The Centre (Saskatoon) facts for kids
Centre "East"
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| Location | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
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| Coordinates | 52°6′48″N 106°35′56″W / 52.11333°N 106.59889°W |
| Address | 3510 8th Street East |
| Opening date | 1995 |
| Management | Morguard |
| Owner | Morguard REIT |
| No. of stores and services | 101 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 - Saskatoon Co-op, Sport Chek, Atmosphere, Shoppers Drug Mart, Centre Cinemas, Rainbow Cinemas, Best Buy, Indigo Books and Music |
| Total retail floor area | 519,347 sq.ft |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 2373 including two level free heated underground parking and free above ground parking |
| Website | The Centre |
The Centre is a big shopping mall in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. You can find it in the Wildwood neighbourhood, near where Circle Drive meets 8th Street. It's a popular spot with over 90 stores and services. The mall also has cool art displays and a two-level heated underground parking area.
Some of the main stores, called "anchor stores," include Sport Chek, Saskatoon Co-op, Rainbow Cinemas, Centre Cinemas, Shoppers Drug Mart, Best Buy, Indigo Books and Music, and Dollarama. In the past, stores like Canadian Tire and Walmart were also here.
Contents
How The Centre Was Formed
The Centre wasn't always one big mall. It was created by joining two older shopping centres together. This happened in 1995.
Wildwood Mall: The East Side
Wildwood Mall, which is now called Centre East, opened on April 25, 1977. It was one of the first indoor malls on the east side of Saskatoon. Its first big stores were Woolco, a discount store, and Dominion, a grocery store.
After Dominion closed, the mall tried different things. A food court was added, but it didn't get many visitors. Later, a video rental store called Jumbo Video opened there, followed by a drug store. In 1994, Woolco became Wal-Mart. Before the two malls joined, Wildwood Mall had many empty stores. It was almost a "dead mall." The movie theaters you see on the west side of Centre East today were built when the malls merged. They took up much of the space where Dominion and the food court used to be.
County Fair Plaza and Circle Park Mall: The West Side
The part of the mall now known as Centre West first opened in 1970. It was called County Fair Plaza. At first, it wasn't a full mall. It had two main stores, Zellers and Canada Safeway, plus a few smaller shops.
In 1985-1986, this area got much bigger. It became a major indoor shopping centre and was renamed Circle Park Mall. Canadian Tire moved here, and a food court was added. It also got an underground parking area. In the mid-1990s, Circle Park Mall and Wildwood Mall joined to become The Centre.
Changes After the Malls Joined
In 1995, the two malls were connected by an underground tunnel. This tunnel goes under Acadia Drive. Now, the two parts of the mall are known as "Centre East" and "Centre West."
Target Canada briefly had a store at The Centre, taking over from Zellers. But Target also closed. That space is now used by smaller stores like the clothing chain Ardene and GoodLife Fitness.
In the late 2000s, the old Zellers spot in Centre West was changed. It made room for several smaller shops and a Best Buy store. Around this time, a group of separate stores was built along the north side of the property. These include an Indigo Books and Music store. Even though they are not physically connected, they are considered part of The Centre.
Later, the Safeway grocery store became part of Saskatoon Co-op. The Co-op moved its 8th Street food store into the mall.
In May 2018, it was announced that Cineplex would open a new movie theater with seven screens in 2019. This new cinema replaced the old Cineplex Odeon Centre Cinemas inside the mall. It was also announced that Rainbow Cinemas, another movie theater in the mall, would close in 2020. This was because the mall owners did not renew its lease due to a special agreement with Cineplex. The new Cineplex cinema opened on October 25, 2019. Renovation work also began in Centre East and the tunnel in 2019. This was to prepare for new uses of the spaces where the old theaters were located.
Images for kids
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Centre "East"
