Mitcham Square Shopping Centre is a shopping mall in the City of Mitcham

City of Mitcham

The City of Mitcham is a Local Government Area situated in the foothills of eastern Adelaide, South Australia. Within its bounds is Flinders University, South Australia's third largest....

, located on Belair Road, Torrens Park

Torrens Park, South Australia

Torrens Park is a mainly residential inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, incorporating some of the foothills and adjacent to the original "Mitcham Village"....

, an inner southern suburb of Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. It consists of 55 retail and food outlets, two supermarkets, Foodland

Foodland (South Australia)

Foodland is an Australian supermarket brand with over one hundred and twenty locations, primarily in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Most Foodland stores are supplied by IGA. These supermarkets are generally larger than IGA-branded ones...

 and Woolworths, and a seven screen cinema, operated by Wallis Cinemas

Wallis Cinemas

Wallis Cinemas is a South Australian company that operates cinema complexes, cinemas and drive-ins in the city of Adelaide and its suburbs.-History:...

.

In 2004, a fire destroyed the original centre, leading to a A$

Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

60 million redevelopment.

International award

Mitcham Square Foodland, owned by Romeo's Retail Group, won the 2008 "IGA International Retailer of the year" after winning the 2008 "State store of the year" and the 2008 "National store of the year".

"Squirt" the whale

A famous feature of the Mitcham Square Shopping Centre is a fibreglass whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

 named "Squirt", which children are able to play on and in, with mini-slippery dips

Playground slide

Playground slides are found in parks, schools, playgrounds and backyards. The slide may be flat, or half cylindrical or tubular to prevent falls. Slides are usually constructed of plastic or metal and they have a smooth surface that is either straight or wavy...

for fins and a tail. The whale was rescued from the 2004 fire and restored, and in July 2008 was re-instated at the Shopping Centre, though in a new position, much to the pleasure of the local general public. Sadly, Squirt was vandalised in April 2009 and was offsite undergoing repair and restoration for several months. Squirt was restored to the new position by October 2009.

External links

• Mitcham Square Official Site
• History of the location, mitchamsquare.com.au
• Map of the stores, mitchamsquare.com.au