Berkshire Mall is an enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough was established on July 2, 1906. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,114, compared to 10,461 at the 2010 census. The growth was significantly larger betwe ...

, a suburb to the west of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berks County Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River ...

. Berkshire Mall is accessible from US 222/

US 422 U.S. Route 422 (US 422) is a long spur route of US 22 split into two segments in the U.S. states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The western segment of US 422 runs from downtown Cleveland, Ohio, east to Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. ...

(

Warren Street Bypass The Warren Street Bypass is a limited-access bypass in the Reading area in Berks County, in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It consists of segments of: *U.S. Route 222/ U.S. Route 422 from West Lawn to Wyomissing * Pennsylvani ...

) at the Paper Mill Road interchange or the State Hill Road interchange. The main entrances to the mall are located along Woodland Road or State Hill Road. The mall first opened on February 10, 1970 and currently features

Boscov's Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with forty-nine locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of these stores are located in Pennsylvania. Corporate headqu ...

History

Planning for the mall began in the late 1960s.

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

was announced to be the first major planned tenant in November 1967, to replace its nearby Shillington location which had opened in 1956.(26 November 1967)
Sears Going to Berkshire Mall With Enlarged Store
''

Reading Eagle The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of Pe ...

''(25 October 1956)
Sears, Roebuck Opens New Store on Lancaster Avenue
''

'' Construction got underway in 1968, with an "official" kickoff in November of that year.(22 November 1968)
Berkshire Mall Building Starts
''

''(14 November 1969
This aerial view ...
''

'' (aerial view of mall under construction in November 1969) The mall opened in February 1970, and was the first enclosed shopping mall to open in eastern Pennsylvania outside of the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

area.(2 November 1985)
No Real Changes Expected Due To Berkshire Mall Sale
''

'' The mall's name is taken from the source of the name of

, an abbreviation of the English royal county

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. The old fountain in the center of the mall had been choreographed by local Reading company "Symphonic Fountains". An upper level

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. I ...

, The Terrace Cafe, held its grand opening December 7–10, 1989.Andrews, Connie (19 February 1989)
Sales up at Fairgrounds Square and Berkshire Mall in 1988
''

''(15 November 1989)
Taste What's Coming To Town!
(Advertisement for food court opening in December 1989), ''

'' It replaced a Victorian themed mini-mall known simply as "Lamp Post Lane". The original owner and developer of the mall was the Goodman Company, which sold the property to Equitable Real Estate Management in 1985. In July 2002, the mall was acquired by Allied Properties.(27 August 2002)
Walkers dislike new Berkshire Mall schedule
''

'' In January 2002, Boscov's purchased the

Strawbridge's Strawbridge's, formerly Strawbridge & Clothier, was a department store in the northeastern United States, with stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The Center City Philadelphia flagship store was, in its day, a gracious urban emporiu ...

store, originally a

Wanamaker's John Wanamaker Department Store was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags. ...

until 1995 and later

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

until 1996, at Berkshire Mall; the Boscov's store at Berkshire Mall opened in August 2002. The Boscov's store at Berkshire Mall replaced the Boscov's West store in Sinking Spring, which opened in November 1962. On the night of November 2, 2009, a fire broke out in a display window of the

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

store. Before firefighters could arrive, the sprinkler system activated in the store and the adjacent hallway. The store suffered smoke and water damage; everyone was evacuated safely without any reported injuries. On April 14, 2010, there was a fire inside of Boscov's. A worker was flown to

Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest Lehigh Valley Hospital, also known as Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, is a hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Lehigh Valley Hospital is the largest hospital in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan region and the third largest hospital in Pennsyl ...

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

for severe burns to the face. Firefighters had controlled the fire in 30 minutes. On January 12, 2011 according to leaked security footage, a mall patron fell head first into the fountain in the Boscov's court due to being distracted because she was walking and text messaging at the same time. Days later the video uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

with titles such as "Girl Falls In Mall Fountain While Texting" went viral and received international news coverage. As a result of this incident, the security guard who posted the video was fired. On May 22, 2014, the mall was hit by an unusually severe spring

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

. Golf ball-sized

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

ripped through the ceiling causing interior damage by shattering skylights which left glass and debris covering walkways, plants and the fountain in the Sears court, while cars were dented and windshields smashed in the parking lot.

The Bon-Ton Bon-Ton Holdings Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded in 1898. After rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, the original company had financial troubles, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2018 ...

store, originally a

Lit Brothers Lit Brothers was a moderately-priced department store based in Philadelphia. Samuel and Jacob Lit opened the first store at North 8th and Market Streets in 1891. Lits positioned itself well as a more affordable alternate to its upscale competitors ...

until 1976 and later a Pomeroy's until 1987, at Berkshire Mall shuttered on August 28, 2018, after it wasn't able to establish any new conditions to satisfy its established long-term debt. On November 8, 2018, Sears announced it would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to phase out of their traditional brick-and-mortar format. In July 2020, Allied Properties sold Berkshire Mall to

Namdar Realty Group Namdar Realty Group is an American shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They primarily purchase shopping malls with partner Mason Asset Management. Namdar and Mason are both family owned, and as of 2021, own over 400 pr ...

. In November 2022, the former Bon-Ton space at the mall was condemned by the township fire marshal due to a partially collapsing roof as well as other issues with the structure.

Berkshire Mall West

Berkshire Mall West is a strip plaza across Woodland Road from Berkshire Mall that contains a Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store, One Stop Beverage,

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North and South America, Asia, and Australia ...

, and Customers Bank. There was a

Circuit City Circuit City is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s. After m ...

until 2009, which closed after the chain folded and reopened as an

H. H. Gregg H. H. Gregg, Inc. (stylized as hhgregg or HHgregg on their website) is an American online retailer and former retail chain of consumer electronics and home appliances in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast United States, that operated stores in ...

in 2010. H. H. Gregg closed in 2017 as part of the chain's "turnaround efforts"; the space was split between

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

and Boot Barn stores in 2021. There was also an

A.C. Moore A.C. Moore was an American arts and crafts retail chain, owned by Nicole Crafts. It had 145 retail locations in the eastern United States, with corporate headquarters in Berlin, New Jersey. On November 25, 2019, A.C. Moore announced that it woul ...

until that chain went out of business in 2020, and an

Old Country Buffet Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

that closed in 2016.

In popular culture

The mall is featured in Tristan LaFerriere’s 2021 novel ''Black-Haired Boy'', in which the main protagonist, Kieran Northrup, visits the mall to purchase a CD by the fictional band, Stay Sweet at FYE. The novel takes place in 2006 and long-since closed stores are mentioned including the former

and

. The mall inspired the lyrics “meet me behind the mall” in

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

’s song “

august August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

” from her 2020 album ''

Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

''.

References

External links

Official website
{{Namdar Realty Group, state=autocollapse Shopping malls in Pennsylvania Shopping malls established in 1970 Tourist attractions in Berks County, Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Berks County, Pennsylvania Namdar Realty Group