BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Coats, jackets, sportswear and dressy attire for men, women, teens and children can be found inside Burlington Coat Factory’s new location at Monmouth Mall. The discount retailer relocated to the mall last month from the Tinton Falls Plaza. EATONTOWN — Coats, dresses, sportswear, shoes, jewelry and even some toys have replaced the stereos and televisions that once could be heard from the subterranean space near Monmouth Mall’s food court.
Burlington Coat Factory, formerly located in the Tinton Falls Plaza, is now in its new, bigger home at the mall, having filled the below-street-level location that formerly housed the defunct Nobody Beats the Wiz electronics retailer. Since its official opening on Nov. 19, business has been brisk as curious browsers and shoppers see what the relocated retailer of ready-to-wear items for men, women and children has in store, the company’s management states.
After 20 years in its Tinton Falls location off Shrewsbury Avenue, the Burlington-based company decided to grab the former Wiz spot in order to be more visible to the public, according to Stacey Pino, a company spokeswoman.
About 80 people are currently employed at the mall site, including many who worked at the Tinton Falls store, according to an on-site manager.
Burlington Coat Factory is adjacent to the Loews Monmouth Mall theater. Like anchor department stores Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Boscov’s and Lord & Taylor, the renovated 46,900-square-foot store is accessible from both inside and outside the mall.
Yes, as the company’s advertising states, the Eatontown store sells more than just coats. Anything from career wear to casual wear, to jeans and T-shirts, hats, scarves, mittens, shoes and pocketbooks can be found there.
Coats were the primary offering of the Burlington Coat Factory outlet stores, which first opened in 1972, according to the company’s Web site. Over time, however, the company evolved into a one-stop shopping center, not just for coats but for clothing worn underneath them.
Unlike some of its other stores, the Eatontown store does not also sell baby furniture, linens, tabletop items, or housewares.
As a company, Burlington Coat Factory prides itself on selling the same well-known brand names at up to 60 percent off department store prices, company literature states. Fashions by Nautica, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Liz Claiborne, Bill Blass, Harve Bernard, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren were on display in the various apparel departments inside the mall location.
Like traditional department stores, there are clothing and accessories designed for a variety of sizes, shapes, and ages and tastes. Teenage girls and young adult women have their choice of styles in a separate juniors’ department featuring Star City, Mudd, Baby Phat and other brands popular with that age group.
In the same way, their male counterparts have a separate young men’s department where they can purchase jeans and sportswear compatible with their own liking and lifestyle.
Though toys are not a specialty, a number of items popular with infants, toddlers and school-age children are available for sale.
Shoppers who might not know what to buy a particular person can sort through gift items, such as exercise balls, Pilates kits, videos, games, tie holders, coin keepers, mug warmers and other practical items displayed on tables near the registers.
Like its predecessor, most of the merchandise as well as cashiers and customer services are situated below street level. Upon entering from the mall’s outside parking lot, one steps on an escalator to go down to the retail area.
Customers searching for purses, hosiery, jewelry and other accessories take note: those items are sold upstairs in a self-contained area. One can enter that part of the store either by taking an escalator up from the main sales floor or from inside the mall itself via an entrance off the food court.
Buyers should especially take note that some items, particularly hosiery, are marked “irregular” at point of sale.
As for the coats, the selection includes wool, dressy coats along with parkas, jackets, trench coats and rain gear. Leather coats for men and women are sold in yet another separate area.
The company’s return policies are prominently posted in the central checkouts and customer service desk. Burlington Coat Factory does not issue cash refunds or credit charge cards.
The company does however, issue in-store credit for any merchandise returned within 14 days after purchase.
To accommodate the inevitable glut of returns that usually follows Christmas Day, until Jan. 9, the store, in keeping with company policy, will issue store credit for any new, unused merchandise purchased after Nov. 26 accompanied with a valid receipt and with price tags attached, a sign in the customer service area reads.
As a whole, Burlington Coat Factory operates 350 stores in 42 states. Other nearby stores are located in Freehold Township and Brick Township.