Centro Comercial City Plaza, Envigado’s only modern mall
Centro Comerical City Plaza is the only modern mall in Envigado. This is surprising as Envigado has a population of nearly 200,000 – compared to a population of about 124,000 in nearby El Poblado.
City Plaza is not very well located as it is high up the Escobero hill in Envigado, which is not convenient for many of the barrios in the city. It is also relatively far from Parque Envigado (about a 7,000-peso taxi ride).
The mall opened in November 2011 but it still has many vacancies due to the location.
The company that opened the mall in late 2011 decided on the location with over 2,000 apartments that were expected to open nearby within two years of the mall opening. When the mall opened, it reportedly was at 88 percent occupancy.
However, I counted over 40 vacancies when I was at the mall recently. This is more than I have seen at any other mall in Medellín.
There are several new apartment buildings located close to City Plaza. In my last apartment search, my third choice was located in a building near City Plaza.
There are also some nice views from the upper two floors of the mall.
I have heard that investors have recognized the lack of shopping options in Envigado with plans to build a new shopping mall next to the Envigado Exito.
The anchor tenants of City Plaza are Carulla, a six-screen Cinépolis movie theater, a Bodytech gymnasium and a Clinica Las Americas diagnostic center.
The City Plaza mall has over 70 shops open, which include stores selling clothes, shoes, home furnishings and several other categories.
Carulla is a supermarket chain in Colombia that is owned by Exito. Carulla was founded in 1905 and it is one of the largest supermarket companies in Colombia.
Carulla has a strong market share in several of the largest cities in Colombia including Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and Barranquilla. In the Medellín metropolitan area, Carulla has over 10 stores.
Make sure to sign up for Exito Puntos (points). This is a frequent shopper program where you accumulate points that can be used to help purchase items on sale in the future. To sign up you just need an ID: cédula or passport.
Cinépolis in City Plaza is a movie theater with six screens with a total of over 1,100 seats.
The movie theater chain also has cinemas located in Bogotá (2 cinemas), Barrancabermeja and Cali (2 cinemas).
City Plaza has a Bodytech gym with typical equipment you will find in gymnasiums. Bodytech has 15 gyms located in the Medellín metro area.
The company also has gyms located in many other cities in Colombia, including Armenia, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Manizales, Pereira and Villavicencio.
City Plaza has a Rifle store, which sells Colombian-made jeans at good prices.
I was able to buy two pairs of jeans at Rifle for only 109,900 pesos ($46). You can find Rifle in many of the malls in Medellín.
City Plaza also has a Juan Valdez Café.
Juan Valdez is the largest coffee shop chain in Colombia with almost 200 stores in the country. Juan Valdéz has stores in 11 additional countries including the United States.
City Plaza has a food court located on the second floor with over 15 different options to choose from.
You will find several of the typical fast food places in Medellín here including Dogger, El Corral, Jeno’s Pizza, La Brasa Roja, Popsy, Sr. Wok and Subway.
You will also find a couple of restaurants on the third floor of the mall: Mundoverde and J&C Delicias.
Pro’s – It’s the only modern mall in Envigado and it’s a nice mall with a Carulla for groceries, a six-screen Cinépolis movie theater, a convenient food court and several shops with good prices. There are also some new apartment buildings near the mall.
Con’s – There is nothing found in the City Plaza mall that you can’t find in the other malls in Medellín. It is also not very well located so it has over 40 vacancies.
My Verdict – City Plaza is smaller than the big malls found in El Poblado and is not worth visiting unless you live nearby or are visiting Envigado.
How to Get There – You can take the Metro to the Envigado station and then hop on a bus route that goes from the metro to City Plaza. Or you can take a taxi ride from the metro station to the mall (about 8,000 pesos, or $4).
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Thanks for writing about this mall that not many are aware of. A friend of mine lives near City Plaza so I have been to it several times. It's a nice mall but not very busy. I agree with you that it is not very well located. I know some shops there that were previously open in the mall that are now closed, likely due to the mall not being very busy. But as additional apartments are built nearby it should become busier.