Canyon Crest Towne Centre

Fun and pretty place that have brought together almost everything you might need in your neighborhood. Sometimes you can enjoy the performances they hold here usually around Holiday time, I do like have it so close to my apartment.

One of my favorite plaza-​type spots in Riverside. I usually come here to shop at Ralph’s or Hallmark, but every now and then I’ll check out their events going on. There’s actually quite a few events happening here throughout the year. I enjoy Tuesday nights during the summer when they have live music and the aroma from Burritos & Co is amazing! They have seats for you or you can bring your own lawn chairs. Bring snacks and drinks or grab dinner from one of the surrounding restaurants. A family-​friendly environment that I’d recommend to all if you’re in the area.

I love walking around Canyon Crest Town Center! There are so many interesting and unique shops. The grounds are immaculate. Plenty of dining options are available. It’s so convenient.

Best shopping center in town. Such a pretty place with fun stores and restaurants. New stuff all the time. I’m so glad I live here.

If it weren’t for the gas station, I would love CCTC and give it 5 stars, but the gas station sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s not particularly clean and the pumps have been stripped of the lever that will hold down the dispenser so you don’t have to manually hold it. I have arthritic hands and can’t hold it. The machines are old and dirty and hard to read and I’ve never seen them all functioning properly at one time. I often have to go in to pay because they aren’t working. The same people seem to stay there working and one couldn’t have picked less friendly folks. They treat me as if I planned to steal from them or do them some harm and it is very unsettling. I am an almost 60 year old woman so I shouldn’t be fearsome. I understand the only way to really make money at a gas station is the convenience store, but that has been only slightly developed which would explain their failure to keep up maintenance and a good attitude if the workers own the station. If they don’t, the owners should really think of finding others to run this place. The man and woman who are there most of the time are the talk of the neighborhood for their unwelcoming and distrustful attitudes. I avoid getting gas there as much as I can and only go when I have other business at the Towne Center and a limited amount of time in my schedule. I dread the reception at the desk when I pay. It frequently is a big olé’ downer! Fix this unfortunate blight on the wonderful Canyon Crest Towne Center!

Moved in across the street a few months ago. I love that I can leave the car at home and get what I need. We walked to Ralph’s last night and discovered the live band in the courtyard that plays 6:30 — 8:30 on Tuesday nights.

Bring cash because not all stores accept plastic, and you’ll find many things you’ll want to buy! New shops have sprouted and this is my new favorite place to just spend a weekend morning. Yummy cupcakes (last weekend i had a maple bacon, YUM!!!), bagels, ice cream, coffee, bookstore with lots of children’s books, boutiques and it’s all surrounded by beautiful landscaping. After reading just reading the reviews below, I’ve realized that i haven’t seen everything! Oh, and a shop owner told me that there’s live music in the Summer :)

Subway in Canyon Crest always makes good sandwiches and their menu is getting bigger, next time you in our area check out the girls at Subway they will treat you right!

I grew up going to the Town Center. I remember when there was a movie theater there and Straw Hat pizza now Romanos.
The selection of stores and restaurants is wonderful. The quaint streams and grassy areas are charming for pictures.
They recently added a water play area for families. Some of my monumental life memories happened at the Town Center! My first date, my first movie, my first time ordering a glass of wine, I even got to see some great bands at Romanos!.. this place is a well kept and maintained hub for the residents and locals as well as visitors and near by students.

xdeffinaly 4+ it’ got a rediculously large Array of stores. Albeit, it’s no galleria mall but more than graciouly covers the essentials and not to mention, the midnight muchies and all inbetween. I will say a taco ell/​del taco /​jack in the box would truly make this place. Security’s pretty accepting but still have respect for their jobs, good job guys! Convinience at it most efficient! !!

I’d have to say I am bitter-​sweet about this place. So much to do around here. I am always finding myself in this shopping centre. Expensive area, too. One thing I wish would change… the dumb, careless drivers… common courtesy would be to wait on the parked driver that is half way out of their parking spot instead of trying to squeeze your way through… is that too much to ask for?!

