The Berkshire Mall was opened in 1970, and had an interesting clock “tower” located In front of what was then a Rite Aid in the south wing of the mall. It was removed at some point, however the same benches remain. Above you can see the “Listening Booth”, a popular record store. Below you can see a shot of it, along with some ladies browsing the ‘Wyomissing Women’s Club’ stand. Immediately behind the stand is Rite Aid, and going left would be stores: Chess King, Spencer Gifts, A Fabric Store (possibly the Fabric Dept?), Thom McAn, and let me know if you can make out the last one.
Below you can see the same area looking the other way from the Sears Fountain. In the background you can see Croll & Keck, Ladybug, and the same mystery store. Squint closely and you can make out the top of the same clock in the center background of the picture.
Oh I was there for sure in those days. As often as I could get there. My sister worked part time at the 5, 7, 9 shop. Fun times.
That may be National Shirt Shops next to Thom McAn.
It’s definitely National Shirt….I worked there in the early ’80s
Yes it is National Shirt Shop and beyond that would be Hamilton luggage.
Was that a luggage store? Hamilton Luggage?
You are correct Hamilton Luggage was down that way, but don’t think it was next to Thom. McCan. There was also Purple Plum and CPI right next to Sears.
I remember the clock. Woolworth use to be there too.
I think the store next to Thom McCan was Feel Fine when the Mall first opened.
The mystery store was National Shirt. Next to that was Hamilton Luggage then Ladybug. Worked at Hamilton then went to National Shirt in 1980. Also my sister worked at National in the mid 70’s which was managed by local writer John Yamrus.
I was assistant manager at that National Shirt in the ’71 to ’73 timeframe. Our manager was Bill Farias, a good man and one of the best bosses I ever worked for. National had an interesting approach to advertising. They would spend almost nothing on print or over-the-air ads, their philosophy was ‘your store windows are your advertising’ so they would hire very talented teams of window dressers to circulate among the stores is a district constantly updating the windows with new displays and merchandise. Seemed to work ok then when there was a lot of mall traffic, doubt it would succeed today.
I remember eating lunch at Woolworth with my mom. The restaurant could be entered through the mall or through the store. Anyone else?
Oh yes, I remember the restaurant next to Woolworth. Wow, I hadn’t even thought about it till I saw your post just now. I used to be at The Mall (what everyone called it when I was growing up in the area) at least once a week since I took clarinet lessons from a gentleman named Gerald Hasbrouck who was a private instructor with a studio in a mezzanine level that was above the organ store that was in the end of the mall near the John Wanamaker store.
Loved this place.
Wow, I just commented about that clock on the post you made about the Kaleidoscope store at the Berkshire, in which you could see the clock in the background. For some reason or another those clocks always stood out in my mind. As an adult, seeing the famous “doomsday clock” of the cold war era always reminded me of it. If I’m not mistaken, there was another bench area just like it at the other end towards Wannamaker’s. If you look on that spot of the ceiling nowadays you can still see the mounting hardware for the clock. I can’t remember exactly when it was that they took them down, but it was probably sometime in the late 90’s. I can’t help but wonder what happened to them? I’d imagine they were trashed, with people at that time doubtfully seeing them as something old worth preserving.
Another architectural Berkshire mall memory of mine is of the similarly mid-century modern designed ‘Sputnik’ style pod lights in the parking lot. Each parking lot light used to have three globed tiered off of the top with a light in each. I used to think they were so neat looking.
You are so wrong these pictures of the clock towers are two different clocks. The picture in front of Listening Booth was in the Wanamaker end of the mall.
The picture with Spencer’s Gifts was in the Sears end of the mall.
Also I am pretty sure Rite Aid was not across from Listening Booth. It was up near Spencer across from Woolworth.
Thirty some years of hanging out as teen and then working for the Mall itself gave me a good idea of where things were.