Italian Centre Shop

Always a great place to spend time looking around. I love going here to build dinner on the fly.
You’ll also find some good meats like bison, and elk, and some different cuts you may not find elsewhere… Fresh baked breads and dough, and a whole array of desserts in the attached Café.
If you haven’t been, just go! You won’t be disappointed.

This grocery store carries a lot of the same items as the Italian Centre Shop on the south side, and my praises and criticisms of both locations are very similar. See my review here:
What I like about this location:
It’s a bit less crowded, neater, and better looking than the store on the south side. It also carries several products not available at the south side location, including certain deli meats and cheeses, Clipper tea, and larger sizes of the pickles I like.

Literally my favourite grocery store in the city. It can be a pain to get into — you have to drive in the far right lane that also leads to WEM (traffic leading to WEM is always a pain), and then parking can be tricky.
BUT, once you get in…
All the chocolate! All the pasta! All the meat! All the cheese! ALL OF IT!
Seriously, they stock great quality imported products for prices that I would actually pay (spoiler alert: I’m cheap!). Milka chocolate bars are $ 2. Meats are all super reasonable… it’s around $ 2-​$ 3 for 100 grams of proscuitto (whatttttt?), cheeses are normal prices, pastas are like $ 2 a box.
It’s actually insane. I always expect import stores to be more expensive, but this one is not and they have a crazy selection of European goods (not just Italian!).
My favourite Italian store treat: homemade pizza. You can get a baggie of fresh dough for $ 1.50, pick your meats and cheeses, and you’ll have a delicious homemade pizza for under $ 10. (you can also get the dough in 4 packs in the freezer section for like $ 5 — again, recommended to always keep a bag in your freezer). There’s no instructions on the dough, but I find that about 10 – 12 minutes at 400 F makes a perfect pizza every time.

What is not to love about the Italian Center Shop?
I was soooo excited when they opened the West End location just over a year ago. Now we can hop down the road without venturing all the way across the city for the best meats, cheese, and olives to die for!
The staff here are phenomenal and will give you all kinds of suggestions for parties you are hosting. The deli is my favourite! I rarely escape with less than $ 50 of meats, cheeses, and olives — YOU MUST TRY THE FETA & ALOMOND STUFFED OLIVE OR YOU HAVE NOT LIVED!
There are usually some fabulous Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar tasters set up and this is defintiely the place to come get your high quality oils! The staff are quite knowledgeable and can help you pick the out the best varieties to meet your needs — and it’s true, everyone needs a couple in the house (remember to store them in the dark!).
But seriously, this place is great whether you are looking for an Italian sweet treat or want to make the world’s best charcuterie board for a night-​in with your girlfriends.
And let’s not forget, if you get way too hungry from looking at all of the goodies, you can grab a bite right in their café with some authentic Italian pizza and one of the best coffees around!
See you soon, Italian Center Shop!

Love this place, clean, bustling, wonderful, wonderful deli, the in-​house smoked salmon is ridiculous!

I love the Italian Centre. I’ve been coming to the Downtown location for years, and I think it’s one of the most original, best all around places in Edmonton. They have top quality cheeses, deli, etc, and an amazing selection of unique items that are hard to find at your standard fare grocery chains. The new west end location is pretty much the same as the original. I’m really glad to see that they expanded after having just the one location for so long.

I can’t say enough nice things about the Spinelli family and the Italian Center.
If you like Charcuterie, here is a great place to go and get all of the ingredients for your board. They have a great selection of meats, cheeses and olives.
I especially love visiting the Italian Center to make up gift baskets for friends and family. They have a great selection of European brands that the big grocery stores don’t carry.
Italian Center also supports local producers. They carry locally made gelato, perogies, pasta etc.
The bakery is pretty amazing as well. Very beautiful selections for special occasions.
The «Spinelli’s» café that is attached to all of the locations is a great place to have a latte and a panini. There are also panini wrapped and ready for you to take home. Very difficult to find a place to sit on the weekend. It is quite the popular place.
They also have a small selection of kitchenware available. If you like to make your espresso without the fancy machines, let Italian Center hook you up.

This wasn’t my first visit to the Italian Centre, but my last visit was many years ago and all I could remember was the huge selection of charcuterie and cheeses. Slightly overwhelming to say the least, meats and cheeses (at the time) I had never even heard of. With some guidance from the staff I was able to select some delights.
Fast forward a few years…
My most recent visit was only for some pastries and a quick lunch, so I didn’t have time to browse the huge selection of Italian delights.
I decided to go with the Mossimo pizza. The toppings were fresh the cheese was bubbly! The crust was thin and baked to perfection. I wasn’t expecting such a huge pizza– definitely big enough to share! And priced at just $ 14? A steal if you ask me!
For pastries we chose the Cream Horns; while they were quite pricy, they were certainly delicious. Likely made that day, they were fresh, creamy and flakey! Impossible not to over indulge!
While visiting the Italian Centre I suggest enjoying a freshly crafted coffee beverage and a pastry. The perfect treat before or after shopping.

