I can still remember the excitement of heading to the Howard Johnson on Rte 130 North after a holiday shopping excursion with my mother and her two sisters, my cheeks red from the cold and my lips colder as they slipped around the red and blue striped plastic straws in my unusually thick milkshake. In the car, a navy blue Buick Skylark, were the many trophies of our consumer hunting expedition: bags from Boscovs and Children’s Sample Shop among the other fashionable middle-class stores of the outdoor promenade of the Willingboro Plaza, where we’d picked up everything from kitchenware to a new Girl Scout uniform. While my mother and her sisters chatted about big, important adult things, I swu
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I can still remember the excitement of heading to the Howard Johnson on Rte 130 North after a holiday shopping excursion with my mother and her two sisters, my cheeks red from the cold and my lips colder as they slipped around the red and blue striped plastic straws in my unusually thick milkshake.
In the car, a navy blue Buick Skylark, were the many trophies of our consumer hunting expedition: bags from Boscovs and Children’s Sample Shop among the other fashionable middle-class stores of the outdoor promenade of the Willingboro Plaza, where we’d picked up everything from kitchenware to a new Girl Scout uniform. While my mother and her sisters chatted about big, important adult things, I swung my legs happily; we’d started the night out with a meal at the Ponderosa Steak House and now I was ready for our drive back up the highway to the Delran Shopping Center to see the newest Disney animated feature in the Millside Theatre. Dining, movies, snacks, and shopping all on one highway!
Ten years later, tooling down the highway at speeds hitting seventy or eighty, hardly any of that early-eighties economic establishment that was the Route 130 corridor was evident as it became a no-man’s-land of teenage loiterers, stabbings, and good ol’ fashioned drag-racing. While some of the diners of my childhood were still in operation, most had begun a strict curfew policy; no one was willing to stay open twenty-four hours. The Willingboro Plaza was a ghost town, a rat-infested shell that stood as a depressing reminder of prosperity while vines and weeds slithered up the sides of the Howard Johnson like the tentacles of some Lovecraftian monster from it’s watery home and the Millside slowly decayed, it’s marquee still bearing the name of the last movies it showed, including the abominable Spice World.
Flash forward another ten years. Now in 2005, commerce is returning to the hollow remains of the once glorious corridor. The theatre has been knocked down to make way for a new Target Greatland store and the Hartford Square Shopping Centre has brought a shops, salons, and even a Quiznos to the tiny burbs of Burlington County. We even have a college on our fair corridor and enough unique Mom and Pop shops to make it well worth a two hour detour on your next trip up north.
Quick Tips:
While I’ll try and cover the highlights of this fun and diverse strip of sixty miles in New Jersey, there’s not enough room to cover every nook and cranny of the state, so I’ll give you a few places worth a mention, though not necessarily a whole review to themselves:
Holiday Ice Cream
Okay, I used to work for these people, so I’m not the best judge of their establishment – especially when I know all their dirty little secrets – with an emphasis on dirty. However, they’ve been voted the best ice cream stand 15 years in a row by the readers of the Burlington County Times, beating out such favorite national chains as Baskin Robbins and Dairy Queen, so you should definitely check these people out. Several thousand New Jersey residents can’t be wrong – at least not fifteen years running!
Pennsauken Mart
The Mart – a dirt mall, flea market, yard sale en masse, and everything in between when you need something quick and dirty – is closing down its doors to head for new digs down the highway in Willingboro, but not before it has a massive moving sale. Check out the Avon and Mary Kay sales ladies (even if it’s just to glimpse the blue eyeshadow, acid-wash jeans, and big hair that New Jersey ladies are stereotypically known for) as well as the Amish market for unbelievably good homemade foods at unbelievably low prices; it’s a great and cheap source for whole wheat flour, wild rice, and those other health foods that Wholefoods overchages for!
Rick’s Army Navy Supply Store
Yes, you can buy the World War II surplus tank in their parking lot, but only if you have the prohibitively large sum their asking for it and a big rig to haul it away on – it doesn’t come road ready, and New Jersey state troopers don’t particularly care for tanks. That said, if you’re looking for something a little less expensive, there’s tons of camping gear and the cheapest Army surplus boots in South Jersey.
Golden Dawn
Okay so sinister name with Alistair Crowley connotations aside, this diner makes one of the best breakfast trays you’ll ever eat. I heartily recommend the tomato, onion, and cheese omelet with whole wheat toast. Trust me when I say it’s just delish!Best Way To Get Around:
Next time you’re on your way through Jersey on the Turnpike/ 95, why not take a little detour and see what real Jersey girls know makes New Jersey great. Come see that New Jersey isn’t just factories and guys with an uncle named Sal. This is the heartland of New Jersey.
From 1-95 North, take the Delaware Memorial Bridge into New Jersey and follow the signs for Rte 130/Collingswood. Then you can pick up the PA Turnpike to the NJ Turnpike in Florence and keep going north, or head up to Bordentown and pick up interstate 295 to 195 and the Turnpike or Parkway.
From the Turnpike, Exit onto 195 West. Get off at Exit 60, I-295 South, and then follow the signs for Rte 130 South to Burlington or North to Bordentown.
If you travel by NJ Transit, the Riverlink light rail line runs parallel to the highway, coming closest at Burlington City Center. Hop off there and wander down High Street until you see the Burlington Diner. Read Less