Southcentre Mall

If you’re in the SW and need to do some shopping Southcentre may be the ideal mall for you! In one of my other reviews I reviewed Chinook Centre and said it’s hands down the best mall in Calgary, and I stand by this. However, this was from an overall perspective especially when it came to things like dining, store variety and entertainment options. When it comes to mainly shopping at retail stores I’d say Southcentre is actually a better option than Chinook because it’s smaller, easier to find parking and less crowded/​busy. This means you can usually get in and out a lot quicker and actually have a more relaxed shopping experience.
Just like Chinook Centre, it’s located just off an LRT stop on the corner of a major intersection: Anderson & Macleod. There’s no free shuttle to/​from the LRT like Chinook offers, but I would argue it is a closer walk. One other draw back is that it’s also currently out of the Car2Go home area, whereas Chinook is in the Car2Go area and even offers designated stalls (could change one day). Where it easily makes up is parking availability, you can spend minutes upon minutes trying to find a stall at Chinook whereas there’s usually always one easily available at Southcentre. There’s no valet parking like Chinook and The Core, but I think most don’t care anyways. One thing worth noting for later evening shoppers is that Southcentre closes a full hour earlier than Chinook on Saturday and Sunday.
The store variety here is a slight step down from Chinook as well, pretty comparable to Market Mall though. They have a ton of stores, just check online to see the list if you’re looking for something specific, but for general browsing/​shopping it’ll suffice just fine unless you’re looking for some of the higher end luxury stores. There is a couple at Southcentre but definitely not the full array that Chinook has, the price point is definitely a bit more affordable at Southcentre as a whole. Some unique differences worth mentioning is that they still have a Sears here as well, whereas the Chinook location was closed. There is also a Crate and Barrel anchor store here as well. One big addition that will draw some traffic is the new «Sporting Life» store that is set to open in the fall of 2016! This is a pretty big deal as this is the first location outside Ontario to be opened in Canada! Think of it as Sportchek on steroids as they have some high end options that Sportchek doesn’t carry, should be interesting! The real shopping draw as I first mentioned is just the smaller crowd; simply put it’s not as hectic and as busy as Chinook which is a huge plus IMO.
A couple last comparison points, the food court is far less substantial and offers less variety/​options. The restaurant options are limited to Chili’s or Milestones, the latter isn’t even physically attached. There isn’t any major entertainment attractions at this mall although they do have a Ticketmaster Outlet. The washrooms at Southcentre are slightly better, but aren’t located any more convenient than Chinook. Lastly Southcentre does have a Safeway in a shared parking lot, and Chinook doesn’t have any grocery store option. So if you’re looking for dining and entertainment, or high-​end/​luxury stores to be included as part of your shopping experience then Chinook is still the far better option, but if you’re looking for straight retail or grocery + retail then Southcentre is probably the better choice. Just check the store list online first! :)

I was there with my 90 year old mother. She tried to do and see more than she could. Security Guards Stan and Roger were amazing. They got her to her last shop by taking us behind the scenes to shorten the walk. They gave us their number, promptly brought a wheelchair and took us right out to our car. These men not only provided great, sensible customer service, but they were cheerful and kind. South centre is lucky to have them. They affirm why I shop there.

When you can offer valet parking for just $ 3, one better tips this to a $ 5 ;)
It’s a big mall, and much more south than GPS indicates, a 20-​min drive doesn’t sound long from DT but there was no traffic at all on a Sunday, so still a drive.
Has your usual names but also the higher-​end ones like Coach and Michael Kors side by side on the ground, center level.
Nicer than usual mall washrooms, almost hotel-​like with real doors. And white countertops too
Food court, no surprises here with the usual Dairy Queen and all, lots of seating and more modern furnishings than usual.

i would recommend shopping at this mall. Easy to find parking. Clean aisles and friendly staff at the guest services desk at the North entrance. Food court is well planned out and very spacious. Enchanted Forest in the center court area is well laid out and easy to navigate. Washrooms are well maintained and convenient. Valet parking and coat check are great ideas for the month of December.

Great mall with a bit if everything for every shopper! Haven’t been here in years and was pleasantly surprised. Will be back again when I am in the south.

Looking for a good sized mall to get some shopping done with fewer crowds? Southcentre is the place for you. Located in the south end of the city, it’s a great go-​to place for shopping – including Christmas shopping.
It has many of the same stores and selections offered at Chinook or Market Mall, but with less people. Also, there are a number of comfortable places to pull up a chair and people watch. This is always a bonus.

