A second phase would have included a Macy's, a Sears, and would have grown to a total of 100 stores, but the plans were shelved because of financial problems.

[5] A proposal in the early 1990s to expand the deteriorating mall faced opposition from neighbors fearing increased traffic.

In 1998, the mall, except for the Value City, was torn down to make way for a big-box Epi-Center with a total of 400,000 square feet (40,000 m2) of retail space, some four times the area of the original site.

[7] The HomeSense store site is a stand-alone store while the south and west corners of the old mall were turned into Wegmans, The Wiz (which was closed in 2003 and replaced by HomeGoods), Dick's Sporting Goods (which later moved to a space at the Freehold Raceway Mall and was replaced by Marshall's) and a Target.

Other smaller businesses in the Manalapan EpiCentre are Applebee's, Verizon, Pet Valu, Eyechic Optical Boutique, Gary's Jewelers, Hand & Stone, Cucina Alessi Italian Ristorante, and The Turning Point.