WHOA. This place is all kinds of freakin’ WOW! I don’t even know where to start. I just went in because I’d been meaning to for so long, and I finally had a chance. I was really overwhelmed, but made mental notes as I walked the aisles. It will be easier once I know what I want.
I settled for a calzone, white chocolate and strawberry tart and blood orange soda to go. Couldn’t help but notice the «No alcohol past this point’ sign. Wait… does that mean I could have sat and had a drink with my lunch? Coooool!
I was on my way out the door with my take-​out when I noticed they had an entire section devoted to kitchen gadgets and dishware. I picked up a couple of cute gifts. I can’t wait to drag my troll over to see it!

I usually go to the southside location for the Italian Centre Shop, just because I spend more time on the southside, but the other day I was in the west end and decided to visit the newest branch of the Italian Centre Shop.
This location is conveniently located by West Edmonton Mall (it’s right by Spence Diamonds) so it’s easy to find. It’s not in West Ed however, which is great because I’ve gotten to really hate fighting the crowds in that mall). What was the point of this ramble, just that you’ll be able to find the Italian Centre Shop easily.
The building is new and it’s pretty bright. The aisles are a bit small and shorter than a big grocery store. I don’t know how it compared to the original location (I’ve never been), but with the southside it seems to be a bit bigger, but not by much. The deli counter is huge, lot’s of delicious meats and cheeses to buy (and olives if you’re into that sorta of thing). The bakery has delicious breads and pastries, like focaccia bread and cannoli. There’s a small produce section, plus a variety of other food products, most from Italy, but also from other places in Europe.
I always love coming to the Italian Centre Shop. The prices can be a bit more than at a regular grocery store, but they carry brands and items I haven’t found anywhere else in Edmonton. I don’t speak/​read/​understand Italian or any other language aside from English (well maybe a little French). I’ve often gone into this store and just picked up something random to buy, without having any idea of what it is or if it’s good. Maybe I’m just a nerd, but it’s always a fun adventure heading to the Italian Centre Shop.

Finding dinner on a Friday night will definitely be a challenge. Luckily we live by West Edmonton Mall and we do get some viable choices. We had a hankering for pizza but didn’t want to wait in line at Famoso so we decided to take a stab at the Italian Centre’s pizzeria.
The restaurant side is more like a lil charming café. They have those plexi-​glass domes that allows you to look, point and go OOOOH and AAAAH at the selection of baked goods. 2 for 1 chocolate croissants? HECK YES.
Go up to the till and order our pizzas. They were all described in Italian and I must apologize as all my stomach wanted to do was eat rather than identify all the wonderful ingredients. We ordered a savory artichoke themed pizza and a spicy salami pizza as well. These pizza came out faster than an Italian stallion and it made us so much more happier that we could eat quicker than if we went to other pizzerias. Just like with Neopolitan pizzas, they were thin, crispy and not too terribly greasy. The spicy salami pizza definitely left a hot impression which was the perfect compliment on a cold Friday night.
Both pizzas and two drinks came out to about $ 30 which isn’t too bad for dinner on a Friday night.
TL;DR: Extremely fast and tasty pizza and a wonderful alternative to Famoso if you don’t want to sit and wait.

LOVE this store — be sure to visit when you have time to stroll down the aisles and discover all sorts of goodies you’ll never see at your local grocery chain — I could have filled three carts with things that sounded heavenly!
The deli section is filled with meats and cheeses I’ve never heard of before, and they’ll gladly let you sample. But over to the left of those huge cases is an olive lover’s dream — literally dozens of olives, every flavour imaginable, and again the helpful staff will let you sample … and sample… and sample. My very favourite was a sweet pepper stuffed with feta cheese, but close runners-​up were a sun-​dried tomato olive stuffed with almond and a rosemary with feta stuffing. There’s even a 5 Alarm olive, and yes, if you must, there are plain ones in several colours.
The bakery is a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds, with beautiful confections. Next time I want to try the gelato, but had simply run out of time to sit in the little eating area and indulge, after exploring the rest of the store.
Definitely worth discovering this delightful shop!

This market is a Mecca of Italian goodies & groceries! In the 6 or so months since it opened it has become my absolute favourite place to shop. The store itself is gorgeous; wall to wall white marble that gleams in the light that shines in from the large, floor to ceiling windows. The produce is always fresh, the dairy cases busting at the seems with the most delectable cheeses from around the word. The bakery is what I imagine heaven much be like — cannolis, florentines, shortbread, meringues, flans and the most amazing breads! And then there is the meat counter, or should I say counters, plural! I can’t even put into words… just a place of sheer carnivorous delight!
There is tons of parking available out front. A Spinelli’s Café inside with killer cappuccinos. What else can I say but go, shop, and be in love with food again!