Experts: Big-box Retail Leasing Still Strong Despite Years of Chain Bankruptcies, Store Closings 

Even with the fall of Toys R Us, Sears and other chains — and recent trouble for the likes of Party City and Bed Bath & Beyond — big-box retail is alive and well in New Jersey.

That’s according to landlords and commercial real estate brokers who work across the state’s vibrant trade centers. There is no dispute that many big-name operators and franchises, overextended and challenged by changing consumer habits, have either shuttered or downsized, leaving what would seem like a glut of empty, unfillable, hulking spaces in malls and shopping centers. But those physical voids are handily being filled by retailers such as Burlington, Ross, T.J. Maxx, Alta and others, they report.