The center was originally opened in 1972 as Ledgewood Mall, with anchors of W. T. Grant store and Finast. By 1980, the mall's anchors were Rickel, Jamesway and Arthur's Catalog Showroom. These anchors remained for over a decade. The Rickel space later closed and became PharmHouse and Marshalls. Federated Department Stores announced in July 1993 that it would be opening a Stern's store in the fall of 1994, as part of a major nationwide expansion of the chain. This store was then converted to a Macy's in 2001 when Stern's stores were closed. Jamesway closed in December 1995 following the company's liquidation. By 1999, Walmart replaced both the former Jamesway and Arthur's stores, and Circuit City, which has since closed as part of the economic collapse of that retail chain, was added as well. PharmHouse eventually became an Ashley Furniture HomeStore location. From 2009-2017, Circuit City became Spirit Halloween every September until October, in 2018 the Spirit Halloween relocated to the nearby Roxbury Mall. Other buildings on the mall property include Marshalls and The former Sports Authority, Wendy's, Red Lobster and Barnes & Noble. Following the closing of Circuit City and the Great Recession, very few individual non-anchor stores remain. In January 2015, it was announced the Macy's store was closing as part of a plan to close 14 stores nationwide. In 2016, plans were presented to the public that the mall would become an open-air mall, and Ledgewood Mall would be rebranded as "The Shops at Ledgewood Commons". The only stores remaining in the mall as of September 2017 are Wal-Mart, Men's Wearhouse, Barnes & Noble, an Ashley Furniture HomeStore,and Marshalls. New stores have signed leases and plan on opening when construction is finished.
Redevelopment plans
In 2016, JV Partnership, Advance Realty, Debartolo Development & Invesco bought the mall. The owners had plans for a redevelopment that would turn the mall into an open-air power center. The owners announced that Barnes & Noble would get a new building where Sports Authority once was. The former Macy's Building was demolished on November 30, 2017, which kicked off the construction project. As of June 2018, much of the mall has been demolished, with only a small seating area remaining open between Marshalls and Ashley Home Furniture. What isn’t demolished already has been closed off to the public. On September 26 2018, The owners of the mall announced that Five Below, Ulta Beauty, DSW, Starbucks and Chipotle had signed leases and will open stores in the mall. On December 6 2018 Walmart announced that it will demolish its current store at the Shops At Ledgewood Commons for a new modern supercenter store. The old store closed on May 10, 2019, and Walmart started construction on the new store in June 2019 for an anticipated Fall 2020 opening. On January 16, 2019, 24 Hour Fitness announced that it will open a Gym at the mall.
Controversy
The Construction of The Shops at Ledgewood Commons got a exception from Gov. Phil Murphy's Essential Construction order during Covid-19, Construction workers are protesting the decision, though the Mayor of Roxbury Township says that the project is essential since the center has a Walmart and restaurants, but the Walmart temporarily closed in 2019 for a new supercenter store, and the only restaurants open at the moment are Wendy's and Red Lobster.