Large shopping center at least 10 restaurants has one carwash with the gas station has a water shop gym dentist so one-​stop shop for the Canyon crest residence
located at least 3 miles from everything so this Towncenter does the job it also has a Starbucks
has water features the grounds are beautiful you could take nice pictures here it’s the best area

I would not go as far as to say this is a «shopping center», it is a strip mall but a very nice one at that.
One worth writing a review about and seeing if you are in Riverside.
I love Ralphs, so I wanted to check this one out since they are all a bit different and I am obsessed with finding great managers specials there.
Donut Tyme was great, mostly what I like is the looks of this «mall», the general feel is typical California, casual but chic, organic and expensive.
The staff here is nice, good food here, a nice place to get some casual shopping done.

Nice neighborhood shopping.

This is definitely a quaint little center – a very expensive Ralph’s and lots of small (not franchised) shops.
The thing I don’t like– the layout —good grief where am I — how do I get from A to B — it will make you dizzy just navigating this place!

I love this shopping center. It’s actually a huge reason I moved to the area was the convenience of this very nice, well-​maintained group of shops.
Rite-​Aid, Ralphs, Donut Tyme, Carl’s Jr, Romano’s, Monark, Gardener’s Cottage, Smoky Canyon BBQ, Chase, Allie’s Hallmark, Taco Station, the list goes on…
In addition to the shops, t has several fountains you can lounge near and even a coy pond in between The Gardener’s Cottage and Jammin’ Bread (my daughter is a fan of «the river» and «the fishie pond»). There’s a cute water play area for the kidlet set just outside Starbucks, Cold Stone and Extreme Pita too. During the holidays, there’s a huge Christmas tree by Monark and Taco Station, with pretty lights and decorations everywhere. There are all kinds of community events like antique car shows and little fairs with crafts and face-​painting for the kids each month. Really makes the area feel homey.
Even though the center shows signs of the times with a few empty storefronts, the center is usually at least moderately busy and is good about bringing in new businesses. A chiropractor’s office just moved in as did Yellow Chili Tapas (which I can’t wait to try). Most of the shops are a little pricey (I’m guessing rent ain’t cheap here!), but I still love it. I’m here every other day just because it’s so darn convenient to walk a few blocks to get an ice cream cone, grab a latte or pick up some more milk.

I used to come here a lot when I was in college. This is probably my favorite family shopping center of all time. The center has a very vintage look and when you walk around, there is always classical music playing! Also, during Christmas, they light up the area near Subway and those antique stores, and a big tree is near the Hallmark store… which is really nice and festive. Awesome.
Some noteworthy places here are Starbucks, Cold Stone, Extreme Pita, Crest Café, Tortilla Grille, Great Clips, Jammin Bread, Subway, Smokey Canyon BBQ, KFC, Bank of America, Subs and Spuds, Rite Aid, Carl’s JR, Ice Cream and Water, a bunch of little stores, and Ralphs. Out of all the ones I mentioned:
1. Subs and Spuds have the best Chinese Chicken Salad ever!
2. Bank of America has 2 drive thrus… I usually go to this one since the one on University seems ghetto
3. This is the nicest Ralphs I’ve been to
4. There is a water play area for kids to go to near Cold Stone and Starbucks.
5. The ice cream and water place sells ice cream sandwiches for like a $ 1.50, I believe.
There used to be Coffee Roasters and I used to frequent it all the time until they closed it recently… that is the reason why I started coming here alot. RIP Coffee Roasters…
Overall, a really great shopping center for locals in Riverside. It is nice, quiet, safe and very convenient place for your shopping & dining needs.

