Centro The Glen Shopping Centre

The Glen: Good for a quick stopover to pick up the essentials; not a shopping destination in and of itself.
The Glen is quite dated and a little tired, but on the plus side, you will probably find it easier to get a park here during frantic shopping periods than you would at its closest neighbour Chadstone.
You can buy pretty much anything you need here, just on a reasonably small scale. There are plenty of women’s fashion chains, a mini food court featuring a Sushi Sushi and a bigger food court with the usual fast food offerings.
If you are after more choice and a better vibe, go to Knox City or Chadstone.

The Glen is small for a shopping centre, with DJ’s and Target the only two department stores, but for a quick shop where you need more than just a supermarket, it’s perfect.
There are two levels, and both above ground and underground parking, so there are quite a few shops, and you have both Safeway and Coles, aswell as a few grocers, butchers, bakeries, etc.
The only bad thing about The Glen for me is the number of bad drivers (which you kinda expect in Glen Waverley anyway.) It can make trying to find a park a bit of a nightmare.

Look, I hate these places enormously. They’ve killed off plenty of local small businesses over the years, and every time a new one opens, the only thing I can think of is the nightmare that some poor bugger of a small businessman or woman going broke overnight.
That said, these places are here to stay, and there’s not much to be done about it once they’ve opened. And as far as these monstrosities go, this one isn’t too bad.
Parking is pretty easy, (although generally for only four hours — that’s plenty of time to get in, get what you need and get out), there’s a couple of supermarkets and pretty much everything you’ll ever need.
There are lots of really good restaurants within a stone’s throw if you’re hungry, but the food court has a couple of decent places too.

Centro The Glen is a small shopping center packed full of the most popular brands you would hope to find in one place.
Sure the centers small and the areas not ‘that’ well known, but The Glen hits mostly all the right notes when it comes to store variety.
Brands include, sportsgirls, witchery, country road, cotton on, athletes foot, bed bath n table, mimco, oroton, rebel and many other well-​known brands. There is also a David Jones and Target if you prefer being in a department store.
The Glen is a long 2 level building that offers ample parking and dining options. Besides their 2 food courts, just a few hundred meters down the road from the center is the Kingsway Strip which is a goldmine of cafes and restaurants.
The Glen also offers a coles/​woolworths/​Thomas dux, as well as a center butcher, deli, fishmonger and Asian grocer.

One of the great things about The Glen is that it never, ever gets very packed. Even at the worst shopping times of the year, you’re guaranteed to find at least one parking space.
That’s not to say it’s dead, just that it’s not considered a shopping «destination» in the same way Doncaster or Chadstone shopping centres are. Instead, it’s the place one goes when they need something — chocolate, shoes, pillows, groceries etc. A quick in and out trip. This is how I like to shop in malls so I definitely enjoy the experience far more than I do at the above mentioned others.
Some definite plusses in my book include the variety of craft shops, including a Lincraft and an Riotart. There’s also a decent mix of cheap and upmarket clothing shops but without being too overwhelming. The best bit about the mix is that, on the whole, there’s very little double ups of shop type. As opposed to Chadstone, where most shops are selling very similar items to each other, The Glen has a small enough range that you can be assured some feeling of actual variety.

Centro The Glen is quite a dated shopping centre in Glen Waverley. It is fairly small compared to other major shopping centres in the area, although it has much more parking available.
The parking here is very irritating as it all has time limits of between 2 and 4 hours. There are parking inspectors here frequently so you will want to make sure you get back to your car in time.
Major retailers at this shopping centre include David Jones, Target, Big W, Rebel Sport, Cotton on, Coles and Woolworths. My favourite stores at the centre are Just Jeans, Sportsgirl, and Lorna Jane.
There is a pretty decent food court as well with Lebanese, Chinese, Indian, American, Mexican and Italian food options. There is also a Muffin Break store.
The patrons at The Glen tend to be a little older and young people don’t really go there. The only time I’ve really seen teenagers there is when the nearby Glen Waverley High School students finish their school day at around 3pm. After that there are school students everywhere for about an hour.
The fact that the shopping centre is a bit older and less popular than say, Knox City, means that it provides a more relaxed shopping experience, which for people who don’t like shopping, is a massive plus.