Centro Comercial Oviedo: A Guide to the Oldest Mall in El Poblado

Centro Comercial Oviedo is one of the largest malls in Medellín with 320 shops. And it’s also the oldest mall in the upscale neighborhood of El Poblado in Medellín, since this mall originally opened in 1979.

Oviedo was the first mall in Medellín that I went to over seven years ago. I first stayed in a hotel near this mall. And later, I rented a furnished apartment located in a building next to the mall, as an initial trial of living in Medellín.

Logo at the front entrance to Oviedo Mall

History of Centro Comercial Oviedo

Centro Comercial Oviedo opened in November 1979 with an initial count of 97 shops. This was about seven years after San Diego mall opened, which was the first mall in Medellín.

In 1994, Oviedo mall added a second phase that included a movie theater with three screens. And in 1998, the mall added a third phase.

Finally, in September 2003, the mall opened its fourth phase. This fourth phase added a new movie theater with seven screens and space for many more stores. This mall is currently sized at over 1 million square feet and it claims to have a total of 320 shops.

Oviedo experienced some major competition when the much larger Santafé mall opened in 2010, which is located only about a block away on the other side of Avenida Poblado. Since Santafé opened, Oviedo has experienced some vacancies. For example, when I was in Oviedo mall last week I saw several vacancies.

The Shops in Oviedo Mall

The anchor tenants of the mall include Carrulla and Cine Colombia. In addition, the mall has about 320 shops and businesses of all types.

The shops and businesses in the mall include banks, male and female fashion, children’s and youth clothing, footwear, jewelry, sporting goods, stationery, furniture and decoration, lingerie, opticians, travel agencies, restaurants and fast food places.

Trónico in Oviedo mall

And for the kids there is a Trónico, which has go carts and other attractions for kids.

The banks in the mall include Banco AV Villas, Banco de Bogotá, Banco de Occidente, Bancolombia, BBVA and Davivienda. Oviedo also has a few currency exchanges.

Euroservices – one of the currency exchanges in the mall

Entrance to Carula at Oviedo mall

Carula in Oviedo Mall

Carulla is an upscale supermarket chain in Colombia that is owned by Exito. In Medellín, Carula has 10 grocery stores including one in El Tesoro Mall. Carulla also has grocery stores in many other cities in Colombia.

If you shop frequently at Carulla and/or Exito and/or you should sign up for Puntos Colombia, which is a program that used to be known as Puntos Exito. Puntos Colombia is a frequent shopper program where you accumulate points for each purchase. You can use these points to purchase items in the future.

To sign up for Puntos Colombia you just need a Colombian cedula ID. And it’s essentially like getting 1 percent cash back on your purchase that you can use for future purchases. With the program you get 1 punto for every 700 pesos in purchases. And that 1 punto is worth 7 pesos.

Cine Colombia in Oviedo Mall

Movies at Cine Colombia in Oviedo Mall

Cine Colombia has a movie theater in the mall with seven screens located on the top floor of the newest expansion space that opened in 2003. In this location, Cine Colombia shows some movies in English with Spanish subtitles. Furthermore, you can see the schedule of movies on the company’s website.

Cine Colombia is the largest movie theater chain in Colombia with 43 movie theaters located in 13 cities in Colombia. In the Medellín metro area, Cine Colombia has six movie theaters in the Los Molinos, Oviedo, Santafé, Unicentro, Viva Envigado and Vizcaya malls.

Cine Colombia has the Cineco frequent moviegoer card that provides discounts for movies. The card cost 10,000 pesos. For every 1,500 pesos in spending at Cine Colombia you receive one point. Points can be redeemed for movie tickets and food products. For example, for 100 points you can get one 2D general admission movie ticket.

The food court in the older section of the mall

Oviedo Mall Food Options

Oviedo has several locations in the mall with food options. There are over 40 fast food places and restaurants in the mall. There is a food court in the older section of the mall and several restaurants are located in the newest section of the mall where the movie theater is located.

Fast food options include Asia Wok, Dunkin’ Donuts, Frisby, El Corral, J&C Delicias, Presto, Sarku Japan and Subway.

