail space has and will open this month. An 181,400-square-foot Target, one of the largest Targets in the metropolitan area, opened in Town Center last Saturday as did a 15,000-square-foot Nike Factory store.

The 816,000-square-foot shopping center, a development of Vornado Realty Trust, originally opened as an open-air shopping center in 1957. The center is home to specialty shops and eateries, including Filene’s Basement, Marshalls, Century 21 And Saks Fifth Avenue.

On Thursday, discount shoppers will be able to spend their dollars at the first Nordstrom Rack store in New Jersey, in the Bergen Town Center. The Seattle-based company’s off-price retail division is debuting in the state with a 35,000-square-foot store. March 19 will mark the opening of the 80,000-square-foot, two-level Whole Foods Market in the town center. Expect to see a very large crowd for the opening of Chef Bobby Flay’s Bobby’s Burger Palace on March 31.

Shoppers of stores in the centers benefit from a discount of paying no sales tax on clothing. Unfortunately, however, the centers are closed on Sundays due to the blue laws enacted by the town of Paramus.

Michael Stoler is a columnist for The Real Deal and host of real estate programs “The Stoler Report” and “Building New York” on CUNY TV and on WEGTV in East Hampton. His radio show, “The Michael Stoler Real Estate Report,” airs on 1010 WINS on Saturdays and Sundays. Stoler is a director at Madison Realty Capital as well as an adjunct professor at NYU Real Estate Institute, and a former contributing editor and columnist for the New York Sun.