BERKSHIRE MALL
Warren Street Bypass / US 222 and 422 and Bern Road (State Hill Road)
Berks County, Pennsylvania
Plans were announced for a prospective Greater Reading shopping center in November 1967. The complex would be built on a 70-acre tract, located 2 miles west of downtown Reading, in a political division of Berks County known as Borough of Wyomissing.
Construction commenced on the BERKSHIRE MALL project on November 22, 1968. The 25 million dollar retail center was designed by the Eventash & Friedman firm of Philadelphia and Stroble & Rongved, of New York City. The Allentown-based Goodman Company was the mall's developer. When completed, the complex encompassed approximately 890,000 leasable square feet.
The first BERKSHIRE MALL stores opened for business on February 10, 1970. Included in this round of dedications were a 2-level (115,000 square foot) Sears, which sat on the north end of the complex, and 2-level (158,300 square foot), Philadelphia-based Lit Brothers, which occupied the center anchor position.
On the south end of the complex was a 3-level (183,800 square foot), Philadelphia-based John Wanamaker. This store made its debut on August 10, 1970. By April 1971, the full complement of seventy-six stores and services were in operation, including those on a second level, overlooking the Lit Brothers Court and fountain.
This upstairs area, known as
Lamp Post Lane, was accessed by a glass-enclosed elevator. Done in an 18th century, "Colonial Williamsburg" motif, it featured the John Davis House Restaurant, Budget Uniform and American Handicrafts shoppes.
Other stores and services in the original BERKSHIRE MALL included Lerner Shops, Whitner's, Waldenbooks, Wrangler Wroost, Thom McAn Shoes and a (27,000 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. A single-screen cinema, the Fabian
Berkshire Mall Theatre, showed its first feature August 25, 1970. The venue would be in operation until 1983.
An auxiliary strip plaza, BERKSHIRE MALL WEST, was located northwest of the mall proper. Built in stages, its first tenant, an Acme Markets grocery, opened on November 7, 1972. BERKSHIRE MALL had no regional-class competitor until the completion of FAIRGROUNDS SQUARE MALL {3.1 miles northeast, in Berks County} in 1981.
A small interior renovation was performed at BERKSHIRE MALL in the late 1980s. The Lamp Post Lane section was gutted and rebuilt as the 10-bay
Terrace Cafe Food Court. This new culinary complex was dedicated on December 7, 1989.
Anchor rebrandings at BERKSHIRE MALL had commenced in early 1976, when Lit Brothers morphed into a Pottstown, Pennsylvania-based Pomeroy's. York, Pennsylvania-based The Bon Ton acquired the Pomeroy's chain in October 1987. In August 1989, stores began operating as The Bon Ton-Pomeroy's. On August 14, 1990, stores received a bona fide "Bon Ton" brand.
John Wanamaker at BERSKSHIRE MALL morphed into an Arlington, Virginia-based Hecht's in November 1995 and Philadelphia-based Strawbridge's in July 1996. The store received a Reading-based Boscov's brand on August 11, 2002. Meanwhile, BERKSHIRE MALL had changed hands in July of the same year. Its new owner was Wilmington, Delaware-based Allied Retail Properties.
The Bon Ton store was shuttered on August 28, 2018, with Sears going dark in February 2019. These shutterings left the mall with just one operational department store. In September 2020, the complex was sold to a joint venture of Great Neck, New York's Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management Realty Group.
Sources:
The Reading Eagle
http://www.labelscar.com
https://www.berkspa.gov / Berks County, Pennsylvania
https://www.berkshiremall.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://www.berkshiremall.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
https://namdarrealtygroup.com / Namdar Realty Group
