As part of its “Find What You Love” branding campaign, Metropolis at Metrotown put together a fun, simple contest that deserves a look.

It almost couldn’t be more straightforward. The center designed a poster showing off a single shoe, one without a partner. Then it printed out cards and posted the image to its social networks. To participate, all shoppers had to do was find the shoe’s long lost pair. Anyone who figured out which of the center’s many retailers sold that particular shoe could enter to win shoes for an entire year.

To add a little flavor to the contest, the center put together this video. It really makes you feel for that little shoe—lost and alone—doesn’t it?

It isn’t every year a monarch’s Diamond Jubilee comes around—in fact, it isn’t even every century. That certainly makes it an occasion worth celebrating, one that many British centers are getting behind. One of those centers is Riverside Shopping Centre, and it’s planning to pack a good six decades of celebration into one short Saturday next month.

For each decade of Queen Elizabeth’s rule, the center has come up with a fun activity that fits the flavor of the time. It starts in the 1950s, with an Arty Party workshop. Younger shoppers will have the opportunity to create their own crowns to mark the coronation that started the journey.

The 1960s will be marked with something that’s likely to feature in more than a few photo opportunities: a recreation of the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing. Then, in the 1970s, things get a little hipper, err, hippier as shoppers take a a trip down memory lane. Shoppers young and old will create their very own flower power designs that will be displayed on the mall.

In the 1980s, the techies start to come out. The center will bring out some of the big stars of the decade, like Pac-man, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong (in playable form). Shoppers with a sweet tooth might want to skip ahead to the 1990s, where they can test their skills with Riverside’s 1990’s sweet challenge.

Finally, we end up back in familiar times: the digital world of the ‘noughties.’ That means Facebook and Twitter offers and special rewards with QR codes.

“The past 60 years have seen some great iconic events take place and our interactive time machine event will simply celebrate the best bits of each decade,” said David Robinson, centre manager of Riverside Shopping Centre. “It will give the whole family the opportunity to enjoy a free fun day out together to celebrate the Jubilee.”

Elizabeth Shopping Centre and other Colonial First State centers are encouraging shoppers to spend their hard earned dollars for the sake of their local elementary schools—a familiar scheme. Shoppers who bring in their receipts have their dollars tallied and added as points to a school of their choice. Or, in this case, as kilometers. The initiative is called “Run Around Australia,” and it’s focused on a little more than retail therapy.

The running theme frames the initiative in a whole new way. It’s about dollars, certainly, but it’s also about health. Each dollar that’s added is added as a kilometer on a journey around Australia. Those kilometers are tracked online, laid out on a map of the entire country. This lovely visual representation is part of a larger theme of healthy living.

To help get shoppers and kids into the right mindset, two top tier trainers have been brought in to promote the initiative, Michelle Bridge and Shannan Ponton. They’re offering up tips for healthy living, great recipes and other fitness ideas. Not only that, but the prizes the schools can win if they make it the furthest include up to $30,000 in cash and fitness equipment, a healthy kitchen revamp and seminars from The Children’s Food Education Foundation. Shoppers that participate also have a chance to win gift cards and super-healthy kitchen appliances.

Even if schools can only muster support for a sprint and not a marathon, they have a chance to get a little help along the way. The top performer each week will get a prize including retailer packages to the value of $200 and 200 bonus kilometres to be added to their Run Around Australia tally.

Riverlink Shopping Centre is turning five, and it wants to party with all its friends. For five weeks, the center is diving in to all things in fives.

Each week, the center’s Facebook page is giving away a $50 gift card to a fan, as well as 5 $500 gift cards to randomly chosen shoppers who spend $50 at any retailer. All weekly entries go into an overall prize draw, and one very lucky birthday guest will win $5000 in cold, hard cash.

Riverlink is also looking out for its peers: children turning 5 this year could win one of 5 $50 vouchers from Mr Toys Toyworld.

At the end of it all, it’s bringing everyone in to celebrate in style with a birthday party that lasts—that’s right—five hours.

Happy Birthday, Riverlink, and here’s to many more great years to come.

Westfield Stratford City got shoppers’ motors running last week with the DRIVE Motor Show. Along with cars from BMW, MINI, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan, the show brought together treats for gamers, fashionistas and foodies.

Shoppers had a ridiculous variety of top-end vehicles to check out. Two Lamborghinis set to race in next month’s 14th Annual ‘From Sea to Shining Sea’ tour were on hand, as were bikes from Harley-Davidson, Piaggio and Honda. For the eco-friendly crowd, the Tesla Roadster and Nissan LEAF were big hits. BMW and MINI also offered free test-drives of the BMW 3series and the 2012 Mini Sport all around Stratford.

For the gaming crowd, Codemasters was there to show off DiRT Showdown, a racing game due out next month. , LEGO was there, allowing the little ones to get in on the fun by building their own cars and racing them down mini ramps. Slightly older kids hit the track with the 2012 Scalextric World Championship, which saw one lucky winner taking home a state-of-the-art Digital Platinum Scalextric set.

Honda brought out its F1 and S2000 simulators, giving shoppers the rush of simulated race car driving. Honda owners who tried it out got a bonus—a free Costa Coffee voucher and the chance to win a daily £300 center gift card.

The icing on the cake was a trio of contests for those both in and out of the car world. One shopper took home a massive hamper of merchandise from food retailers while another won a wardrobe worth over £1,000. Shoppers that took the time to fill out the DRIVE quiz were entered to win a £500 including a full valet and Reiss and VANS gift cards.