I've got the strong suspicion that this was never a thing:
Why on Earth would people living in New Jersey drive into (paying bridge/tunnel toll) and park in Manhattan to do their shopping when there are so many malls with free parking available in NJ?
As someone who currently lives in NYC, I can think of ten brands I love to shop at here and not a single one could be found in a mall in New Jersey.
My ex's family lived in NJ and we'd always commute in for a fun day in the city. There's way better food, better shopping, better energy. I'm not surprised people come to the city.
> There's a reason the big NYC area malls are in Paramus and Elizabeth.
I think the reason is that malls are just out-of-fashion.
If we consider the SoHo area to be the equivalent of a mall, or the North Williamsburg/Greenpoint area to be a mall, I'd bet they dwarf the Paramus & Elizabeth malls in GMV sold and foot traffic.
At least according to this article in 2017 [1], it looks like that was because of SoHo's soaring rents (because there's tons of great shopping which brings a lot of people there). It was also common across the country at the time.
It's apparently back and better than ever though [2].
And anecdotally, everyone I know shops much more in SoHo than they did a decade ago, even if the center has shifted to Williamsburg/Greenpoint and more thrifting / vintage stores.
Sorry if that wasn't clear: NJ doesn't have a sales tax on clothing. NY does. Paramus and Elizabeth are where the 4-ish (the ones in Paramus blend together) giant malls outside of NYC are.
NY/NYC only charges sales tax on clothing over $110 per item.
In addition to the giant malls you mentioned, there's American Dream in East Rutherford. Parking isn't free there though. And all its clothing stores are closed on Sundays. (Ditto for the Paramus malls re: Sunday.)
Why on Earth would people living in New Jersey drive into (paying bridge/tunnel toll) and park in Manhattan to do their shopping when there are so many malls with free parking available in NJ?