Garden Cities started planning for the shopping centre as early as 1974, with project architect Louis Karol – the same company that is now jointly responsible for the design of the Cape Town stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

In 1979 a questionnaire was sent out to 844 Edgemead residents, asking for their preferences.  A very high response of 73% was received (where normally one can count on only 30-40%) and the top nine listed were:

• 90% Doctor
• 82% Chemist
• 79% Supermarket
• 75% Post Office
• 72% Dentist
• 62% Superette
• 56% Butcher
• 52% Bank
• 43% Building Society

At that time, 69% of Edgemead residents shopped in Milnerton and 11% in Goodwood.

Between 1967 and 1978, Garden Cities had received 57 applications for space in the shopping centre, but only ten could be accommodated in the 1300 sq.m available! The successful applicants were three building societies – SA Perm, NBS and UBS;  Post Office, Scissors Hair Salon, Chatterbox gift shop & coffee bar, Edgemead Pharmacy, Edgemead Paint & Hardware, a Butchery, and a 7-Eleven; and Dr Solomon, and dentist Dr Bos were allocated the two offices.

Construction commenced in May 1980, the centre cost some R500,000 to build, and the average rental was thenR4,96 per sq.m.

Five more shops opened in 1984 – a Bakery/Deli, Laundrette, Video Shop, Clothing shop, and Curtain Boutique.

Over the next few years the doctors’ surgery was enlarged, the parking area extended to link with the newly-built BP garage, 7-Eleven took over the bakery, and the first ATM was installed in 1989.

In 1993, Garden Cities built new offices on the east side of the Shopping Centre parking area, and moved their Head Office from Pinelands to Edgemead. A few years later heralded the advent of Spar as anchor tenant and, in 1999, an agreement was signed with the Taxi Associations for a rank at the centre.

A major upgrade took place in 2000 and amongst the changes were enlargements to the pharmacy and to the laundry, inside which a book exchange opened. Another restaurant was added, as well as a travel agent, hot dog café, tuck shop, flower shop, and haberdashery. The following year saw Spar’s expansion to a SuperSpar, shortly followed by a revamp and upgrade of the parking area.

As the suburb has grown, so has Edgemead Shopping  Centre, keeping pace with the demands of the community and surrounds. Today, 25 years after the first shops were built, there are 800 post office boxes, 7 public phones, and 284 parking bays. The 30 tenants range from the large supermarket and pharmacy, through restaurants, to little speciality stores, but the common thread that binds them all is the friendly, personal service which always makes it such a pleasure to shop at Edgemead Shopping Centre.