I hardly get down to Southcentre Mall because it’s like a million miles away from but I took a little trip this week. I drove all that way just to enter a silly contest from a local radio station. Bummer I didn’t win. It would have totally made the drive worth it.
Southcentre reminds me of how Market Mall now is after it’s big renovations. It’s kind of in a circle and I get confused trying to find stores. It’s got lots of every type of store you can imagine. Store selection kicks ass.
It’s nearing Christmas so I was worried I wouldn’t find parking but much to my surprise this was no problem at all. I parked outside the Shoppers Drug Mart. It seemed easier to find parking than many other malls. Let’s not question it but just enjoy this small treat.
Southcentre is a nice clean mall with every store under the sun. Not sure it’s worth an hour drive for me but if you live close by, definitely check it out.

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Southcentre is A-​OK. Lots of parking, easy to navigate and remember where stores are located.
They have a customer service area with family bathrooms, an internet station for 13 year olds to check on FB while they’re getting their mall-​rat on, and adorable guys that take my coat and purchases for me and put it in a coat check area, for those days when I’m marathon shopping for presents and would have had to otherwise sweat it out in multiple layers, for our lousy Smarch weather.
This is the quiet mall that I like to shop at, it has everything I need for everyone else and a dollar store that has a great selection of cheap storage for organizational purposes. I just wish they were open later on Sundays.

Got a break for a long time and thought to start with this review.
What moved me selecting this mall to review was it’s photos that i had uploaded long back made me cherish that clean and so neat mall. I can say this is the best of all malls when compared with fancy interiors, sofas that are placed to sit inside the mall, spacious,. This is no lesser than other malls when compared with the businesses it has.
Never seen this place crowded. When i feel like relaxing and passing some time shopping, I used to prefer this place.

good mall

A mall is a mall, right? At some point, yes it’s only but a mere mall. However, I actually enjoy just strolling around Southcentre and soaking up how spacious and how clean the design is. It’s like they actually took the time and thought about how can we make suckers like me to stay inside longer and spend money. The result is lots of natural light, wide spacious circles and some fancy, schmancy stores. It’s weird because there are times where I feel like I am in a 4 star hotel (ie. Customer Service). I could spend an hour in Crate and Barrel alone. Fortunately, my financial situation is such that I am not temped to buy much in the mall. It’s just good exercise walking around and people watching, especially in winter.
If I could make a suggestion. The food court, though visually appearing, smells like a processed food chemical court of death. With all the work done on design, what’s a few more dollars to handle that situation?
All in all, I do enjoy it here.

Southcentre isn’t a bad mall by any means — and I have to kinda piggy back on Emma’s review a bit when I saw that she’s right about it having a lot of the staples and being one of the slower, less crowded malls in the city. It also has the added bonus of having a couple of cool little niche stores you don’t get elsewhere (I particularly enjoy Murdawg Apparel which offers a wide variety of awesome popculture Tshirts, belt buckles, and other cool swag.
However, it’s one of the last hold outs in Calgary in the gradual progression toward malls either being connected to, or tied closely with, a movie theater, which (considering it’s the closest mall to my house) is a major bummer for me, and often leaves me going to Chinook instead, just so I have something to do after I’m done doing whatever shopping I have to do.
I WILL give it serious points though for being the only mall in the city with a ticketmaster outlet though. That is pretty cool.
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Ever since moving here in 1992, Southcentre has been my base of operations for mall-​ratting in the city. It might help that I have never actually worked here… In terms of facelifts and changes, Southcentre probably ranks behind the magnificent ascension of Chinook, but then the clientele here is also completely different: this mall caters to the rich of the south, whereas Chinook is a central location close to a train station and what seems like a dozen high schools. Southcentre can find itself busy, but it rarely becomes a crush, and it certainly smells better without the packs of unwashed teens.
I remember the old layouts and stores of Southcentre very well: the time I rode my bike to read music magazines in the convenience store and getting into trouble for it; watching dozens of movies in the theaters, which became my favorite book browsing area called Indigo, which turned into Crate & Barrel; walking with some high school colleagues on the pedestrian bridge, eagerly heading to HMV to buy the new Nine Inch Nails album chanting «Fragile! Fragile!» (it was the dark days of teenagehood, though I still love that disc); and nights spent sitting on the couches, catching up on reading and waiting for Kat to finish her shift so I could drive her home.
Recently, Southcentre seems to be playing catch-​up with Chinook, opening the same high-​name brands like Sephora and Victoria’s Secret, but it has that mall beat when it comes to amenities: the many nice seating areas that are sorely lacking at Chinook; the sports zone mini theater; and a beautiful public washroom in a wide open and huge windowed food court. There is no Thai Express here, and covered parking is extremely scarce (forget about Chinook’s lovely heated underground parkade!) but those are small qualms for me. Basically if you live in the south, Southcentre is making serious moves to attract you away from the guaranteed nightmarish parking and crowds of Chinook. Listen to them!
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Ive been going to this mall since, well as far back as I can remember. I use to walk here with my friends after school and go to the arcade and get rosebud chocolates from the Bay. That’s when they sold candy by the lb. The arcade was located behind where Murale would be situated right now. Actually the whole back corner behind Murale, was the old foodcourt, and arcade. Well enough South Center history, I like this mall for more than a few reasons. First off, it’s been recently updated and they have relatively upscale stores. It is also bright & clean inside the foors always shine. I feel safe while shopping here, not like in another mall like Marlborough or Sunridge. Although I would shop in those malls if I was in the area. Here’s a link to the mall so you can see a list of all their stores etc.
If I were to say anything negative about this mall, it would have to be the lack of choices in the foodcourt. No matter what mall you go to in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Canada for that matter it seems they all have the same choices or lack of. Taco time, Edo, Subway, KFC, DQ, etc.

