Author: Alexa Freyman
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Harvey’s Hamburgers
Read more: Harvey’s HamburgersHarvey’s Hamburgers was located on the 1500 block of Lancaster Ave in Shillington, where Friendly’s parking lot now is. I could find no additional information about when this place opened or closed, so if you know, please leave a comment. Way before all the well known “Icons’ in the hamburger business like “MacDonalds”, “Burger King”,…
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Red Building – Textile Knitting Mill / Vanity Fair
Read more: Red Building – Textile Knitting Mill / Vanity FairThe old red building was just demolished the other day, to make room for parking for what will be UGI’s new headquarters. Now is as good a time as any to take a look at it’s history, which encompasses over 100 years of use. What we currently know as the “Red Building” was the very…
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Furlow’s Food Market
Read more: Furlow’s Food MarketFurlow’s Food Market was located at 3940 Penn Avenue (then 542 Penn Ave) in Sinking Spring. It was owned by Rufus Furlow and Morton Heim. It was opened in late 1927 as the September 14th 1927 Reading Times clipping below foreshadows. I could not find a hard date on when the market closed, though Morton’s obituary…
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Two Guys Department Store
Read more: Two Guys Department StoreTwo Guys was a discount store founded in 1946 by New Jersey brothers Sidney and Herbert Hubschman. This location in Shillington was constructed during the summer of 1962. The entire company went defunct by 1982, so I am guessing this store location shuttered sometime shortly before then. These photos below were sent in by Ron…
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Blockbuster Video Berks
Read more: Blockbuster Video BerksThere were once four Blockbuster Video locations in Berks County, one being the above on Route 724/Lancaster Pike in Shillington. The others were at 4860 Penn Ave in Sinking Spring near Redner’s Market, 3262 N 5th Street Highway in Muhlenberg Shopping Plaza, and 3985 Perkiomen Avenue in Mt. Penn/Exeter. Blockbuster, was an American-based provider of home…
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Kurtz’s Drug Store – Penn Ave – Sinking Spring
Read more: Kurtz’s Drug Store – Penn Ave – Sinking SpringAlmost a year ago I did a then and now post on the Stitzer Apartments, located at the corner Penn Ave & Woodrow Ave. The building still exists and looks almost exactly the same, yet many stores have come and gone since the photo above was taken. Many seemed to remember Kurtz’s Drug Store/Pharmacy back…
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Queen of the Valley Diner
Read more: Queen of the Valley DinerThe Queen of the Valley Diner was opened in 1954 at 1730 Penn Avenue in Wyomissing Hills, and sat just down from the old Iron Bridge that crossed the railroad. It was opened and first operated by a man named Clyde F. Snyder. Later it was bought by Charles and Gloria Schwambach. The Schwambach’s later…
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KidSports
Read more: KidSportsThis one is near and dear to my own heart, as I grew up going to KidSports. It was located along Penn Avenue, connected to the old Boscov’s West Department Store building. Before Kid Sports, it was an Acme and/or IGA Grocery store for many decades. According to this Washington Post article, KidSports was the…
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Inside B. & J. Saylor Food, 401 Penn Street
Read more: Inside B. & J. Saylor Food, 401 Penn StreetA few weeks ago I posted about 4th & Penn before it was demolished to make way for the then new CNA building. There was a great shot of the old B. & J. Saylor Food Store, which was a hot spot to get fresh produce and other foods. Above you can see an old…
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Reading Municipal Memorial Stadium
Read more: Reading Municipal Memorial StadiumMunicipal Stadium hosted it’s first baseball game in 1951. On March 28, 1945, Reading City Council voted unanimously to purchase 27 acres of ground known as Cathedral Heights at a cost of $64,491 for the purpose of building a municipal stadium. In 1947 the grading of the land began and by 1949 the initial stages…