One of the restaurant areas in the mall

Restaurants in the mall include Crepes & Waffles, El Corral Gourmet, Hato Viejo, Nino E Pastino and Pizzería Olivia.

There is also a Starbucks, which was Starbuck’s third coffee shop in Medellín. In addition, there a Juan Valdez Café in the mall.

Starbucks third coffee shop in Medellín in Oviedo mall – opened December 2016

Juan Valdez Café in Oviedo mall

How to Get to Oviedo Mall

Centro Comercial Oviedo is located in El Poblado on Avenida Poblado (aka Milla de Oro – Golden Mile), which is convenient to where many foreigners visiting Medellín stay, as El Poblado has the most hotels in the city and the most furnished apartment rentals available.

The nearest Medellín Metro station is Aguacatala, which is about a 15-minute walk from the mall.  Walking to the mall from Aguacatala station is an up-hill walk. So, it’s easier to walk to the metro station than from the metro station.

Furthermore, any taxi driver in Medellín will know where this mall is located. And it’s also fairly easy to catch a taxi at the mall with usually a few taxis lined up in front of the mall.

Also, if you drive, the mall has about 1,500 parking spaces available.

Website: https://www.oviedo.com.co/

Address: Carrera 43A # 6Sur-15, El Poblado, Medellín

Telephone: +57 (4) 321 6116

Hours:  Monday – Saturday: 10 am – 9 pm; Sunday and Holidays: 11 am – 8 pm. And the restaurants and fast food places in the mall can be open later.

The Most Popular Malls in Medellín

Several readers of Medellin Guru have asked for information about the malls in the Medellín metro area.

So, we have provided up-to-date guides to the 14 best and largest malls in the Medellín metro area in a series on this website:

1. Viva Envigado – one of the newest malls in the Aburrá Valley located in Envigado, which is reportedly the largest mall in Colombia
2. Santafé – one of the largest malls in Medellín located in El Poblado
3. Mayorca Mega Plaza – a popular mall in Sabaneta with several outlet shops
4. El Tesoro – Medellín’s popular mall with a view in El Poblado
5. Premium Plaza – one of Medellín’s largest shopping malls with entertainment on the third floor
6. Puerta del Norte – the largest and most popular mall in Bello
7. Arkadia – the newest mall in Medellín and the nicest mall in Belén
8. Los Molinos – the oldest Western-style mall in Belén
9. Oviedo – the oldest mall in El Poblado.
10. San Diego – the oldest mall in Medellín.
11. Unicentro – the largest and most popular mall in Laureles-Estadio
12. Monterrey – Medellín’s technology mall in El Poblado
13. Florida Parque – the only Western-style mall in the Robledo comuna in Medellín
14. La Central – the only Western-style mall in the Buenos Aires comuna in Medellín

Also, we included Oviedo in our article about the 14 best malls in Medellín.

Centro Comercial Oviedo

The Bottom Line: Oviedo Mall – the Oldest Mall in El Poblado

Centro Comercial Oviedo is a nice mall with a Cine Colombia for movies, a Carulla for groceries and many fast food and restaurant options. It also has big selection of shops with over 300 shops. It’s also conveniently located in El Poblado, where many expat tourists tend to stay when visiting Medellín.

But since Oviedo mall and the nearby larger Santafé mall are both located in El Poblado, which is the wealthiest neighborhood in the city, some of the stores in these malls tend to have higher prices than are found in some of the other malls in the city located in other neighborhoods.

I rarely go to these malls in El Poblado anymore since I live near the Mayorca Mega Plaza mall in Sabaneta, which generally has lower prices. And if I do go to one of these malls in El Poblado, I generally go to the larger Santafé mall.

Sign up for the Free Medellin Guru Newsletter – You can see all of the previous Medellin Guru weekly email newsletters and sign up here.

Editors note: updated on August 20, 2018 to reflect the change in Exito’s frequent shopping program that has changed from Puntos Exito to Puntos Colombia.

Editors note: updated on October 6, 2018 to add the new Viva Envigado mall.

Editors note: updated on November 14, 2019 to add the Arkadia mall, which is the newest mall in Medellín.