Allied's chairman B. Earl Puckett confidently announced The Bergen Mall as the largest of ten proposed centers, stating that there were 25 cities that could support such centers and that no more than 50 malls of this type would ever be built nationwide.
The Bergen Mall, which was fully enclosed in 1973, was first planned in 1955 by Allied Stores to have 100 stores and 8,600 parking spaces in a  mall that would include a  Stern's store and two other  department stores as part of the initial design.