Southcentre Mall in Calgary
One of Southern Alberta's Largest Shopping Centres
A look at the features and accessibility of Southcentre Mall, one of Calgary's indoor shopping centres.
Indoor Shopping in Calgary
Sooner or later, a city-based vacation involves shopping. Sometimes the whole point of the trip is "retail therapy".
In Calgary, Alberta, Canada, there are several shopping centres to choose from, including Downtown, Market Mall in the northwest, Chinook Centre in the centre of the south, and Southcentre Mall, also in the central south, but a little further south than Chinook Centre.
These are the main indoor shopping centres, though not the only ones. Once you enter one of these malls, everything is under one roof. Calgary has many more shops outside of these major malls, including an abundance of the huge big box stores currently sweeping the retail landscape.
Southcentre Mall's Stores and Opening Hours
Southcentre Mall has over 180 shops, services and restaurants. The anchor tenants are the major department stores, The Bay and Sears. There is a very wide variety of clothing stores, including some of the specialty wear places like Swimco for Swimwear.
There is a drug store, post office (inside Shopper's Drug Mart), and on the same site but across the parking lot, there is a large Safeway grocery store.
Indigo book store with a Starbucks coffee shop is located prominently near the main south entrance.
This is a well-equipped mall for most day-to-day shopping for families. It is open seven days a week.
Core opening hours at Southcentre Mall are
- Monday - Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Sunday and standard holidays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Eating at Southcentre Mall
The large food fair on the second floor has about a dozen selections of fast food, including the Greek-style Opa! counter with foods made from fresh ingredients. On the first floor near the Customer Service counter is a coffee shop with fresh sandwiches and other foods, and an A&W restaurant.
Near the south entrance, and accessible only from the outside, Chili's restaurant is a full-service family restaurant with a Mexican theme. There is an adult-only bar taking up about one-quarter of the floor space. In the parking lot, Milestone's Grill & Bar is another chain restaurant with a more adult / young adult orientation, although everything at Southcentre is accessible to families.
Wheelchairs Available to Borrow
The Customer Service desk at Southcentre has strollers and wheelchairs available to borrow. If you are concerned about wheelchair availability during your visit, the Customer Service phone number is (403) 271-7670.
Arriving by Bus or Train
Southcentre Mall is joined by a pedestrian overpass to the Anderson Road C-Train Station. It is about 500 metres from the train to the mall entrance. The overpass is wheelchair- and stroller-accessible.
Calgary Transit buses stop at Southcentre. The walk from the bus stop on either the north or east side, to the closest mall entrance, is slightly shorter than the walk from the C-Train station. For current routes and information, check with Calgary Transit directly.
Parking and Getting Around the Mall
Near every entrance, there are designated parking spots for vehicles bearing the blue handicapped parking permit placard. At the main entrance on the south side (near Indigo bookstore), there is a place to pull up and drop someone off or collect them. This is where people with wheelchairs usually board their buses or taxis if they are not coming by private vehicle.
There are additional spaces for family parking, intended for mothers with small children, near the south entrance.
The general parking lots, for everyone, are free and large.
As the mall is fairly large, it is helpful to know which entrance is closest to the chosen destination. A map on the Southcentre website can assist with this, although it is small and a bit difficult to read on the screen. A phone call to Customer Service or to the store in question might be a good alternative.
For a general visit to look around, it is often convenient to park at the east end of the mall, on the second level of the two-story parkade attached to Sears. This parking lot is one of the last to fill up, yet is as close to the door as any of the others. This entrance will put you on the second floor, which is the same level as the food fair.
There is covered parking at the east end of the mall, on the ground floor of the parking lot attached to Sears. This is very convenient in bad weather.
Due to the possibility of car break-ins, do not leave anything valuable in the vehicle, particularly where the item is visible and tempting. Lock your car, as you would anywhere in any city.
Walking Around the Mall
The mall is laid out in a circular pattern, and people do come to walk circuits of it for fitness before opening hours. There are places to sit down and rest at intervals. The food fair is quite large with abundant seating. It's only during the Christmas rush that things become extremely crowded in the food fair.
There are escalators and elevators between the two main levels of Southcentre. The main elevators are in the central court, not far from the food fair. Sears and The Bay have internal elevators. Neither the elevators nor the escalators are easy to find on the website map of Southcentre. There are large electronic directories inside the mall, as well as some paper maps at Customer Service.
Washrooms and Baby Care
Southcentre is well-equipped with washrooms on both levels, with wheelchair accessible stalls. The ladies washroom on the first floor has a sitting area and a baby change table.
Other articles about Calgary:
