The Centre is a major regional shopping centre located east of the junction of Circle Drive and 8th Street in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Centre boasts more than 90 shops and services, 9 fine art galleries in Centre East, a new 500 seat lifestyle Food Court with stone fireplace and a 2-level temperature controlled underground parkade.
Current anchors include Zellers, Rainbow Cinemas, Sport Chek, Safeway, Centre Cinemas (Cineplex), Petcetera, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Dollarama and most recently, Indigo Books.
The Centre (originally branded as The Centre at Circle and 8th) was created in the mid-1990s through the amalgamation of Wildwood Mall (built in 1971) and Circle Park Mall (built in 1974), which were separated by Acadia Drive. When both malls were bought by Devan Properties Inc., the centres were connected in 1995 by an underground link under Acadia Drive. The two "sides" of the mall are now known as "Centre East" and "Centre West".
Centre West was first constructed in the early 1970s as County Fair Plaza. It wasn't really a shopping mall, but more a collection of two major stores (a Zellers and Canada Safeway), along with a few smaller shops including a Pinder's Drug Store (later Shopper's Drug Mart) location. Its construction predated the development of the Wildwood neighbourhood to the south and for years the Plaza was virtually the only major building in the area. In the mid-1980s, the mall underwent a major expansion and refit which saw the addition of some 60 stores, including a new anchor Canadian Tire, a food court, and expanded Zellers and Safeway locations. The revamped building was renamed Circle Park Mall.
Opened in 1978, Wildwood Mall (now Centre East) was only the second proper enclosed mall on the east side of Saskatoon. In 2009 construction has started on Centre West making way for the city's first Best Buy retail store opened spring 2010.