This mall is very large, and – personally – I have a preference for smaller-​scale malls because I easily get lost. Maybe I just get easily distracted while shopping?
Anyhoo, this mall seems to have slippery floors, though they appear very polished. I have even seen a live zamboni-​like polisher keeping them shiny during mall hours hehe.
I have to say, that Southcentre Mall has a very large and interesting food court, complete with a nice East Indian food stand (one of my personal favorites) and the public washrooms just made me feel absolutely spoiled, like the «red carpet treatment».
Other than that, this mall is in a slightly inconvenient location being a couple of blocks from the train station. I know it’s more convenient to people who drive.

I love this Mall, and in my opinion it is the best in the city, for many reasons. Here are the reasons its my favourite.
Five-​star-​hotel-​quality
reception area (Very cool customer service area, very upscale)
Kids Concierge
Complimentary kids strollers
3 Kids play areas
Community room
Courtesy phone and computer
Coat and parcel check
Free wifi (No weird logins needed)
Sports Zone seating area to watch games (think like a mini theatre but in the mall)
Lots of nice seating areas
Very upscale washrooms (see the pic I posted).
Spacious food court
A few years back Southcentre began to renovate to create a more comfortable shopping experience, and I would have to say they succeeded. They have created alot of nice seating areas to stop and rest, and all of the furnishings are plush and modern. Clearly a cool designer was involved in the revamp. It never feels crazy like Chinook and there is always lots of parking.
They have the cities only Crate and Barrel, Disney Store and Restoration Hardware. In addition they have all the standard good shops like Banana Republic, Gap, AE, etc…
If you want to get groceries there is a Safeway right there too.
Do yourself a favour, skip Chinook one weekend and check out SouthCentre, its worth a second look. Although I would like to keep this great Mall to myself, in the spirit of Unilocal,I’ll share it with ya’ll ;)

Great mall! Fantastic stores, and since it isn’t overly crowded all the time, I’ve always had great service while shopping.
However, food wise, I have a gluten allergy and the food choices are the usual fast food resturaunts which make it difficult for me to eat.
They were open during renovations which was favorable to me, when I needed to get in and get out to a store I frequently go to, I didn’t have a big detour or have to do to a different location because it was closed.
After the renovations the mall looks great, Easy set up and with 2 floors there is a lot of popular stores and I have never had a bad experience in any of them, I have always been greeted and helped accordingley.
Overall, Great mall, easily accessable and has almost everything I need!

The rennovations that they’ve done here have brought this mall out of the 80’s and can now compete with the likes of Chinook Centre. With store additions like Twisted Goods, among others, they have truly set themselves apart from other shopping centres in Calgary.

I officially have a new favourite mall in town and yes, it’s name starts with ‘South’ and ends with ‘Centre’.
For whatever reason, I had NEVER been to this mall in all the years that I’d lived in Calgary. On an absolute whim yesterday, we decided to make the trip over and I couldn’t have been more pleased with my new discovery.
Southcentre Mall is like a mix between Chinook and Market Mall. It’s got 2 floors and all the shops I love and then some. It’s even got some stores that no other mall in the city has such as Murale and Crate and Barrel.
What I love even MORE about Southcentre is that it isn’t PACKED like the rest of the malls during this time of year. I went yesterday, a Sunday, mid-​afternoon, when FOR SURE Market, Chinook and CrossIron Mills Malls would have ALL been painfully packed, but Southcentre was pleasantly uncrowded.
Aside from all the exciting shopping, Southcentre mall also has a stellar food court with unique restaurants in it such as Rasoee, an Indian cuisine fast food joint.
In the two hours that I spent at Southcentre Mall, I visited all my favourite shops, visited shops I’ve never been too, had a bite in the food court at a restaurant I’ve never tried, had rockstar parking because it wasn’t packed, and I enjoyed line-​free stores and easy-​breezy shopping. You see why I love it so much???