The Berkshire Mall is an abandoned mall just north of Pittsfield in the town of Lanesborough in The Berkshires of Massachusetts. The mall was developed by The Pyramid Companies as the only enclosed mall in the county. When the mall opened they had Hills, JCPenney, Service Merchandise, Sears, and Steiger’s which was headquartered in Springfield. Hills became Ames and Steiger’s became Boston based Filene’s. Service Merchandise almost became BJ’s Wholesale. Instead the building got rebuilt as a Best Buy and a Linens N Things just off to the left in 2002. Ames went bankrupt and became a Target at the mall in January, 2006. Old Navy came into the mall in 2000 with Steve & Barry’s store coming in around the same time. When Steve & Barry’s went bankrupt it became Famous Labels. Around 2015 the mall started to decline because on Halloween of 2015 Best Buy announced that they would be closing. On January 4, 2016 Macy’s announced that they would be closing in the spring. JCPenney announced on March 17. 2017 that they would also be closing. On November 2nd of that same year Sears announced they would also be closing they’re store which means that Target is the only anchor left. In 2016 Pyramid sold the mall to Mile Kohan which played out very interestingly for the mall. The mall got shut down many times two notable time were in March of 2019 and July of 2018. On May 28, 2019 the mall closed permanently finally.
The day I went to Berkshire Mall is actually kind of a story so I am going to tell you about it. The day I went was a hot summer day and I went to malls in Western Massachusetts and this was the last mall I went to. Towards the end of this mall’s life it would close down sporadically due to “power problems” even if there was no electricity outings in the area and than after that day they would reopen the next day. The day I visited the power was “off” (shocking). The things that were different then the day I went the only inline tenant that was open was Spencer’s which I found odd and most days when the mall was closed for absolutely no reason they usually would block the mall off from patrons so you could enter to get to the movie theater but you couldn’t walk through the food court and concourse if you wanted to. The final thing I found strange was that they didn’t tell the patrons or the employees because when I was walking by Bath & Body Works the employee was just sitting in the store.
I knew when I visited that this wasn’t going to last long because by the time I went almost one whole section of the mall was empty, which was the Sears and Macy’s part. The Best Buy and Target part was bar but it had some life to it but I am very surprised it last till basically June of the year after. One final thing don’t close your mall for power issues when people can clearly see that lights are on. Thank you!
For the pictures I wanted to guide you with what was still open by meaning paying rent so here is a list
- Bath & Body Works
- Foot Locker
- GNC
- Hannoush Jewelers
- Journey’s
- Little Tolyo
- MasterCuts
- Pizxatella
- Regal Cinemas
- Target
- The Children’s Place
- The Shoe Department
- Victoria’s Secret
*Might be more
Here is my photos of this incredibly eerie experience that is not normal for a mall or a person to experience and see.
2018:
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