These 4 Retro Ground Round Commercials Will Have You Smiling

One thing I loved as a kid growing up in Berkshire County was when my parents took me to the Berkshire Mall. We lived in the Northern Berkshires so it wasn't like we were making many trips to the mall on a regular basis. When we did go, it was a treat.

I loved cruising the Berkshire Mall and stopping by my favorite stores. At that time, like many kids my age, I loved music, movies, and video games. I had to make sure I hit all of my favorites including Sam Goody, Tape World, and Record Express. Those three stores took care of my music needs. Babbage's did the trick for video games and Saturday Matinee was the store I could spend hours in if my mom didn't round me up to move on.

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We'll Get to The Ground Round but Here's a Little More on Saturday Matinee in the Berkshire Mall

Around age 11 or 12 I was really getting into watching '80s horror movies. To just spend time in Saturday Matinee and stare at the covers of the 'Friday the 13th' or 'Halloween' movies satisfied me. If I had enough money on me from my paper route, I would buy one of the VHS flicks. As a reminder, purchasing a movie on VHS back in the day wasn't cheap. They could run anywhere from $14-$20 on average which meant I really had to like and want the movie to actually spend money on owning a copy.

Here are Some of the Horror Movies I Bought from Saturday Matinee in the Berkshire Mall Many Moons Ago.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that my mother let me buy these tapes but then again, she knew that the films wouldn't go to my head. It was better than other kids I knew at that time that were getting into trouble. What's even harder to believe is that the employees of Saturday Matinee allowed a kid under 18 to buy the films. I didn't have to have my mother go up and pay for the movies on my behalf. In addition, I didn't need her permission. Times were certainly different back in the day.

Do You remember the Berkshire Mall's Food Court and Ground Round Restaurant?

At one time, the Berkshire Mall had a fully stocked food court which made lunch or dinner exciting. Throughout the years, Sbarro, Hot Dogs & More, Burger King, Little Tokyo, Taco Bell, and many others that I'm forgetting were located in the Berkshire Mall's food court. One place I remember when I was really young was the Ground Round. The Ground Round to me seemed like a step up from the food court as it was a restaurant you actually walked into and it was located in a separate location across from the food court. We would go there every now and then. I remember one or two times, I was at the restaurant for a birthday party. It was so long ago that I was there but the two things I remember about the Ground Round were I liked the food (don't ask me what I had) and that it seemed very dim. Do you remember the dimness factor or is it just me?