If your are an evolutionist you might consider writing a case study on The Canyon Crest Town Center. I have lived in walking distance of this wonderful place ever since 1994 and have seen it go through many transitions and changes.
I was here when Ralphs was an Alpha Beta, Rite Aid was a Thirftys, The Shoe Repair was Ritz Camera, Blockbuster (now out of business) was a Video Wiz, Water & Ice Cream was Ice Cream & Water, Coldstone/​Extreme Pita/​Pick Up Sticks/​Starbucks was a movie theater. That’s right, there actually used to be two movie theaters in this plaza right across the street from one another, then they turned one of them into a lazor tag (now Crest Café), and eventually just tore the other one down to replace it with the above mentioned establishments.
Besides the movie theaters I will pay homage to Bonnie and Friends which was a pet store, the candy store although I forget what the name of it was now, Pizza Hut, and Imagine That Bookstore. These places are all out of business at the Towne Center now, but were once very much a part of my childhood growing up ‚(tear, I suppose I’m very sentimental like that.
On the other side I want to commend a few of my favorites that have stuck it through these past 17 years that I have known them: Donut Tyme, Coffee Roasters I, Monark (same owners, but the name changed from The Little Emperor), The Athletic Club (I sometimes go as a guest on my mom’s pass and soak in the sauna… ahhhhhh :), and The Dry Cleaners. These are the sort of places that know you by name and I enjoy to visit them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I still have never tried Subs & Spuds although I do not know why. I will never go back to the Crest Café because of their reputation and first hand experience for serving mediocre at best, disgusting at worst, food. And of course I dislike Starbucks very much for trying to push out a small coffee shop that freshly roasts their own coffee and has been here for over 20 years. Shame on Starbucks and shame on the owner of the Towne Center to even allow them to build shop here; this furthers my convictions even more to continue to boycott Starbucks (support local coffee shops!!! will you join me???)!
Besides this metamorphosis that The Canyon Crest Towne Center has undergone, this plaza is convenient as it has a little bit or a lot of everything that one could be shopping for. For the most part the shop’s prices lean towards the $$-$$$ side, so be prepared for that if it is your first time visiting.
My favorite part about this plaza is how beautiful it is. Lots of trees, flowers, fountains, and other greenery. They even have a stream with fishes swimming around and a spouting fountain that little children play in during hot days.
This plaza is also very safe because of its many security guards that you can find patrolling the area ²⁴⁄₇.
I may be biased because I grew up here, but I adore The Canyon Crest Towne Center. You may not be able to find support for the evolutionist theory that we evolved from monkeys by doing a case study here, but no matter how many alterations they make to the businesses I’m sure this place will always be great.

This place is just all around nice. It’s really improved since I moved here 6 years ago. It was nice then but with all the recent renovations and scenery (fountains, etc) that they’ve been adding, it just adds to the overall charm of this place.
In it you’ll find your staple stores. You have your grocery store, drug store, a few fast food places, a couple restaurants, etc etc.
Best place I could recommend to eat here is the Smokey Canyon BBQ. It has some awesome grub.
The only minor nitpick I’d have about this place is the gas is more expensive here than around the surrounding area.

I have to *totally* agree with Sheena M.‘s review on this lovely little gem of a shopping center!
Located on the other side of UCR, the Canyon Crest Towne Center is a wonderful outdoor mall/​shopping center hybrid. Instead of brightly colored and generic, this shopping center is cozy feeling (even though it’s quite sprawling) and provides a pleasant «walk and shop» experience. It features fountains, a small brook and plenty of places to sit and relax along your way.
It also has something for everyone. From big names like Rite Aid and Ralph’s to wonderful quaint stores like The Gardener’s Cottage and Pawlished Paws. At least 2 bookstores… a place that caters to haircuts for kids… they even have a winery!
They also offer at *least* a dozen eateries catering to all kinds of tastes. Subway, The Crest Café, Jammin’ Bread, Coldstone Creamery… just to name a few!
My only tiny complaint is that I remember there used to be a quaint little 2^nd-​run movie theatre in the plaza that seems to have gone under a number of years ago. I kinda miss it!
But still — not enough to detract from a 5 star rating. Its a pretty happening place, especially for UCR/​RCC students.
Give it a try — I think you’ll like this little out-​of-​the-​way pleasure.