Centre West first opened in 1970 as County Fair Plaza. It was not a true shopping mall, but a collection of two major stores, a Zellers and Canada Safeway, that were joined together, along with a few smaller shops accessed via a short corridor, including a Pinder's Drug Store (later Shopper's Drug Mart) location and a bank. In 1985-1986 the mall underwent a significant expansion to become a major enclosed shopping centre, with Canadian Tire relocating from Market Mall to become an anchor tenant (that store would close in the mid-2000s and relocate to another part of the city) and a food court, plus an underground parkade. The expanded mall was rebranded Circle Park Mall. In the mid-1990s, Circle Park and Wildwood malls merged to form The Centre.