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Friday November 9, 2018 01:11 PM
Sears closing its store at the Berkshire Mall
The Wyomissing mall's last remaining original anchor is shutting its doors.
Berkshire Mall anchors
1970-1995: John Wanamaker
1970-1976: Lit Brothers
1970-present: Sears
1976-1990: Pomeroy's
1990-2018: The Bon-Ton
1995-1996: Hecht's
1996-2002: Strawbridge & Clothier
2002-present: Boscov's
Written by Evan Jones
The Berkshire Mall's last original anchor will be closing.
Mall manager Ellen Smoll confirmed Thursday afternoon that Sears will be shutting its doors at the Wyomissing mall, along with the auto center across the parking lot.
According to Sears Holdings, the store will begin liquidation sales next week and close for good by February.
Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears said Thursday that it is closing 40 more Sears and Kmart locations in addition to the 142 announced earlier this year.
The Kmart in Cumru Township was not on the closing list.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Sears is closing in on a deal with new lenders to finance it through its bankruptcy.
Sears, once the dominant U.S. retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 15 after years of decline.
It is the second anchor to close at Berkshire Mall in the past year. The Bon-Ton shuttered its location in August.
Boscov's is the mall's other anchor. Unlike many of its competitors, the Exeter Township-based chain has been expanding in recent years.
Smoll said that the mall was getting ready for an eventual closing of Sears, but the timing was unexpected.
"We expected it, but not this close to the holiday season," she said.
Pamela J. Shupp, executive vice president of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, said the closing continues a trend of brick-and-mortar stores giving way to e-commerce.
"There are still people who still choose brick-and-mortar locations to shop," Shupp said. "But you see stores like Kohl's where you order something on Amazon and you can return it to Kohl's. Retailers need to think outside of the box with e-commerce."
Like the Bon-Ton section of the mall, which covers 159,000 square feet, the future of the 175,000-square-foot Sears wing may not necessarily be retail.
Smoll said what will eventually go into those spaces has yet to be determined by the owner, Wilmington, Del.-based Allied Properties.
"We're working on a redevelopment plan for the whole shopping center," Smoll said.
Shupp said the location could be used for such things as a college branch, a medical facility or office space.
"What you are seeing are stores downsizing square footage," she said. "The whole shopping experience is going through a metamorphosis."
Shupp added that shoppers who want the live shopping experience are moving toward smaller, locally owned stores in downtowns such as West Reading, Kutztown or Boyertown.
"We're seeing a rise of the boutique shopping experience," she said.
Regionally, Sears is also shuttering a location in Stroudsburg, Monroe County, and a Kmart in Philadelphia.
Sears at Berkshire Mall opened with the shopping center in 1970.
It is the fourth physical location since Sears opened its first Berks store at 300 Penn St. in 1928.
After leaving downtown Reading in 1956, Sears was in Cumru Township until it moved to the mall.
Next in this series
The fall of malls in Berks County [Timeline]
Remember when favorite stores closed at the Berkshire Mall and Fairgrounds Square Mall?
Sears opened first store in Berks in 1928
It moved from downtown Reading to Cumru Township to Wyomissing.
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