{"id":976988,"date":"2026-08-03T02:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976988\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T02:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:56:18","slug":"willowbrook-malls-new-paid-parking-option-sparks-debate-among-n-j-shoppers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/976988\/","title":{"rendered":"Willowbrook Mall’s new paid parking option sparks debate among N.J. shoppers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new parking option is turning into a shopping debate at a New Jersey mall.<\/p>\n

At Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, the parking spots closest to mall entrances are now “Preferred Paid Parking” spots. Parking in those spots will cost shoppers $2.45 for the first hour and $2 per hour after that.<\/p>\n

There are still plenty of free parking spots available in the lots.<\/p>\n

According to signs posted in the parking lot, 10% of Willowbrook Mall’s net proceeds from each Preferred Paid Parking payment will be donated to the charitable organization Child Focus, Inc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CBS News New York reached out to Willowbrook Mall management for comment about the new paid spots and has not yet heard back.<\/p>\n

\"Preferred<\/p>\n

Shoppers at Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, New Jersey, now have to pay to park in spots closest to the mall entrance.<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

Some who spoke to CBS News New York say the extra cost is worth the convenience. Crista Ardito was visiting the mall to go to a restaurant with a friend and said they were willing to pay $4.45 for two hours.<\/p>\n

“We’re both lazy, and we’re both hungry,” she said.<\/p>\n

Others feel charging for the closest parking spaces sends the wrong message, arguing the mall is asking customers to pay even more after they’ve already come to spend money inside.<\/p>\n

“It’s ridiculous. Why should I have to pay to park?” one shopper said. “I’m going to use all the services in this mall, and they want me to pay more to park there? It’s ridiculous.”<\/p>\n

“To pay for a parking spot just seems very odd. It’s not like I’m getting my quarter back when I put the quarter in the cart,” shopper Stephen Richards said.<\/p>\n

“In this economy, you want people to pay extra? It’s a lot,” Wayne resident Jean Rocha said.<\/p>\n

Some shoppers say it should be seasonal or come with a local discount.<\/p>\n

“I feel it will probably help us out during the holiday season, but it should just be for the holiday season,” one shopper said. “As for residents, I feel like, if they’re going to keep it, at least for the holidays, like lower the prices just a little bit.”<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new parking option is turning into a shopping debate at a New Jersey mall. At Willowbrook Mall…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":976989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7580],"class_list":["post-976988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-wayne"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117029331782199906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}