This was one of my very favorite places as a child. Owned by Al and Minnie Frierman, if I recall correctly, it was named in honor
of their oldest son, Bernie. (They also had younger sons in the Classes of '54 and '57.) 

It was a fabulous variety store, full of wonders. One of the first sections upon entering housed the yarn and thread section. 
I always stopped there for a while before heading for the toy department. Once when I was ten, my daddy took me there
and offered to buy me something trivial of my own choosing. He was rather flabbergasted when I selected a how-to book,
a ball of variegated rink and green crochet thread, a size 7 steel crochet hook, a size G aluminum crochet hook, and a
skein of "Bittersweet" worsted weight yarn. Because he was flattered that I wanted to crochet as did his mother - and
because he spoiled me well past all reason - he readily bought it all for me. 

I took my goodies home and immediately taught myself how to crochet. My first project was a doily of that lovely thread. 
I gave it to my daddy's sister, Virginia, that year for Christmas. Perfectionist that I am, I ripped out any mistakes I made, so
strangely enough, the piece was actually flawless. I still have the book (as shown), and up until we moved from the mid-west
in October of 2001, I still had the size G hook. It served me well and faithfully over the years.  I designed and crocheted clothes
for all seven of my children plus my four oldest grandchildren with it. Sadly, I don't think it survived the move. 

My mama used to take me to Bernard's quite frequently. She very much enjoyed her friendship and conversations with Minnie,
who was a delightful woman.
 

 Thanks,
Karen
 

...As to the question of the Stuart Gardens Shopping Center.  My parents moved to Newport News, my mother's hometown, in 1947
and my father opened the Garden Bake Shop in that small strip center.  My first memory had the Colonial Store at one end, then the
Garden Pharmacy owned by Doc Belcastro, then the bakery, then Bernard's 5 & 10, then a dairy store, then Al Sandler's bar, penny
candy case and a lending library, then some offices, Dr. Berlin upstairs, Dr. Mirmelstein, the dentist, downstairs and then the wonderful
Stuart Theater. I may have missed something else, but at my advanced years, those seem to have been the line up in the late 40's. 
The Stuart Theater (owned by the Gordon families) closed and became Rich's Grocery Store.