Centrum Magasin – shopping centre of the 60s
(Norwegian version) Centrum Magasin: The name being an example of a pre-war fashion, the building itself represented an upcoming trend with large showcases facing two crossing streets, and a flat roof.
Text: Per Erling Bakke
Adapted and translated into English by Ivar Teigum
The name Centrum Magasin was brought along from more modest premises where the owner also sold ladies’ and men’s wear.
Centrum Magasin in the 1970s.
The shopping centre Centrum Magasin stands on the corner of the Main Street (Storgata) and the side street (Johan Nygårdsgate), east of the railway line.
On the property stood an old one-story house from the 1890s, facing the former market square.
The location in 1953, a decade before the new Centrum Magasin was built in 1964.
Trygve Ekre, the founder, rented this house, and in the 1950s he established his new shop.
The shop offered clothes for ladies, gents, and children, yarn and bedsheets – and the Singer sewing machine.
When the new Centrum Magasin was to be built in 1964, Trygve Ekre wanted to carry on with his trade while the construction of the new one was in progress.
He therefore moved the old shop:
* The house was jacked up
* Railroad tracks were laid underneath
* A 109 horsepower bulldozer moved the building 40 metres.
Within a few hours, the trade could continue.
The old Centrum Magasin on the move with the help of a 109 horsepower bulldozer.